Breashears highlights shrinking Himalayan glaciers

World famous mountaineer and photographer David Breashears has presented disturbing evidence of the loss of ice on the Himalayan glacier by recreating historic photographs from the same locations. Addressing the Asia Society in New York Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers in the Greater Himalaya shows that glaciers have lost as much as 350 vertical feet of ice in places, and the famous Rongbuk Glacier in full scale retreat. In a 3 minute video Breashears compares photographs taken this year with shots from exactly the same location during Mallory's reconaissance expedition in 1921, showing the dramatic reduction in the length and breadth of the Rongbuk Glacier on the North side of Mount Everest.

On an assignment to look at glacial change in the region Breashears used laser technology to ensure photographs were taken from exactly the same location as historical ones, replicating shots of K2, Annapurna, Kangchenjunka and Cho Oyu as well as the approaches to Everest.

1921

2010
The Asia Society address highlighted the importance of the glaciers around Mount Everest to populations and economies of several countries - "The melt waters of these high altitude glaciers supply crucial seasonal flows to the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Yangtze and Yellow rivers, which hundreds of millions of people downstream depend on for their livelihoods," declares a statement by the society. With Sherpas asking "What are we going to do when the water runs out?" the adress was followed by a panel discussion - you can view the complete presentation along with the panel discussion and questions in an hour and a half video free online.