Update from Easton Glacier

[greenman3610]

More from this past August's road trip to big ice - I followed Dr. Mauri Pelto and his team to Easton Glacier, on Mount Baker in the North Cascades wilderness, to measure the impacts of climate change on mountain glaciers.

[padruig]

1. a little background

To give everyone a little background. Easton is the most southern facing glacier on Mt. Baker but not the most massive. Coleman which is on the north west flank is considered the most massive of all the glaciers on Baker.

Easton is however one of the easiest to reach. The tongue of the glacier is right off the Railroad Grade trail (the western side of the moraine) or with a little bit of work, off the Scott Paul trail.

While the glacial fields of Mt. Baker are a topic of study, they are not alone in the Cascade Range. The Cascade Range runs from northern California into British Columbia and has a total of 700 glaciers. The Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, home to Mt. Baker and relatively small in comparison to the length of the Cascades is home to half the glaciers found in the Cascade Range.

Some of these glaciers have been under longitudinal study for decades, most notably the South Cascade and Kalwatti glaciers.