The State of the Mountains Report (Alpine Club of Canada)

8/6/2019 The State of the Mountains Report (Alpine Club of Canada)

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MOUNTAINS

THE

STATE OF THEREPORT

Meghan J. Ward

The Impacts o Climate Change on the AlpineEnvironment and Glaciers o Southern Alberta and British Columbia

1913


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2 STATE OF THE MOUNTAINS

FOREWORD

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

VALUE OF ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

A CHANGING ALPINE ENVIRONMENT Glaciers

Glacial Recession Explained

In the Field: Monitoring Mass Balance

Snowpack and Precipitation Understanding Snowpack and Precipitation

Other Evidence

ARE CHANGES ACCELERATING?

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR MOUNTAINEERS Route and Access Changes

Safety Issues

What is the Future for the Next Generation of Mountaineers?

Barry Blanchard and Mount Athabasca

A CHANGING APPROACH: MOUNTAIN GUIDING

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER FLOW Recommendations for Research

LOOKING AHEAD The Mountain Environment of the Canadian Rockies:50 Years from Now

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CONTRIBUTORS

THANK YOU

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover photo: Mount Assiniboine (2010). Photo: Courtesy o the Mountain Legacy Project.Inset photo: Mount Assiniboine (1913). Photo: A.O. Wheeler, courtesy o the Mountain Legacy Project.


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ALPINE CLUB OF CANADA 3

In many ways, Canadas history is a story o our relationship with mountains. From the explorations o David Thompson, to the construction o our national railway, to our identity as a nation and a people, Canadas mountainsare iconic.

Yet today our mountains are changing in ways that are alarming.

As Canadas national mountain organization, the Alpine Club o Canada (ACC) has a commitment and responsibilityto act as a steward o our mountainsto bear witness to the things our members see and experience in the highplaces we love so much. In this report, through the observations o many o our most experienced members, wehave attempted to act on this commitment and speak or the mountains.

More than a century ago, our ounders recognized the unique role that mountains play in shaping Canada. TheClub was created so that Canadians could better experience the alpine environment, and so that we might helpto advance mountain science, literature and art. Many o our ounders and earliest members played a centralrole in developing an understanding o the Alpine environment, rom the Vaux amily, to Arthur Wheeler himsel .Contributing to a greater understanding o the alpine environment remains an important Club goal, and the reasonwhy The State o the Mountains report was developed.

The story presented here is a cautionary one. Our mountain spaces are changing. Ice is melting. The snowpack is be-coming more erratic. Tree lines are rising. There are rapid shi ts in mountain ecology. The very rhythm and charactero each season are becoming less amiliar.

As ACC members we share a pro ound connection to mountain places. In a very real sense, we rely on the moun-tains to change us, to inspire us, to be a source o wonder and awe. Yet we now see that, at a collective level, wehave begun to change the mountains. This is not the natural order o things, and it is deeply disturbing. It is also astory we must tell.

I want to thank Meghan Ward or her tireless work on this very challenging projectit is a complex subject that hasbeen given li e through her e orts. I also want to thank the ACCs Suzan Chamney and the many other Club volun-teers and contributors who made this project possible.

Moving orward, the ACC will continue in its e orts to assist the many scientists and researchers who are working togain a more complete understanding o the environmental orces a ecting our mountains. We will continue to lovethe mountains, and cherish our time in them. That will never change.

David Foster Vice President, Access & Environment

Alpine Club o Canada April, 2011

FOREWORD


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NOTE FROM THE AUTHORIts like the mountains are being undressed, Glen Boles said in response to the changes he has seen in the CanadianRockies. Boles, a well-known mountaineer, member o the amed Grizzly Group and esteemed mountain artist,

could not have put it better. Just one interview into the research or The State o the Mountains Report and it becameobvious that those who agreed to participate in the project had a special connection to the alpine environment.

The State o the Mountains Report is a result o two years worth o intermittent research, interviews, phone calls,emails, data collection, writing and editing on behal o the Alpine Club o Canada. Consequently, what began asa vast nation-wide study about the impact o climate change on alpine regions very quickly turned into a more o-cussed study on the impact that climate change is having on the alpine environment (primarily glaciers) in southernAlberta and British Columbia.

This shi t occurred or two reasons, the rst being that the scope needed to be narrowed to make this a paper andnot a book, and secondly, because glacial recession has come to be known as the poster child o climate change, asone scientist put it. It was simply the best way to communicate the state o the mountains. The report also ocuseson the mountains o southern Alberta and British Columbia, in particular the Canadian Rockies, primarily becausethis is where the majority o the contributors are based.

The process o preparing this paper was airly straight orward: rst, a series o mountaineers were interviewed andtheir anecdotal evidence was recorded. From there, a new set o questions were developed or the scientists, whoprovided in ormation that could help ll in the holes and begin to answer the why behind the changes mountain-eers had witnessed. Then, other orms o data (graphs, photographs and other visuals) were collected to ll in anyremaining holes as much as possible and to provide the reader with some context. The nal product results roma long process o si ting through a large volume o in ormation and organizing material into a coherent story thatwould speak clearly and meaning ully to readers. I hope Ive done my job.

It was delight ul to be able to meet and correspond with such passionate and experienced outdoor enthusiasts anddedicated scientists, all o whom will be introduced throughout the report (there is also a list o contributors at theend). All in all, twelve mountaineers, our scientists and one natural historian were interviewed or The State o theMountains Report. Throughout the report, they are more generally re erred to as the mountaineers and the scien-tists. Furthermore, the authors voice is re erred to as we, in order to represent each person who contributed to theprocess o The State o the Mountains . These people are named in a Thank You list at the end.

Throughout the process o gathering data or The State o the Mountains Report , I received many gracious recom-mendations o mountaineers, guides or scientists I should speak to. Many o these recommendations resulted ininterviews, pieces o which appear in this report. At some point, however, the line had to be drawn on how muchadditional in ormation would be collected. I realized at one point that additional data or in ormation would notdramatically change the outcome o the report.

There will be gaps and aws in the data you nd in this report. In some cases I was asking a mountaineer to recounthis or her experiences rom as ar back as sixty years ago. I ask that you see the general trend amidst the blurred

memories and the challenge o consolidating this volume o in ormation.

O greatest interest to me is how the voices o those interviewed or The State o the Mountains Report sang withresounding unity on the subject. And while there is no doubt the alpine environment is changing, the true signi -cance o these changes and the current state o the mountains is a question that remains to be answered.

Meghan J. Ward Banf, Alberta

March 2011


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INTRODUCTIONIn the grand scheme o things, there is actually verylittle we know about the ull e ects o climate change

on the alpine environment. The scientists who wereinterviewed or this report o ten spoke to the lack o consistent measuring techniques, the relative new-ness o the research being done and the big gaps thatremain in their ndings. Still, they are hard at work, onthe ground, camping out on glaciers and researchingat high elevations in an e ort to answer some o theirmost pressing questions.

In many regards, the activity and changes we haveseen in the alpine environment are completely naturaland cyclicalpart o natures way o regulating hersel .What each o our scientists have noted, however, is thatthe rate at which these changes are occurring is quitestartling:

Columbia Glacier (2009). Photo: R.W. Sand ord.

There is no question that the majority o glacial geolo-gists would agree there is cyclicity going on, remarked

Brian Menounos, Associate Pro essor in Geography atthe University o Northern British Columbia, but themagnitude o glacier recession now is concerning. Thegeneral consensus is that the 20th century recessionis really outside o the envelope o statistical random

uctuations. This one act in itsel is driving much o theresearch in climatology, glaciology and hydrology today.

Likewise, all o our mountaineers, ranging in age romtheir early thirties to early eighties, have noted dramaticchanges in the alpine environment during their li e-times. Fascinatingly, all our o the scientists mentionedthat, in many cases, the anecdotes o mountaineers arethe best evidence o climate change that they have.

VALUE OF ANECDOTAL EVIDENCEYears, sometimes decades, o hiking and climbing throughremote, mountainous places have turned some mountain-eers into involuntary experts on climate change. In mostcases, mountaineers know more than scientists, explainedShawn Marshall, glaciologist and Canada Research Chairin climate change at the University o Calgary. Weve gota bit o hard data, but not rom very many places and notusually or long enough periods to put it in the context o climate change.

The long-term wanderlust o mountaineers is integralin providing scientists with the longevity and variety o observations they require. Scientists can study only oneto two places i they want to study them very well, hesaid. To actually get rein orcing evidence or con ictingevidence rom other places is really help ul.

John Pomeroy, Canada Research Chair in Water Resourcesand Climate Change and Director o the Centre or

Hydrology at the University o Saskatchewan, spoke o the same value in anecdotal evidence o mountaineers.Pomeroy mentioned that once mountaineers have pro-vided their observations, scientists can then ollow up onwhat these mountaineers have seen.

Despite the insigni cance o a ew decades in the geo-logical time scale, when it comes to gathering this evi-dence, there is nothing to replace someone who has beentravelling out there or 40 or 50 years, Pomeroy said.


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A CHANGING ALPINE ENVIRONMENTWhen we asked whether the mountaineers had seen evidence o climate change in the mountain environment, theyimmediately began giving examples o what they had seen. Their examples were plenti ul and robust, both in terms

o the extent o the changes and their geographic locations.

What developed through the research and the writing o this report is a call and response between mountaineers andscientists. First, we introduce the mountaineers observations and anecdotes ollowed by the scientists explanations o thechanges these mountaineers had witnessed.

WHAT IS A GLACIER?A glacier is a mass o ice that orms where the ac-cumulation o snow exceeds melting. This snow even-tually compacts into ice, which slowly ows downhillliked a rozen river. The top layer o the glacier can

racture (and create crevasses) when it ows overuneven terrain.

Vowell Glacier (1990). Photo: Brad Harrison.

Vowell Glacier (2008). Photo: Brad Harrison.

Glaciers Most noticeable are the glaciers, responded Boles,which have receded not only in length, but in volume.Boles recounted that at one time, the Fresh eld Glaciercame down almost into the orest, and in the 1940s itwas probably a mile or so to the glaciers snout. Nowthere is a mile long lake even arther up the valley, hesaid.

Sean Isaac, a guide, Canadian Alpine Journal editor andauthor o Mixed Climbs in the Canadian Rockies , broughtup the example o the North Face o Mount Fay:

It was a big snow summer in 1993 and we kickedsteps up the whole way at the end o August. Itwas a really wide route and the central ice bulgeroute was a big serac. But then I did it again in2006 and there has been a loss in width. The icebulge is no longer an ice bulge. The whole thinghas changed. There is a lot more exposed rock without ice on it.

Mountain guide Jen Olson echoed Isaacs observationsabout Mount Fay, adding that what is happening on theNorth Face o Mount Fay is really consistent amongst allmountains, which are getting drier.

While glaciers are retreating, ormerly perennial snowpatches are beginning to melt away completely atcertain times o the year. Long-term Coast Mountainclimber, Don Serl, explained that in his research or

his book, The Waddington Guide, people in the 1940sand 1950s climbed routes on snow in the WaddingtonRange o the Coast Mountains. By the publication o theguide, the aces were much, much leaner, or snow aceswere gone entirely, he explained. Now that the snow isgone, most o the old snow lines are now unattractiverock routes.

Brad Harrison, ACC General Mountaineering CampManager, and Helen Sovdat, internationally certi ed


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mountain guide, spoke o the Neptune Peak area in theSelkirk Mountains. Two to three peaks have signi -cantly changed, Harrison said. They are still doable,but now climbing involves really bad scree. Sovdat

mentioned that rom the years 2000 to 2009, she hadobserved changes on both Neptune Peak and TridentPeak that were signi cant enough to make the climbingharder because ice is being exposed where you couldpreviously walk on snow.

The mountaineers gave additional examples o glaciersthat had demonstrated a signi cant retreat, includingthe Peyto Glacier, Bugaboo Glacier (speci cally leadingup to the toe o the Kain Route), Opabin Glacier in theLake OHara area, Angel Glacier on the North Face o Mt.Edith Cavell and the Snowbird Glacier on Mt. Patterson.Numerous other glaciers throughout Western Canadacould be added to this ever-growing list.

I almost didnt recognize the Saskatchewan Glacier

when I walked in there a ew years ago. Soon youwont have to walk on ice at all to reach CastleguardMeadows. Its just unbelievable. To someone whosees a glacier or the rst time it seems massive andpermanent, but they are melting back very, very ast i viewed year-to-year. My kids might not see glaciers inthe Rockies when they are my age i the current trendkeeps up.

Will Gadd

Its sad because you see the environment that youlove disappearing be ore your eyes. Its a place I careabout and it seems it is changing ast and not in a way

thats healthy. Maybe its good we take people thereand show them these things. Maybe it will make a di -erence in their own lives at home.

Helen Sovdat

Haig Glacier (1982). Photo: Gillean Da ern.

Haig Glacier (1989). Photo: Gillean Da ern.

The current glacier bus parking lot at the Athabasca Glacier as viewedrom the elevation o the ormer parking lot. As the glacier has receded,

buses can now only access it rom lower down. Photo: Meghan Ward.


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Glacial recession is such a poster child o climatechange, remarked Marshall. It makes sense, there ore,

that it was the rst example that the mountaineers gaveas evidence.

But, glacial recession goes ar beyond just being aposter child. One thing that we know quite well is thatglaciers are sensitive indicators o climate, Menounosexplained. They add mass during the winter timeand they lose mass during the summer. I you were tochange the temperature or precipitation pattern, theywill respond.

We measure the health o a glacier by measuring themass balance, which is essentially just a bank budgeton the money, or water, going in and out. Additionally,as Michael Demuth, a glaciology and cold regionsresearch scientist with the Geological Survey o Canada,explained, Currently, we are losing more and more o our principle, re erring to the storage, or savings ac-count, that glaciers represent. Menounos attributed thecurrent state o glaciers to a warmer sur ace air temper-ature, which has caused enhanced or increased meltingin summer. Marshall clari ed that glaciers are never inequilibriumthey are always advancing and retreating.But, this is clearly a retreat that is unusual in the contexto the last 3000 years, Marshall said, with re erence tothe Canadian Rockies.

Demuth, who has been studying mass balance or 30years, noted that it is not just about melting and thatnourishment is a very important actor. To make up

or one degree o temperature warming, Marshallexplained, you need a 70% snow all increase. But,

A lot o these glaciers are so out o equilibrium,

that there is no snow le t anymore in August in theaccumulation areas o the glaciers. This means thatit doesnt belong in the landscape anymore. Its just a relic o previous colder climates. The AlbertaGovernment calls it ossil water because it accumu-lated during colder climates and its no longer renew-able. Over the next century well use it up.

Shawn Marshall

in addition to the warmer sur ace air temperature,Menounos said there has been a reduction in precipita-tion in Western Canada, though he added that precipita-tion change is more spatially variable than temperature.

Furthermore, the glaciers, like the Saskatchewan andDome glaciers, are melting out enough that they are ex-posing old growth orest, said Marshall. Stumps datingback 3300 years ago have been exposed in these areas,providing evidence that the glaciers are urther back than they have been in the last 3000 years. This tellsus that this is not just a usual warming cycle, Marshallconcluded.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERINGDe nitions rom Mountaineering: Freedom o the Hills (7th Edition):

Bergschrund Giant crevasse ound at the upperlimit o glacier movement, ormed where the mov-ing glacier breaks away rom the ice cap or snow eldabove.

Moraine Mounds o rock and debris deposited by aglacier.

Scree Loose slope o rock ragments smaller thantalus.

Serac Tower o ice on a glacier.

Above all, the Athabasca Glacier, one o six toes comingo the Columbia Ice eld, came up in every single inter-view as the typical example o glacial retreat. You usedto be able to park your car where the bus tours take o

rom, remembered Boles. It used to be a 50 oot hikedown to the glacier and now it is more like 200 eet. The Athabasca Glacier has receded more than 1.5 kmand lost hal its volume in the past 125 years.

Athabasca Glacier (2010). Photo: Paul Zizka.

Glacial Recession Explained


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In the Field: Monitoring Mass Balance Because glacial mass is an integration o the long-term variability o precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover,changes in glacial mass are considered among the most robust indicators o climate change. Glacier mass balance is meas-

ured at a number o o cial re erence observing sites in the Arctic Islands and the mountain West by the Geological Survey o Canada, Glaciology Section, in partnership with Parks Canada and various university collaborators. This long-standinginitiative, which had its origins during Canadas contribution to the International Hydrological Decade beginning in 1965, is called The State and Evolution o Canadas Glaciers. In the mountain West, observing sites are located in the south-ern and northern Coast Mountains, the Interior Ranges and Rocky Mountainsand in the Selwyn Mountains o the Northwest Territory.

The results o these mass balance studies are contributed periodically withthose obtained rom other mountain regions o the World to the Global Climate Observing System under Canadas commitments to the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change.

Mass balance, while a simple concept, is a very complex phenomenon to meas-ure. Some o the research conducted at the re erence observing sites includesdeveloping better methods (including remote sensing) with which to measure mass balance, particularly or: i) larger ice elds such as the Columbia Ice eld; ii) where internal accumulation o re rozen melt water may occur and; iii) debris-covered glaciers which are a ast evolving phenomenon in some regions like the eastern slopes o the Rockies.

Major results over the time period include:1. a better understanding o the role o glaciers in a water resources sense (i.e. they regulate stream ow when other

sources are absent or in decline)

2. that mass balance can be as much controlled by nourishment in Winter as melting and ablation in Summer

3. that we have been witness to large swings in the north-south distribution o Winter glacier nourishment (and snowpack in general) as a result o the pulsing o the Paci c Decadal Oscillationa sea sur ace temperature uctuation that afects the circulation o moisture into the mountainWestat times starving the southern mountain West in pre erence to the northern Cordillera

4. that glacier mass balances have become increasingly negative in the last ew decades re ecting globally syn-chronous temperature increases and their mani estations

5. that or some regions in the southern mountain West,

late season stream ows are in decline as long-term gla-cier diminution takes hold (i.e. increasingly less glacier area in response to long-term negative mass balancetrends is not compensated or by warming in terms o melt water generation)

6. that glaciers and ice elds are becoming increasingly ragmented in the landscape, and that this is having a consider-able efect on ecosystem unctioning or example a shi t rom river dynamics and water temperatures to which many river-borne species are highly adapted

Michael Demuth

Peyto Glacier: Mount Rhondda (le t), Peyto Lake (centre), 1923.Photo: Whyte Museum o the Canadian Rockies (V263/NA

-1799, Byron Harmon Fonds).

Mt. Rhondda and research on the PeytoGlacier. Photo: Michael Demuth.


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Snowpack and PrecipitationIn the Bow Valley o Alberta, its quite common to hearpeople say, We just dont get the snow we used to.

Long-term residents think back to the glory days whensnow would all in heaps and area ski hills would be wellcovered or the season. When we spoke to mountaineer,historian and author, Chic Scott, he said, compared to40 years ago, there is a lot less snow in the CanadianRockies. Scott, who did the rst winter ascent o MountAssiniboine, said that mountain can become almostcompletely bare o snow, which was likely not the casein the past. Scott also mentioned that his ormativeyears in the mountains were during big snow years, like1971. Nowadays, when people say this is a big snowyear it is actually an average year, he explained. Scottalso spoke to the negative impact the lack o snow hashad on ski hills in Ban National Park, particularly Mt.Norquay, which receives much less snow than the LakeLouise Ski Area and Sunshine Village.

Serl explained that, in the Coast Mountains o BritishColumbia, the snow pack is not necessarily lighter orless, it is just ound at higher elevations:

In the moderate high peaks (6000 to 8000 eet),in the Vancouver area or example, it used to bethat by May the snow pack was at a maximumand extended below tree line (4000 or 5000to 6000 eet away rom Coast). So, early in theseason was a good time to be travelling becausethe snow covered the bush and got you into thealpine early in the year. Even in July, there was stilla lot o snow around, which made or good mo-bility and a decent boot skiing! We got around inthe hills more easily and quickly. Higher altitudes(greater than 6500 eet) probably still have a simi-lar snow pack as be ore, but snow line is higherthan be ore, which means a lot o the terrain thatused to be buried in summer is not covered andapproaches are bushier and more arduous.

Roger Laurilla, photographer and guide, mentionedthat in the 20 to 25 years he has been involved in snowscience, the actual complexity o the snowpack haschanged. According to him, there is more wind in themountains than previously observed (more scour-ing and more movement o snow in the early season).Persistent weak layers in the snowpack have becomethe norm, resulting in huge avalanche cycles that aretaking out older growth trees.

Youngs Peak in Rogers Pass (1982). Photo: Roger Laurilla.

Youngs Peak in Rogers Pass (2009). Photo: Roger Laurilla.

Illicillewaet Glacier in Rogers Pass (2009). Photo: Roger Laurilla.

Illicillewaet Glacier in Rogers Pass (1982). Photo: Roger Laurilla.


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From our scientists perspective, it has already been con-cluded to some degree that there is less precipitationin the mountains. But what is the impact o this on themountain environment, apart rom bad skiing?

It is important to acknowledge that, in some regards,scientists are not able to ully assert the impact o the changes in precipitation because, according toMenounos, they have a real lack o high elevation sta-tions in Western Canada to track these uctuations on along-term basis. Pomeroy explained that while they donot have good measurements at high elevations to saythat the snow pack is going down, they can investigateit through modelling.

However, Marshall said that the modelling is tellingthem that the snowpack at high elevations should be

increasing. He doesnt believe it because everything theglaciers tell us is the opposite. The act that glaciers arethinning and retreating so much is the best evidencethat the snowpack in the high mountains is actuallydiminishing.

There is less snow in late spring, explained Pomeroy,and less snow blowing because the snow is wetter.Blowing is important to the health o glaciers because itneeds this distribution o snow throughout the season.

Ommo Glacier in Battle Range (2009). Photo: Roger Laurilla.Ommo Glacier in Battle Range (1983). Photo: Roger Laurilla.

Snow blows most easily when it is cold, dry and u y,Pomeroy said. In warmer weather the snow is stickierand you get ewer cornices, which usually eed smallglaciers. As o the time o our interview, Pomeroy was just starting to investigate this e ect a bit more.

According to Pomeroy, the blowing e ect o snow on aglacier is also important because snow on a glacier willre ect over 80% o the solar radiation on it and glacierice will re ect only 30%. I you lose the snow, the icewill melt aster, and the earlier the ice gets exposed, thegreater the melt rate on the glacier.

So, was Don Serl correct in his observation that thesnowpack in the Coast Mountains? I the glaciersgive any indication, Marshall said that parts o BritishColumbia have healthier glaciers because the snowpack

is not diminishing as much. Satellite imaging is showingthat between 1985 and 2005, Alberta saw a 25% reduc-tion in glaciers while it was only an 11%reduction in British Columbia.

Understanding Snowpack and Precipitation


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Other Evidence Warmer TemperaturesIn addition to receding glaciers and changes to the

snowpack, most o the mountaineers said that they eltlike temperatures had been warming over the years.Boles elaborated a bit more and said that in summerduring the late 50s and early 60s, they would put theircrampons on in the morning because the sur ace o thesnow was hard. In the 70s and 80s, however, it was rarethat they would do that. In act, they would be post-holing and would have to give up on some nice snowclimbing because it was just too so t early in the day.

Is it true that the temperatures are warming? Accordingto the scientists, yes. I you were to look at the meantemperature, the largest changes in temperature are inthe winter and spring months. This is quite consistentwith the Northern Hemisphere in general, Menounossaid.

According to both Menounos and Marshall, the con-sequence o this is that when there is a warmer springseason, the snowpack will melt earlier than it wouldotherwise, thus exposing the ice to a longer meltseason. Taking into consideration the mass balanceequation, i the ice has a longer melt season and isnt

ed enough new snow to balance this, we will see theglaciers continue to shrink.

Rock FallA ew mountaineers mentioned they had seen an

increase in rock all hazard in the mountains, describingcertain routes as shooting galleries. While some attrib-uted this to permanent snow or ice patches melting andreleasing rocks, many were unsure i this was true.

Menounos said that in terms o a conceptual model o why increased rock all might happen, they sometimesobserve slopes de-buttressing, a situation whereby aglacier starts to recede and get smaller, exposing slopesthat may then undergo ailure. In general, however,rock all remains an area to be studied more intenselyby scientists. At this point, most evidence is anecdotalobservation only and has no ratings attached.

While rock all is not a topic being studied in WesternCanada, it is being studied in Europe. In Switzerland, somuch o their tourism is coming rom the Alps, so this isa great concern to them, explained Michael Demuth, aglaciology and cold regions research scientist with theGeological Survey o Canada. They have been observingtheir glaciers or a longer time, mainly through paintings,which have been depicting the mountain landscapesince the late 1700s. Demuth said that we can learn romother parts o the world even though the geology o themountains o Western Canada is di erent.

ARE CHANGES ACCELERATING?Between the mountaineers observations and thescientists explanations o changes in the alpine environ-ment, we have thus ar established that the currentchanges are unusual in light o the patterns o the last3000 years. Beyond this, we were curious to know i thechanges in the glaciers, in particular, are accelerating.We asked both the mountaineers and scientists or theirthoughts on this question.

Our oldest mountaineer, Glen Boles, was quite afrma-tive in his response that the changes are speeding upall the time. Most mountaineers, though, were quitehesitant to say either way and suggested we ask thescientists or their input. Mountaineers, such as Laurilla,who have a good understanding o snow science andwhat is occurring with the glaciers, were able to deducethat the changes are, in act, accelerating. When gla-ciers become thin, explained Laurilla, melting actuallyaccelerates than it would at a greater thickness.

As it turns out, Boles and Laurilla are correct. For manyo the glaciers we have studied in Western Canada,Menounos responded, it appears that glacial thinningand rontal retreat have accelerated in the late 20thcentury.

In the case o some glaciers, Menounos continued,they shrink to a critical size where the glaciers becomeseveral smaller ice masses. Studies show that this glacier

ragmentation accelerates ice loss. This process is muchlike crushing an ice cubesince many more sides arenow exposed, melting accelerates.

Annual records at the Peyto Glacier and a ew, moreheavily studied glaciers indicate that the rate o glacialrecession is indeed accelerating. Overall, however, eachscientist said that the topic o acceleration is difcult todiscuss because there simply arent records on an annualtimescale or the multitude o glaciers in Western Canada.


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Routes may not necessarily be inaccessible, but certaineatures and routes have changed, said Boles. For routes

that are still accessible, however, hazards along the waydont make them very appealing.

Harrison, Isaac, Hansen, Scott and Olson all spoke o the impact that the changes in the alpine have had onnorthern aspects in the mountains. North Faces haveto be done earlier in the season, explained Harrison.Be ore you had to depend on ice. Now you have todepend on the winter snowpack.

The North Face o Forbes and Edith Cavell are justabout unclimbable now, responded Isaac. Olsonadded The Dolphin on Mount Temple to this list. TheMountain Conditions Report, [contributed to almostdaily by guides who are members o the Association o Canadian Mountain Guides], doesnt really report a lotabout people climbing the North Face o any peaks lateron in the season, Isaac explained.

Further West, Serl said he doesnt bother going out iceclimbing until January now. It never reezes anymore,he said. Ice in the Coast Mountains is restricted tohigher altitudes.

Probably the biggest di erence is that you just cantplan on a route staying the same rom year to yearanymore when on glaciers, said Will Gadd, all-around

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE FOR MOUNTAINEERSChanges in the mountain landscape and glaciers, in particular, are an interesting and rather startling phenomenonto witness. But or the people who are passionate about climbing the peaks o Alberta and British Columbia, the

impacts are more than aesthetic. These changes have had pro ound consequences on their lives as mountaineersand guides.

Route and Access Changes

It is a shi ting landscape unpredictable. Some

places are sa er, while others are completely inaccess-ible. Bergschrunds are opening up, widening anddisappearing. Changing glaciers make it tricky ormountaineering. A guidebook rom 10 years ago isnow out o date. The biggest changes are up in theaccumulation areas where there should be snow yearround. Sometimes this is melting completely, so it isopening up hazards that weve never seen be ore.

Shawn Marshall

Its sad to see the mountains looking more and morelike the American Rockies. As they are now, our moun-tains are known around the world.

Chic Scott

People will look at the North Face o Mt. Fay andthink, wow people used to climb that.

Sean Isaac

Bow Glacier rom Bow Lake, 1924. Photo: Whyte Museum o theCanadian Rockies (V263/NA -2443, Byron Harmon Fonds).

Bow Glacier (2010). Photo: Paul Zizka.


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mountain and extreme sport athlete. Its just an epi-demic o ast changes that make even known routes orplaces very di erent.

Sovdat concurred. You need to approach things reshevery time, she responded. In the last 10 years, theACCs General Mountaineering Camps have beenreturning to the same locations. Disappearing glaciersmean more time consuming approaches and tediouswalking on loose boulders. Its less aesthetic or peopleand just eels like more o a grind.

In general, as glaciers have receded, accessing routeshas involved a longer hike or some difcult terrain.Retreating ice reveals sheer aces and cli s in someareas where it otherwise would have been covered by aglacial ramp.

Some routes in the Bugaboos and Adamants haveexposed, polished granite when the ice melts, Isaacgave as an example. Either you cant even get to thestart o the route or there is a pitch added to routes onthe approach.

The approach to the Kain Face on Mount Robson hasbeen severely altered. Now there is an ice all you cantnegotiate. This used to be a steep snow slope.

Roger Laurilla

Scientists had equal concern or what the changinglandscape means in terms o increased hazards anddifcult access or mountaineers. Your knowledge romthe past may not help you, Pomeroy explained. From a

scientists perspective, the models they create are basedon what they have already observed, not on what theyhave never encountered. So, mountaineers need to becare ul not to assume that eatures in the terrain, suchas snow bridging on glaciers, remain the same.

Demuth concluded that while the mountain environ-ment is dynamic and ever-changing, the rate o changehas been occurring over shorter time periods, in somecases two to ve years. Demuth made a re erence toSkyladder on Mt. Andromeda, which was once a routethat people aspired to climb, but now looks horrible.

Safety Issues As we alluded to earlier, mountaineering routes havenot only become inaccessible; mountaineers are also

nding an increase in objective hazards. Sa ety hascertainly been impacted, particularly when on glaciers,responded climber, photographer and lmmaker PatMorrow. He said many o the climbs he did be ore arenow too dangerous to access, such as Skyladder on Mt.Andromeda and the Bugaboo Col approach to PigeonSpire. There is just too much rock all, and now a risk o getting rocks sent down rom other parties above.

Some climbing routes, such as the North Faces o Mt. Temple and Edith Cavell, have a much shorter seasondue to increased rock all hazard, Hansen said. Due to

the melt- reeze cycle, Demuth explained, it is sa er toclimb earlier in the season to avoid additional rock allthat is released as snow and ice melt.

Isaac explained that there has always been rock all inthe Rockies, but now you have to be especially care ul.There are routes you just wouldnt do now becauseo the exposed choss, he said. The ice is exposing thisrubble that has been sitting there since the upli t andits sitting there ready to come down on your head.

Skyladder on Mt. Andromeda (2008). Photo: Bill Corbett.

Laurilla recounted how the changes to the glacier ac-

cessing Abbot Pass at Lake Louise, known as the Death Trap, mean that it is much more broken up with rock and ice all hazard. He explained that, as a result, climb-ers now go up the Lake OHara side to the same pass.

In the 1920s, people used to access the pass by horse,Laurilla explained. In the building o Abbot Hut in 1922,

or example, supplies would be brought across theLower Victoria Glacier by horses and nally carried tothe crest o the pass by guides.


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What is the Future for the Next Generation of Mountaineers? Nancy Hansen: I believe that people will continue to climb and explore the alpine, but that uture mountaineers will not be able to climb many o the classic routes that are disappearing already. There will still be plenty or mountaineers and

skiers to dothe larger ice elds are not going to melt away in the next couple o decades. But some o the steeper aces inthe Canadian Rockies will simply become too hazardous to be reasonable. Doom and gloom? Perhaps. But I also believethat people are very good at making the best o a situation, and uture mountaineers will no doubt do just that.

Helen Sovdat: We will adapt. Are we going to be able to stop these changes? Maybe. But we will adapt. The high moun-tain experience will be there, but our Rockies could look like Colorado. They will still be great challenges, but the aesthetic and the glacier travel will be lostalmost like a dying species that cant be recovered. Well have to go to the St. EliasRange to get the glacier experience.

Brad Harrison: Future mountaineers had better get good at travelling on scree because that is where they will bespending most o their time. There are more hazards to be aware o and more awareness required when trekking in thebackcountry.

Barry Blanchard and Mount Athabasca Barry Blanchard, international mountain guide, has made about one hundred ascents o Mt. Athabasca. Initially, he said he climbed on the mountain as a young man learning to be an alpinist, but the vast majority o his ascents have been as a pro essional mountain guide. Blanchard has seen a lot o changes in the peak over the last thirty years.

July 1979Ron Humble and I meander through a swath o aqua-marine serac debris. The cauldron o the North Face isaustere and magni cently alpine, a sweep o steel coloured ice originates at the rock o the northeast ridge, arcs past the line o the North Face, beyond where Ron and I stand nervously looking up to the Hourglass route. To our right, aten-storey high serac overlies the ice ace; it is the ront-age o a pocket glacier that clings to the Silverhorn. Thebreadth o the ice ace is 500 meters and 90 meters aboveus stands its sole island o rock. The outcrop is about thesize o a Volkswagen Beetle and it is the only rock to break the sur ace o the ice ace. My legs are vibrating with exer-tion when I hobble onto the rock island and it is my salva-tion because my calves are ailing.

Ron and I are in so ar over our heads that it is laughable.

Weve rented primitive ice gear and Ive strapped my crampons onto hiking boots because I dont own mountaineer-ing boots. Ron does, and hes wearing wool knickers whileI climb in blue jeans. Best o all are the hal a dozen small diameter red ice screws that we ound in a cardboard box at an Army/War surplus store in Calgary. Were about toabandon the climb when Dick Mitten and Carl Oustramcatch us up. They have a dozen Chouinard ice screws, rigid crampons with curved ront points (my rentals have in-clined ones) and they advance up the brittle concrete hard

ice using the pied troisime technique. They are in control and encourage me and Ron to ollow them up, graciously ofer to leave their screws in or us to clip and clean.

The Hourglass is named or a narrow gulley squeezed tight between the ar right hand edge o the North Face rock band and the bulkhead o the Silverhorn serac. It is so wild to be in it, the swirling tension o the glacier touchable onmy right and looking like rock strata exposed in a road cut.Less than ten eet to my le t, black limestone rises sheer.Several body lengths o vertical water ice orm the crux.Climbing it is an act o desperation or Ron and me, armed with one long piolet and one short alpine hammer apiece.Carl and Dick haul us up. Recovering at the belay I gazeof to the serac. It is so alien and breathtaking to methe

rst one that I have been close to. Its leading edge cuts

away to my right or hundreds o eet. Several more ropelengths and, along with Dick and Carl, Ron and I stand ontop o Mt. Athabasca or the rst time.

Summer 1993Troy Kirwan, a ellow guide, and I hike up the moraine approach on the north side o the mountain in the company o Ray, a National Geographic photographer. We traversethe glacier to a bulge cross-hatched with crevasses. We pass the morning climbing in and out o the airy tale


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icescape o azure blue. Ray has never been inside a glacier and snaps of several hundred pictures. I grab his cameraand shoot a couple o him gawking out rom a keyhole inthe blue.

That part o the glacier is gone. It is glacially scoured bedrock now and the crevasses we played in dont exist anymore. Over the next decade I saw them thin out and

atten like a de ating air mattress. Their ripples were at theedge o the glacier, and then they were gone.

Summer 2003Kootenay Park is burning and torched pine needles and ash lie on the sur ace o the Central Rockies glaciers. For the rst time in my memory, the ice border that coats thetraverse leading rom the Silverhorn to the summit o Mt. Athabasca melts. There is an old trail embossed in theunderlying scree! At some point in the last century it must have melted and climbers walked in on trail, but that wasbe ore my time.

July 16, 2008The last time that I climbed the North Face route I wasguiding. Several rock islands now protrude rom theice ace. The crux is no longer a ew moves on 5.5- eel-ing rock. Time has pulled the upper edge o the ice ace

urther downhill and there are now a number o metresmore rock climbing. The top edge o the ice ace has alsobecome thinner and it is harder to get good mediumlength ice screws into the ace. Now, it is short screws drilled into increasingly

ragmented patches o ice. The lost icehas le t behind steeper rock and thecrux now eels like 5.8/9 mixed climbingand it is tricky to protect. The exit iceis getting harder to reach all the time,although this is largely due to climbersswinging hard and shattering it away. I would not solo the crux without a sel -belay now, not that I solo at all anymore.

Loose rock is exposed on the ledges o

the rock band where I remember bandso snow and ice. Rock all is a problemon hot days and I dont remember that being an issue in the 80s.

May 2009These days I seem to make it into thecauldron o the North Face several times a year. It saddens me to see thechanges, even though I now know Mt. Athabasca North Face rom Wilcox Pass (2008). Photo: Bill Corbett.

that mountains, especially glaciated ones, are not static.Motion is constant and most o the time imperceptible.Sometimes it is explosive. The serac debris on this crossingwas the biggest I can remember seeing; some chunks are

as big as trucks. It ran a kilometre down the glacier over numerous large crevasses passing two ice alls, yet the iceclif itsel has shrunk. It is not as tall as it use to be, and it now looks like the Silverhorn Glacier, the glacier that cre-ates it, is buckling, olding in hal . It is no longer the saw cut linear edge that I clawed my way past in 1979. Upslope it iscracking and the stress o gravity is visible in a broken and jumbled sur ace. The rock island that saved Ron and me isnow a buttress o crumbling shale coloured rock, and romit sweep strata o newly exposed rotten rock. It is also light in colour or having melted out so recently. The ice acethat we climbed is now a ribbon with more rock comingout every year. Like a plate o ice set into water, the ice aceis melting away on all o its sur aces simultaneously.

Ive seen a picture o the North Face o Athabasca rom the30s or 40s. A small hanging glacier clings to the ace. It ell of be ore I was born, yet its silhouette is still visible on theice o the North Face. Glaciers advance and retreat, thoughseldom so signi cantly over the course o a humans li ethis humans li e. I can indulge in melancholy. Things havechanged and, to borrow rom my riend Bob Sand ordslexicon, I eel a personal loss in my sense o place.

Barry Blanchard, Mountain GuideMay 2009


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For many alpine guides, changes to the mountain land-scape, glaciers, snowpack, routes and sa ety hazards

have created new challenges or their work with clients. The guides we interviewed were able to give speci cexamples o how they approach their work di erently asa result o climate change.

Because the melt reeze cycles are mixed up, as aguide you need to give yoursel lots o space, Sovdatexplained. Mountaineers need to approach things witha resh eye, not assume they know the terrain and beprepared to do more technical climbing because thereis less snow to walk on. Finally, Sovdat said, You o tenhave to explain to clients that cer tain routes arent incondition and then o er them an alternative. But, orthe most part, climate change is always a sidebar inSovdats guide/client relations. I dont think any o themountaineers think that global warming is a myth, shesaid. Everyone notices.

While he admits hes only been alpine guiding or justover ve years, Isaac agreed that as a guide you need to

o er a lot o alternatives. August is a hard time to guidenow, he said. While it used to be the alpine season in

the Canadian Rockies, Isaac wouldnt suggest clientscome in August, but rather July, because conditions arebetter then.

There are going to be new classic routes, Isaac re-marked, as guidebooks and photographs become obso-lete with the changes in the alpine environment. Clientso ten come to him with a route they have in mind, notknowing the changes that have occurred. Over time,the changes will begin to alter which routes clients willrequest to do.

Laurilla mentioned that the changes he has had to maketo his guiding are not all bad. On the positive side, hesaid there is a lot more to talk about with people hetakes outdoors. Having evidence o climate change andareas where he can show things gives guiding addition-al value. There is much more satis action in being ableto show people the mountains and not just take themup the mountains, Laurilla said.

A CHANGING APPROACH: MOUNTAIN GUIDING

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER FLOWApart rom the impact the changes in the alpine has onthe lives and experiences o mountaineers, likely moreimportant is the impact climate change has had onaspects o the ecosystem and mountain environment. Avast amount o research and study is being conductedin this areamore than we will include in this report. Interms o The State o the Mountains Report , we took thelead rom the mountaineers, who primarily brought upor asked about water ow should the glaciers disappear. This is a common question in public discussion, and onethat was worth highlighting in this report.

What will happen to the river ows in the Bow,

Athabasca, Fraser and other rivers that are glacially ed?asked Gadd. Are armers downstream going to haveirrigation water?

As Pomeroy explained it, a healthy glacier has no an-nual e ect on the water supply because its input equalsthe output. It is the things that cause deglaciation thata ect the water supply, not the melting o the glaciersthemselves. In that regard, glaciers are the canary in thecoal mine.

As an absolute component o water supply, glaciers arenot that big. They are good indicators o change, but donot a ect water supply in large cities such as Edmontonand Calgary by any signi cant rate. According toMarshall, however, the Canmore and Ban area willreceive 5% less water i glaciers are gone. The e ect onalpine streams and water resources will be much more,Marshall explained.

According to natural historian and well-known author,Robert W. Sand ord, even though glacial melt-o is onlya small component o water supply, water allocationhas the potential to seriously exacerbate the e ects

o a decrease in water ow. For instance, only 1% o the total water supply to Calgary comes rom glacierson an annual basis, and the rest is run-o rom othertributaries, explained Sand ord. But, i that water is ullyallocatedto irrigation, households, etc.losing that1% could have a signi cant impact.

Essentially the glaciers act as bu ers. For example,in the month o August, when snow has almost ullymelted, the system currently relies on ice melting rom


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the glaciers. Glaciers can act as a bank account when allother water resources have been depleted. According toDemuth, i the ice is not there, you do not have that con-tribution and so this changes the shape o the hydro-

graph (the graph which demonstrates the changes inwater ow in a river over a given period o time). It isunclear at this point what kind o impact this will haveshould the glaciers disappear completely. We knowvery little about the ground water in some o thesemountain areas, Demuth said.

That being said, there may be certain times o theyear that will be adversely a ected should the glaciersdisappear entirely, or should warming temperaturescause greater run-o rom glaciers earlier in the year.According to the scientists, irrigation downstream romthese now glaciated areas may ace periods o droughtand need to nd that water resource somewhere else. This creates concerns or certain water resources thathave not been previously dammed or trapped in reser-voirs. Pomeroy suggested that mountain valleys mightcome up as potential sites or water storage when it

becomes necessary to manage snowmelt. There willbe tremendous pressure on areas within and out o theprotected areas, Pomeroy explained.

Overall, the glaciers may disappear, but because o snowmelt, tributaries and perhaps groundwater, themountain lakes will still be there. They wont be nearlyas beauti ul because they wont have the colour thatcomes rom the glacial silt in the water, Marshall said. These lakes, previously lling large depressions in thelandscape, will also likely be smaller.

In terms o the aquatic ecosystem, an earlier run-o season will change the water temperature in the riv-ers and creeks in the Canadian Rockies. According toMenounos and Pomeroy, some species, such as bulltrout, are sensitive to temperature change. Speciesdependent on cold water could become extinct.

Recommendations for ResearchWhile it was not originally part o the interview process or The State o the Mountains Report, all our scientists high-lighted some challenges to their research. These challenges signi cantly afect the extent to which they can conduct their research, especially with regards to how diverse and long-term their studies can be.

Lack of High Elevation Research StationsThere is still a real lack o high elevation research stations. According to Pomeroy, the highest snow station readings or

the Canadian Rockies are around Lake Louise. Scientists need these stations to gain an understanding o the weather at these altitudes and also to urther their research on glaciers. According to Pomeroy, the density o stations in Canada is ar less than other countries with an alpine environment. Environment Canada has only one high elevation weather station,which is located at Nakiska, a ski resort in Kananaskis Country. Pomeroy had a ew small stations installed in the Fall o 2010 with Backcountry Energy Environmental Solutions. He has applied or unding to have six high-altitude stationsinstalled but has not yet received that unding.

Is Research on Glaciers Representative? According to Marshall, certain glaciers are well studied, such as the Peyto Glacier, but studying one glacier extensively is not enough to make conclusive observations and readings. Scientists can hope that the glaciers that are studied are

This graph demonstrates that, in the uture, water ow levels maypeak prior to periods o greatest demand or hydro electricity.

Graph: Brian Menounos.


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representative, but a glacier is not a glacier is not a glacier, said Demuth. Some are protected by a cirque, others get more snow, and weather is diferent. You cant lump these together.

It is not as simple as just studying more glaciers, however. Research is expensive and glaciers are not easily accessed. Even

when they are, other challenges exist. For example, despite its remarkable access, Marshall said, the Athabasca Glacier is too busy or scientists to eel con dent putting instrumentation and equipment up there to get data. The AthabascaGlacier is considered the most visited glacier in North America. I anything else, setting up a research station there would provide a provocative contrast to the bus tours running up and down the quickly receding glacier.

Lack of Funding for Scientific ResearchSince the writing o this report began in February 2009, a ew key scienti c research programs related to the study o climate change have been severely afected by a lack o unding. According to Pomeroy, the Canadian Foundation or Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS), Canadas main unding body or university-based research on climate, atmospheric and related oceanic work, is shutting down due to a lack o unding rom the Canadian government.

The Western Canadian Cryospheric Network, WC2N, a group o six Canadian universities, two American universities, and government and private scientists who were examining links between climatic change and glacier uctuations in WesternCanada, will eventually shut down. Previously unded by CFCAS, WC2N is currently running on a small supplemental grant until the end o 2011. Some members o the network will continue to work on cryospheric science despite this,Menounos assured. IP3, a research network devoted to improving understanding o cold regions hydrometeorology, hasalso received no urther unding, as it was previously unded by CFCAS.

In my opinion, said Menounos, CFCAS was one o the best run and most e cient unding organizations or climatescience that Canada has ever seen. This government simply doesnt see the environment or understanding the efects o climate change as their priority.

Challenges to Methods of Measuring ChangeWhile it would be advantageous i more glaciers could be studied, i anything scientists need to establish how to takebetter, more consistent measurements. The method o reading and taking observations has changed over the years, said Pomeroy. Glaciers need to be chosen strategically and better techniques need to be developed to measure larger glaciers.Snow science, in general, would also bene t rom having more consistent ways o taking measurements. As Laurilla said,changes in the way we determine changes and take readings have made it di cult to compare apples to apples.

Research station at Peyto Glacier. Photo: Meghan Ward.


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The Mountain Environment of the Canadian Rockies:50 Years from Now Shawn Marshall: It will still be beauti ul here, but theCanadian Rockies we know wont be the same. The areaswhere glaciers were could have ower- lled meadows. Inthe Rockies, well still have snow and theyll still be nicely dressed in white in the winter and spring. There will still bea lot o ice, it will take a while to melt away ully. In sum-mer, you could drive down the Ice elds Parkway and not see any ice, though the ice could still exist at high eleva-tions. It would look a lot more like Colorado. Rivers and lakes will slowly turn to prairie lake colour.

Michael Demuth: Well continue to see urther glacial disintegration. The experience o the mountaineers will change. Well have to be slogging through beauti ul and interesting terrain but wandering up even more glacial moraine. Some small glaciers will outlast the big glaciers

because o the elevation they are at. Some glaciers will last longer because scree landing as debris on glaciers actually has an insulating efect, like a blanket. But what is thehydrological signi cance o this ice that is not melting asquickly? We need to get past assumptions that its all about melting and what you see rom the highway.

John Pomeroy: Well still have the ice elds, but they wont be as big. The glaciers we can usually see rom theIce elds Parkway wont be seen. Mountain snowpacks will

LOOKING AHEADWith anecdotal evidence and scienti c research point-ing us in the direction o accelerating changes in the

alpine environment due to climate change, many read-ers will, no doubt, eel inclined to ask what now? Whatcan we do to stop the changes to the mountains o Western Canada?

We asked the mountaineers and scientists what theythought people who loved the mountains could doto protect them. This question resulted in some rather

varied responses that ranged rom population correc-tion to recycling or not doing anything at all. Some

respondents o ered suggestions, such as taking non-mechanized trips into the mountains and consumingless uel by making more conscious decisions whenbuying products, carpooling and spending less time onthe road. But as Morrow explained, its got nothing todo with being a mountaineer and everything to do withbeing one o the 6.1 billion people on the planet andthe choices we make in our every day lives.

We need to speak or the mountain landscapes thatdo not have a voice on the national level, Sand ordresponded. The mountain community could have a

strong voice in this because o personal experience. They are trustworthy. They have been out there inthe eld.

Menounos suggested that Canadians are stuck think-ing that the only way we can stimulate the economyis by relying ully on ossil uels. To him, this is not the

case. Ignoring the problem is adding a burden to thegrandchildren o Canada that they should not have toinherit, he said.

Lake Louise (2010). Photo: Paul Zizka.

Lake Louise 50 Years rom Now. Photo digitally altered by Paul Zizka.


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be in bad shape in March and at lower elevations it will be normal not to have snow. Well start to see vegetation changewith tree line moving up and valley bottoms becoming grasslands. It will look a lot more like Montana or Idaho. It will beinevitable that the Canadian Rockies will look like the American Rockies.

Brian Menounos: I I had to paint you a picture, the glaciers will be smaller. We will probably still see large ice elds likeColumbia, but some smaller glaciers will not survive. We will see a snowpack on average thinner than it is today and con-taining less water. Tree line will be higher. I it was a 100 years rom now, I would eel more con dent in painting a picture. Again it somewhat depends on the emissions scenarios you believe. The hydrological system will become more intense,leading to an increase in precipitation in the winter or some areas. Even with that slight increase, the warming that is be-ing experienced by the increase o carbon dioxide will overwhelm. In a 100 years rom now, the changes will be even moreclearly evident.

CONCLUSIONLooking back at their mountaineering careers, manyo the respondents spoke to how they eel ortunateto have lived in the time that they did. Harrison wasparticularly thank ul to have lived in what he called theGolden Age o Access, what with routes now becomingso hazardous and inaccessible.

Despite the changes they have seen, most o the moun-taineers said they would still continue pursuing theirpassions in the outdoors, though they would potentiallyalter some o the ways they do this. Sovdat explainedhow important it is to use minimum impact travel andcamping techniques in the ragile alpine environments. This is something she passes on to her clients as well. Asa guide I am a technical leader, she said, but also havea responsibility to be an interpreter and steward o themountains. She also works to strike a balance betweengetting her clients to the peak and helping them enjoythe beauty and minutiae along the way.

Isaac said we still live in a Golden Age. Weve just got tothink o ourselves as lucky that we have these arte acts

o the ice age and we should get out and enjoy them,he said. A glaciated mountain environment is not yet

ully lost. And while the state o the mountains willcontinue to change orever, we currently live in an agewhere we can experience these glaciers and watchthem move in the landscape.

Finally, Marshall reminds us that, in the end, humanswill be the ones to deal with the state o the mountains,however that may change. The Earth can handle it, butwe arent used to it, Marshall concluded. Weve cometo think that mountain environments like the CanadianRockies should look a certain way. But they haventalways looked like that, nor will they continue to.

Thus remains a snapshot o The State o the Mountains inthe year 2011. All is not lost, but the impacts o climatechange on the alpine environment are vast and discon-certing. Only the uture will tell us what truly lies ahead,but our actions and choices in the present moment mayin uence that outcome.


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BIBLIOGRAPHYBlanchard, Barry. Email submission. 7 July 2009.

Bolch, Tobias, Brian Menounos, and Roger Wheate. Landsat-based inventory o glaciers in Western Canada, 19852005. Remote Sensing o Environment 114 (2010):127137.

Boles, Glen. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 22 May 2009.

Cox, Steven M. and Kris Fulsaas (Eds.), Mountaineering: The Freedom o the Hills (7th Edition) (Seattle: TheMountaineers, 2009).

Demuth, Michael. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 13 April 2010.

Gadd, Will. Email submission. 8 May 2009.

Hansen, Nancy. Email submission. 7 July 2009.

Harrison, Brad. Phone interview with Meghan Ward. 23 July 2009.

Isaac, Sean. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 23 November 2009.

Laurilla, Roger. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 23 May 2009.Marshall, Shawn. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 29 May 2010.

Menounos, Brian. Phone interview with Meghan Ward. 8 March 2010.

Morrow, Pat. Phone interview with Kate Forbes. 6 November 2009.

Olson, Jenni er. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 28 September 2009.

Pomeroy, John. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 25 March 2010.

Sand ord, Robert. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 26 October 2009.

Scott, Chic. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 5 May 2009.

Serl, Don. Phone interview with Kate Forbes. 17 December 2009.

Sovdat, Helen. Personal interview with Meghan Ward. 9 December 2009.

CONTRIBUTORS

Barry BlanchardBarry Blanchard was born in Calgary on March 29, 1959. He ound mountainclimbing in the books o his high school library, some o which are still inhis possession. A six month trip to the French Alps in 1980 set the course o Barrys li e: to climb the steepest and most complicated aces o the worldsgreat glaciated peaks. Barry is an alpinist and ull time, internationally certi-

ed mountain guide who has spent over 5000 days o his li e mountaineering.Barry is an Associate Director with Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. He lives inCanmore with his wi e Catherine and two daughters, Rosemary and Eowyn.


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Brad HarrisonBrad Harrison has been managing and out tting the ACCs GeneralMountaineering Camp (GMC) or twenty- ve consecutive years. His ather, BillHarrison, who shared the trail with the likes o Kain and Thorington, was thecamps packer and out tter or over thirty years be ore that. The amily ties tothe GMC are strong indeed. Brad attended his rst camp at the tender age o six and hasnt missed many since. Today, along with his regular duties with theACC, Harrison serves as the Executive Director o the Backcountry Lodges o British Columbia Association (BLBCA) and is the Canadian Mountain and SkiGuide Coordinator at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

Brian MenounosDr. Brian Menounos is an Associate Pro essor in Geography at the University o Northern British Columbia. He obtained his undergraduate and Masters de-grees rom the University o Colorado, Boulder, and his PhD rom the Universityo British Columbia (2002). Brian was the principal investigator o the WesternCanadian Cryospheric Network (WC2N), a UNBC representative to the Paci cInstitute or Climate Solutions (PICS), and a scienti c steering member o theColumbia Basin Trust. Brian also sits on the BC Hydro technical advisory com-mittee or the Paci c Climatic Impacts Consortium. He has strong research linkswith aculty at Simon Fraser University, the University o British Columbia, theUniversity o Calgary, the University o Alberta and the University o Victoria.

Chic ScottBorn in Calgary in 1945, Chic has devoted his li e to the mountains sincehis rst ski trip in the Rockies at the age o 17. A cutting edge mountaineerin his time, he did the rst winter ascent o both Mount Assiniboine (1967)and Mount Hungabee (1966), and climbed Myagdi Mathi in 1973, the rstHimalayan summit reached by a Canadian. Still an avid ski mountaineer, Chicnow devotes his li e to educating others about mountain history and is theauthor o many books, including Pushing the Limits: The Story o CanadianMountaineering and most recently, Deep Powder, Steep Rock: The Li e o HansGmoser.

Don SerlDon Serl was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1947 and grew up inKamloops. He discovered a love o the mountains in the early 1970s, by

which time he was residing in Vancouver. He has spent most o the past thirtyve years exploring un requented parts o the Coast Mountains o BritishColumbia, wherein he has contributed nearly 200 rst ascents o alpine androck routes, ice climbs and even the occasional mountain. He is the guidebook author o West Coast Ice and The Waddington Guide .


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Glen BolesBorn in New Brunswick in 1934, Glen moved to Calgary in 1953 and was even-tually persuaded to go climbing with now legendary mountain guide, HeinzKahl. In his climbing career, he climbed extensively in Canada, summitting over600 peaks, as well as in Alaska and Europe. A member o the Grizzly Group, nowa well-known group o riends and climbers dedicate to rst ascents on remotepeaks in the Rockies, Glen is also an avid skier. Now living in Cochrane, Alberta,and retired a ter 36 years with the City o Calgary (as a waterworks planner),Glen has also become a proli c artist and is best known or his sketches. In2005, Glen received the Summit o Excellence Awards at the Ban MountainFilm Festival or a li etime o dedication to enriching the mountain community.

Helen SovdatHelen Sovdat is an active IFMGA guide (International Federation MountainGuides Association) and is currently based in the Canadian Rockies. She is oneo seven internationally certi ed emale guides in Canada and has worked inthe mountains or over 20 years as a guide and educator. In the winter, Helen isa helicopter ski guide or Canadian Mountain Holidays. Her summers are spentworking in the local ranges. She is an instructor with the ACMG guide certi ca-tion program as well as a guide with the Alpine Club o Canada. Helen leadsinternational expeditions and has visited Peru, Bolivia, Nepal and Mongoliawith her groups. Some personal expeditions include Manaslu, Cho Oyu, AmaDablam and Logan.

Jen OlsonJen Olson cannot climb enough rock or ice in this li etime. Born in 1971 andbrought up in the oothills o the Canadian Rockies, she started climbing in uni-

versity through an Outdoor Pursuits degree in Calgary, Alberta. She loves head-ing out on alpine granite climbing adventures with other emales in Alaska, theHimalayas and in the Bugaboos. Jen gets a lot o energy rom being a part o allwomens climbing clinics, learning and sharing her passion or moving in thevertical world. Jen is also one o seven women who are certi ed in Canada asIFMGA/ACMG mountain guides. She has guided ski touring and heli-skiing inthe Purcells, Selkirks and in the Coastal Range o BC.

John PomeroyDr. John Pomeroy is the Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and ClimateChange, Director o the Centre or Hydrology at the University o Saskatchewanand President o the International Commission or Snow and Ice Hydrology.Born in 1960, he has conducted research or the last 30 years on water, snowand climate in cold and arid regions. He resides in Canmore, Alberta, anddivides his time between the University o Saskatchewan campus and research

acilities in the Kananaskis Valley o Alberta. He enjoys scrambling, hiking,kayaking and especially travelling over snow by ski or snowshoe.


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Michael DemuthDr. Michael N. Demuth is a glaciology and cold regions Research Scientistwith the Geological Survey o Canada (GSC) and is currently head o the GSCsGlaciology Section. Clinching Mikes attention to studying changes in Canadasmountain West was his participation in a research expedition to Mount Loganin 1981 where, a ter climbing the east ridge, the crew recovered an ice corethat eventually provided clues as to the nature o temperature and precipita-tion changes or the region. Mike leads the development o Canadas glacier-climate observing system through a collaborative initiative called The Stateand Evolution o Canadas Glaciers. His current research interests are geo-physical investigations o glacier and ice sheet mass balance, glacier-relatedwater resources, cold regions hydrology, and public outreach on climate sci-ence, water and the stories that glaciers tell.

Nancy HansenNancy Hansen is an avid climber whose passion or the sport continues togrow a ter 17 years o intense involvement. She enjoys every aspect o thesportrock, ice, alpine climbing and ski touring. In 2003, she became the rst

emale to climb all 54 peaks over 11,000 eet (3350 metres) in the CanadianRockies. Born in 1968, Nancy holds a B.Sc. with a double major in Geology andEnvironmental Science. She has been working in various management pos-itions or the Alpine Club o Canada since 1996. She and her husband DougFul ord have called Canmore, Alberta, home since 1993.

Pat MorrowPat Morrow has led and worked as a photographer or camera operator onover 40 expeditions, 20 o them mountaineering on peaks above 5000 metres,and 20 treks o 30 days or longer in the Himalaya, Karakorum and KunlunRanges. Born in 1952, at age 19 Pat joined orces with environmental activ-ists in the East Kootenay region o British Columbia to help establish thePurcell Wilderness Conservancy. Today, he and wi e, Baiba, lend their supportto Wildsights conservation and educational e orts aimed at minimizing thedestructive orces o industrial tourism development and extractive industriesin the Purcell Mountain range and neighbouring Rockies.

Robert SandfordRobert Bob Sand ord is a natural historian and author based in Canmore,

Alberta. He has authored a number o books and publications and has becomeknown worldwide as an authority on water conservation and policy. Amongstmany positions he holds on advisory boars and panels, he is the EPCOR Chairo the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support o United Nations Water orLi e Decade, which aims to advance long-term water quality and availabilityissues in response to climate change. Bob is also the Director o the WesternWatersheds Climate Research Collaborative, a not- or-pro t research institutethat promotes understanding o climate impacts on river systems originat-ing in the Rocky Mountains. Bob is an associate o the Centre or Hydrologyat the University o Saskatchewan and was recently appointed a Fellow o theBiogeoscience Institute at the University o Calgary.


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Roger LaurillaBorn in Revelstoke in 1959 and raised in Rogers Pass, Roger remembers a timewhen there was no highway through this now busy mountain region. While hewas in his teens, he became more interested in both mountaineering and pho-tography, and has since pursued both o these elds in a pro essional manner.In 1979, he began his work with CMH as a construction helper, but graduallytook on new responsibilities. He became a certi ed guide with the ACMG in1986 and now also works as an internationally certi ed mountain guide. Hehas managed the CMH heli-ski operation in the Monashees, and currently stillguides there and runs Battle Abbey, a backcountry lodge in The Selkirks. Hisphotographs have been published in Canadian Geographic , Powder Magazine ,Climbing, and Backcountry , among other publications and books. His pho-tography and guiding have taken him to South America, Eastern A rica, NewZealand, Europe and Asia.

Sean IsaacOriginally a Maritimer, Sean migrated west rom his hometown o Saint John,New Brunswick, when he was 20 years old and has called Canmore, Alberta,home or the past 18 years. Sean spent most o his 20s as a globetrotter climb-ing bum exploring remote ranges in Patagonia, Peru, Pakistan, Kyrgystan,Alaska and Bafn Island. His early 30s were spent delving into the dark art o mixed climbing o which he authored two books: the guidebook Mixed Climbsin the Canadian Rockies and the instructional mani esto Mixed Climbing. Whennot working as an ACMG Alpine Guide, he enjoys adventuring with his twoyoung sons and exploring their backyardthe Canadian Rockies.

Shawn MarshallDr. Shawn Marshall is a glaciologist and Canada Research Chair in climatechange at the University o Calgary. He received his BASc in EngineeringPhysics at the University o Toronto be ore realigning his academic pursuits andpursuing his PhD in Geophysics rom the University o British Columbia. Shawnstudies glacier-climate processes through a combination o modeling and eldstudies in the Canadian Rockies, the high Arctic, Greenland and Iceland. In hisspare time he can be ound skiing and running the many trails in the Rockies

rom his home base in Canmore, Alberta.

Will Gadd

Will Gadd, son o legendary naturalist and geologist Ben Gadd, grew up in theRocky Mountains. An all-around athlete, Will is best known or his extremesports that have landed him on the world stage many times. A world championparaglider, he has also won major ice climbing and sport climbing competi-tions and put up the hardest mixed climbing lines in the world. His adventureshave led him to climbing bobbing icebergs o the coast o Labrador anddown rozen mine sha ts in Sweden. He makes a living writing and sharing hisextreme experiences.

*Pro le photos come courtesy contributors.


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THANK YOU The Alpine Club o Canada, speci cally David Foster and Isabelle Daigneault, who initiated this project and sup-

ported it along the way. Kate Forbes, or conducting interviews with Don Serl and Pat Morrow.

Suzan Chamney, or her eedback and support in ormatting and layout.

Robert Galdins, or editing the nal dra t o the report.

Paul Zizka, or his support, assistance with visuals and editing skills.

Gillean Da ern, Bill Corbett and contributors or supplying photographs.

The Archives at Whyte Museum o the Canadian Rockies or archival photographs.

Kim Forster, Library Technician or Jasper National Park, and Parks Canada or supplying photos o the AthabascaGlacier or research.

Stuart Higgs, Eric Higgs and Alina Fisher rom the Mountain Legacy Project or the repeat photo o Mt.Assiniboine.

Jason Prno, Amy Krause, Erika Ewen and Katrina Bennett, or helping to kick-start the idea o The State o theMountains.

To all the contributors, or agreeing to share their stories and expertise.

ABOUT THE AUTHORMeghan J. Ward is an outdoor, travel and adventure writer based in Ban , Alberta. Herwork has been published by Alpinist Magazine , Highline Magazine , Skiing Magazine , Our Canada , Travelmag , Canadian Alpine Journal, various Travel Alberta publications andAlberta newspapers. She loves any sport that gets her to high elevations, as well asinternational travel, photography and yoga. As a member o the Alpine Club o Canada,she is an active member o the Mountain Culture Committee and has written or TheGazette . In March 2011, she joined the team at Highline Magazine as Editor.

For more in ormation, visit meghanjoyward.com.


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The Alpine Club o CanadaP.O. Box 8040Canmore, AB, T1W 2T8www.alpineclubo canada.ca

The State o the Mountains Report takes

a unique approach at pulling back the veilon climate change. In this report, twelve o Canadas most well-known mountaineersand guides provide their observations andanecdotes about changes they have witnessedin the mountain environment. A select groupo scientists then respond to the observationso those mountaineers. Do the mountaineersstories line up with scienti c research to thispoint? The end goal was not to produce ascienti c paper, but rather a resource that any

person who cares about the mountains canunderstand.

The State o the Mountains Report givesCanadians, and all readers alike, theopportunity to hear the voices o people whohave spent countless hours researching romglacial moraines and climbing the highestpeaks in Western Canada. The contributorsin the report have, in one way or another,

dedicated their lives to the alpine and haveo ered their rst-hand experiences, expertiseand photographs to tell the stories o howclimate change has not only a ected themountains, but also their livelihoods.

Documents

The State of the Mountains Report (Alpine Club of Canada)