Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier, once known as the world’s highest ski run at 17,388 feet, has completely melted away, serving as a vivid example of the effects of climate change on the glaciers around the globe.
“Chacaltaya has disappeared. It no longer exists.” – Dr. Edson Ramirez, Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres
In 1999, Ramirez, the head of a team of researchers studying the glacier since 1991, believed that the glacier would continue to exist until 2015, but the rate of melting tripled in the last ten years, and the once popular tourist destination is now completely gone.
Only a handful of dedicated skiers and tourists now visit Chacaltaya, which does have a tiny area to ski on snowy days (a run of maybe 600 feet) just down from the location of the former glacier. Alfredo Martinez, a founder of the Club Andino de Bolivia, says ”Very few come to ski now.”
The Chacaltaya glacier is part of Bolivia’s Tuni Condoriri glaciated mountain system, which has lost a third of its ice since 1983. The best guess from researchers is that Tuni and Condoriri, the two largest glaciers in the system, will not last more than 20 to 30 years. Illimani, a 21,200 foot mountain looming over La Paz, is home to several glaciers, which may melt completely within 30 years, said Ramirez.
“It’s very probable that other glaciers are disappearing faster than we thought.” – Ramirez
Ramirez sees the disappearance of Chacaltaya as an example of the effects of greenhouse gas accumulation and an increase in average temperatures worldwide, but says that the controversies over the validity of global warming are irrelevant, because the effects are apparent in the Andean glaciers.
More on Bolivia and Climate Change:
- Days of Skiing in Switzerland Could be Numbered
- Will Bolivia Be Ruined, Improved, or Hated Because of Electric Cars?
- Fight Over Natural Gas Has Bolivia on Brink of Collapse
- Black Carbon Reductions Could Reverse Arctic Warming Within Weeks
- Antarctica’s Glaciers Suffer Strong Retraction
- Tibetan Glaciers Shrinking Faster Than Expected
Image: IPCC Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report 2007, Figure 1.1.
About Derek Markham
Usually I’m excited about warmer weather, but somthing tells me this is not a good thing?
God made the glacier melt because he is angry at people who are not practicing abstinence.
well if we are going to have climate change i’d rather wear shorts than a parka.It is undisputeable that the earth goes through climate change on it’s own. where we’re the hummers when the ice age ended. come on folks if your a self hating liberal whom has had the will to survive bred out of you, you can buy the fact that climate change is mankinds fault. the fact is you are not that important when mother earth decides to go to her storage unit and rotate her clothes for warmer weather.
…, it does this every year then it snows again, l2geography plz
When are we gonna learn??? It makes my heart ache to see that WE are the only ones to blame for these catastrophes! When are we going to realize that THIS IS OUR ONLY HOME???????
Mayas said the world would ‘end’ in 2012…I say, we’re not gonna make it. This is horrible…and no one seems to listen to us…
Hiya all
It might not be all that worrying realy, over thousands/millions of years there’s bound to be climate changes on earth, it could be something as simple as the earth moving ever so slightly off it’s axis, as long as we look after the planet it’ll look after us.
Ray W
For the truth about Global Warming Please read:
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
I don’t ski anyway.
Are you serious did someone really write that God has something to do with this..
This nation is so godly blinded that it is ridiculous…
Oh well. Sorry to see the ski run melt, but that’s what happens when NATURAL climate change happens. It’s happened before, it’s happening now, and it will happen in the future. Nothing to worry about — the Earth changes and will change whether we are here or not.
Guess it’s time to get out my shorts.
Don’t buy into Gorebull warming and think for yourself. Don’t be sheep.
So would we be worried about the cmpletely ice covered New york melting away 400 years ago ? What was man doing then to cause the massive melting of the uninhabitable New York ???
OK THE EARTH GOES IN CYCLES!!!!! IN EUROPE IN THE 1700′S THEY WERE ABLE TO GROW THEIR OWN GRAPES TO MAKE WINE….SO NEEDLESS TO SAY WE ARE GOING THROUGH THE WARM PERIOD ON EARTH. BUT I AM SURE IN THE NEXT 1000 YEARS IT IS GOING TO BE SO BLOODY COLD THAT EVERYONE WILL BE SAYING WHEN IS GLOBAL WARMING COMING BACK. ANYONE WHO BELIEVES THAT EVERYTHING IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING IS A DUMBASS!
I could not agree with you more scott tuttle!!!!
THE ALMIGHTY LORD HAS ALREADY DECIDED TO END THIS WORLD! SO WE MUST ABSTAIN FROM SINS! IN THE ACTUAL WORLD PEOPLE ARE BECOMING SATAN(DEVIL), HENCE WE REFRAIN FROM DOING BAD!nad
Let me say first, that ‘M.Bachmann’ up there needs to be smacked. Repeatedly.
I think it’s part humanity’s fault, and partly the earth changing on it’s own, as it’s done for ever. Go find another glacier to ski.
And again… Let’s smack the moron.
Scott Tuttle -
There are 3 grammatical errors in your post that take any creedence away from your opinion.
By the way – English is my second language.
While it is a sad thing to witness, it’s really not all that news worthy to me. I learned in Earth Science and Geology class that the Earth has been through these types of climate changes before. Billions and millions of years ago…it is now, that we humans walk the earth, that it’s being portrayed as catastrophic. But we can’t stop it, it’s a natural process and it’s gonna happen. We can slow it down some by being responsible in the way we treat our Planet, but we can’t stop it. If you payed any attention in Earth Science, people would understand that much. If any of us are meant to survive, we will or we will evolve, just as all living things have done in the past. I know many won’t agree with this theory as it pits Science against Religion, but I’ll say it anyway, as I believe we can’t have one without the other…It’s all in Gods’ hands. His Will be done. Mother Nature, Mother Earth will do what she needs to do and we, humans and all other living creatures, will deal with it or perish. Simple as that!
Don’t be duped. This is comparing winter pictures with summer pictures. At 17,500 feet summer sun can melt the “glacier”. Please folks use common sense when reading these articles and ask yourself can these claims be true. You are being taken for a brain dead idiot.
God made the earth and he controls everything in it
Everyone keeps preaching these warnings, but really… what are we supposed to do? Make a giant car-eating machine that destroys the billions of vehicles and allows us to start from scratch? Yeah right. There’s nothing we can do to prevent this climate change and mankind’s ultimate destruction, just enjoy the moments while they last.
Ok….first – M. Bacnman is a moron for his comments. Ice melts – we al;l know that. The earth decides ON IT’S OWN when to get colder and when to get warmer – how can liberals be SO egotistical to think that WE are responsible for what has been CLEARLY happening to our planets for millionsof years? It is just stupid – but then – they are liberals…
God gives his creations free will. Go pick up a Bible.
…and then get in line behind M. Bachmann for your smacking, William.
What a load of BS. Some of you people will believe anything.
Tupac Shakur once said in an interview about global warming that this type of stuff would happen sooner than expected. He was right!!
Hello to all!
If you look at the known history of the world, we are at the end of the ice-age and have just opened the door to a “warming-age”. Do some research people – HOW MANY YEARS DID THE ICE AGE LAST? Our world is an ever-changing place. Enjoy the beauty that has been created for your pleasure. Take care of it the best you can and settle down with so much worry – it gives you wrinkles, high blood pressure and gray hair
Mother nature knows what she is doing.
There goes my ski season
lets wait and see what winter brings in the southern hemisphere.
global warming is fake, your all being suckered
Barbara, who is “us” that you speak of?
Scary, and yet there are those who still deny global warming and its consequences. It’s time for all of us to wake up.
So what? This has been happenning since the beginning of time…
This happens ALL THE TIME! The only thing we can do is just wait it out, lets pretend mother nature broke her leg, just wait and it will heal all by itself. And finally, we have climate changes quite a bit, first it is global warming then it is an ice age, we WILL make it though this, we WILL make it through 2012, we WILL make it through more obsticals, all we can do is just wait it out
– Iain Campbell
its because of all the cocain growers. that should tech them a lesson. besides i think it looks better without snow.
…Good Lord, really now! Its all becuase of us?…are you kidding me? Excellent example of people being told what to think, feel and believe. Yes, the climate is changing AS IT ALWAYS HAS. Wake Up!!! What a great mechanism fear is, as is amply demonstrated in some of the responses to this article. Climate change is a great organizing princile for people who know better what the truth is so that they themselves can use it to steal everything you have and place you in the bondage of slavery. Go do some of your own research and find out how many of these people advancing the myth of global warming are nothing more than shills and frauds whose fantasies of doom are continually foisted on well meaning, though very gullible (and in some cases down right dumb)people by the media whorehouse that pretends at news reporting. It has a whole lot more to do with the sun’s activity than anything else. Guess what? Other planets are warming as well…so I guess evil, useless eaters such as people here on earth are responsible for that too? Peace. RM
“God made the glacier melt because he is angry at people who are not practicing abstinence”. that doesnt make sense moron its called “global warming” not “bible warming”
GOOD WE NEED MORE FRESHWATER IN THE WORLD. I HOPE ALL OF THE GLACIERS IN THE WORLD MELT.
It sure will be costly to relocate NYC as it floods…not to mention well over the majority of the earth’s population. And you thought a housing crash was bad on the economy!
Weather has been cyclical since…..well, FOREVER
And I’ll bet anyone that reads this $1,000 that there are no glaciers on the planet MELTING at 17,000 feet. They are sublimating. Put a lone piece of ice in your freezer and let it sit there for a couple weeks. —-two weeks later—- There ya go….you might start understanding things one of these days.
I am always amazed when our government actually believes they are going to change the course of NATUR or GOD. We are a spec on this planet. OBAMA should worry about things that maybe they can control, like ……..maybe united Stated should produce something that the WORLD needs, thus producing jobs. But noooooooo, we are going to produce jobs by building wind mills and bridges. I hate to build!! YESSSSS, we should be good stewards of this planet..dont waste and recycle!!!!
I can’t wait till I die, I am tired of being around stupid people that don’t realize what they are doing to this Earth. I feel bad for my kids cause of what past generations have left for them. Other than that, I need a cigar and a nice smokey Irish Whiskey!
How much does volcanos and tsunamis and wild fires affects the climate compared to man activties?
Does some one knows?
Antonio
Only when natural causes of climate are fully understood and properly accounted for in climate models can we expect meaningful results from man made influences.
Yes, there’s bound to be changes in climate on earth. However, you can’t compare the past to now because we’re in a completely different environment now: in the past, there weren’t thousands of factories emitting harmful gases or millions of cars spewing exhaust. Recent and current generations are responsible for this, and hopefully more people can realize this before it’s too late. If things don’t change, it’s no longer a matter of “If”, but “When”.
This reminds me of the “Ozone Hole,” which was supposed to be the end of us all about 10 years ago. But then, guess what? It was “discovered” that the ozone hole opens and closes in a cyclic pattern. And guess what? It will snow again and glaciers will regenerate, just like they have for millions of years and just like ozone hole does. Gee! Go figure! When will people EVER wake up and stop listening to all this “sky is falling” crap? The media thrive on this stuff. It’s the only way they can survive because we have too many people working in media. If they don’t CREATE more and more scary stories then people won’t read or view their media and they will be out of work. More scary = more viewers = more money. Follow the money.
I Basically Aint Worrying Dat Much About It.I Dont Live Der.
The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!!…Barbara’s heart may be breaking, but all this stupidity is making my head hurt!!
Give it a rest people…..Al Gore and his goons has already been proven to be an uneducated, ill-informed, politically pandering buffoons.
I think its terrible that these things are happening. Its not good to jump off the deep end or say , ah, no big deal, earth fixes itself and you can sleep at night. The fact is the polluting of the ocean, trash disposal, greenhouse gases aren’t good for the environment not to mention other things. As smart people which we believe we are, we should evolve better ways and implement them immediately without bureaucracy standing in the way. We can definitely correct things and do the opposite back ( give back to the earth ) plant more trees, etc. protect our waters, and our skies and the earth will thank us for it, I sure hope !
wow this is bad but in my opinion climate change happens and this is the time it happens, global warming is a farce , it does,nt exists in the seance people like AL gore leoni the X vice president makes it out to be , but i do believe in the Indian way of thinking in genereal about taking care of mother earth screw the enviro wackos you have gone to far with too little brain , in short the snow will be back and 2012 well why worry if it happens it happens whatever it is the question is on this where is youre faith .
It’s the Sun alone. Volcanos and Oceans emit more carbon into the atmosphere than all industry combined (and falling leaves too).
Global warming is due to the Sun, and no other cause. All global weather is related to the Sun’s flare activity. This means a decline in flare activity, cooler weather. More, Global Warming.
Al Gore is a fear monger (and no I’m not a Republican).
A more important thing to worry about is Ending The Federal Reserve Bank and how these bastards have an entire planet economically enslaved.
Wake the F up.