Confession: This post has no scientific merit and I have no position on the topic. It seems as controversy increases, so does popularity. Thus, the title of this one is all about ratings...
Having said that, the anecdotal evidence from our day 6 hike in Yoho Valley in Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies does highlight facts that could be interpreted to support either side of the controversy....
The iceline is a high elevation hike which is 75% above the treeline, skirts several glaciers, and offers views of the Waputik Icefield, which grips the west face of the Great Divide on the opposite side of Yoho Valley.
On the one hand, it was ridiculously cold for the first days of September, like snow and hail all day kind of cold. Much colder than the average temperatures listed in the trail guide book for August/September. The idea that the world could be warming up seemed unlikely when walking through falling snow with daytime highs in the 20s and with wind chill 5 degrees farenhight in late summer. We found it too cold to stop for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, even in our layers of GoreTex, down, and wool; we needed the body heat produced by activity to stay warm. Even if the world is warming up, when you are that cold, it feels as if a warmer world might not be such a bad thing.
On the other, this hike took us to glacial rubble and freshly exposed ground which had previously been buried under ice 10, 20, or 50 years ago. It is hard deny the evidence of a shrinking icefield. For me, walking on ground which was buried under ice on the day I was born is believing.
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| Glacial Grooves, formed by the insidious high pressure movement of the glacier in the background when it was once larger. |
Traveling to newly exposed ground below an icefield was reminiscent of walking the newly formed lava fields southern coast of the growing land mass of the big island of Hawaii. In both cases, small specialized plants grow in areas which are not as fresh while disorder and desolation mark newer areas. There is a real sense of what other areas of the earth likely looked like in a former time. This perspective has a way of changing the way you see other, more common and established areas in landscapes everywhere. There is no doubt the planet we live on is a changing one. It is an awe inspiring, and slightly terrifying feeling.
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| clouds lifting along the Iceline trail |
Yoho valley is on the west side of the Great Divide. As such, it is even wetter when moisture and low pressure moves in from the north Pacific. We had all three on this one: rain, then snow, then no precipitation for about an hour and a half, then light snow (huge slowly floating flakes), then an opening, then hail, then rain in that order. My rain pants had begun to fail (thanks REI), making this wettest hike of our trip a little extra interesting.
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| Takakkaw Falls, about 900 feet in height |
Takakkaw falls were visible from the road on the way to the trailhead. We hiked up switchbacks through the forest. When we came out above the timber line, we had views of falls again.
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| note the snowflakes, which were as large as dimes and nickles, Waputic Icefield in the background |
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