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Global Warming Impact On Glaciers, Surrounding Populations, And The Ski Industry

Global warming is melting glaciers at an alarming rate, undoubtedly changing the world, impacting local populations, and pushing the ski industry downhill.

There are varying opinions about whether melting glaciers are the result of global warming by man-made greenhouse gases or just a natural cycle of the earth, but the fact remains—glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, and the world is undoubtedly changing as a result.

Healthy glaciers add surface mass from precipitation and lose mass underneath from melting, maintaining roughly the same size from year to year.

The World Bank continues to release an endless stream of reports by global institutions and universities chronicling the melting of the world's cryosphere, or ice zone. One report references the glaciers in the Andes and revealed that Bolivia's famed Chacaltaya glacier has lost 80 percent of its surface area since 1982, and Peruvian glaciers have lost more than one-fifth of their mass in the past 35 years, reducing by 12 percent the water flow to the country's coastal region, home to 60 percent of Peru's population.

And if warming trends continue, the study concluded, many of the Andes' tropical glaciers will disappear within 20 years, not only threatening the water supplies of 77 million people in the region, but also reducing hydropower production, which accounts for roughly half of the electricity generated in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.

The Chacaltaya Glacier, thought to be 18,000 years old and once home to the highest ski resort in the world and now reduced to a rocky mountainside, bears powerful witness to the precipitous melting of glaciers.

The rusting remains of the former Chacaltaya ski area now dominate what was once the highest ski-run in the world perched on the Chacaltaya glacier at some 17,390 feet (5,300 meters) high. Only a snowy ice cap of some 538 square feet (50 square meters) remains of the magnificent Chacaltaya glacier which spread over 17,222 square feet (1,600 square meters) in the 1950s.

This photo (top) shows The Chacaltaya Ski Area in 1973 and in 2009 (bottom).

Emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the surface. One of the first impacts of glacier melting is likely to be in South America where shrinking glaciers can cause water supplies and put populations and food supplies at risk. The Andean glaciers are melting so fast that some are expected to disappear within 15-25 years, impacting Colombia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Bolivia.

Around the world glaciers are retreating , and a number of other them, such as the, Himalayan Gangotri glacier, Athabasca, glacier in the Canadian Rockies, and Davos in the Swiss Alps are melting quickly.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in 2007 that they could disappear by 2035, causing famine, water wars and hundreds of millions of climate change refugees.

The Innsbruck-based Austrian Alpine Association, says 85 of the 93 glaciers it monitored between the fall of 2008 and the fall of 2009 had receded, while seven stayed the same and one grew.

Ski Industry
According to Protect Our Winters (the snow industry climate change group founded by pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones), 47 Alpine resorts didn't even open in 2007 due to climate change, with average temperatures dramatically up.

The ski industry, recognizing that climate change is a major threat, set up the Sustainable Slopes project in 2002, through the National Ski Areas Association. More recently the Keep Winter Cool campaign was launched and many resorts have installed renewable energy projects.

But, various scientific reports suggest that the continued elevation of CO2 emissions will produce warmer winters, reduced snow pack and, in many areas, less water, which makes it harder for resorts to make snow, resulting in the future closing of many of today's ski areas.

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Shrinking Glaciers

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Powder Skiing Destinations You Should Ride

Mt. Baker - Washington

Mt. Baker in Washington has the best lift tickets in North America according to the Ski Area Management Magazine and also has holds the World Record for the highest snowfall in a season with 1,140 inches (2,896 cm) for the winter of 1998-99. With an annual average snowfall of 647 inches (1,638 cm), a vertical rise of 1,500 feet (455 m), 8 quad chairs, 2 rope tows, 31 % expert terrain, 45% intermediate and 24% beginner terrain, Mt Baker could be the ultimate powder destination in the world today!

Alta Utah

Alta Ski Resort is located in Utah on Wasatch Mountains just east of Salt Lake City (Winter Olympics 2002). Alta is one of the oldest ski resorts in America, opening it;s first lifts in 1939. Unfortunately, Alta is also one of the three remaining resorts in America that prohibits snowboarders! The other two resorts are Deer Valley and Mad River Glen in Vermont.

Alyeska Alaska

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Kirkwood Resort California

Kirkwood Mountain Resort is situated to the south of Lake Tahoe. A popular destination for skiers and snowboarders from California or around the world with a average annual snowfall of 472 inches. One of the main features of Kirkwood that make it so attractive is the 2 mile ridgeline at the top of the resort making it perfect for camera crew to film cliff drops and steep chute runs. Kirkwood is also one of the larger resorts in the Lake Tahoe region.

Niseko Japan

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About the Author

I like to ski and write about the places I visit.

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