Aletsch glacier - Panorama from the Eggishorn (2926m)

It seems a highway ice! Fantastic shot Justin

Prachtig panorama Justin. Groeten, Wim

Amazing shot, Justin. I wonder what it looked like 50 years ago? Sad to think that way but.... Maybe you should fly over again every 10 years and document ;). Greetings from alicia

Thank you Luis, Wim and Alicia!

Luis, it is indeed like an icy highway - this particular glacier is 23 km long (so imagine the scale of what you see here!).

Wim, dankjewel nogmaals, ook voor je hulp bij de andere foto!

Alicia, I can only imagine that it used to be even larger. Currently, the stretch of glacier you see here is 23 kilometers long (about 15 miles). However, there used to be a glacier in the valley a little to the left of the centre in the picture, which has receded. I wouldn't mind flying and documenting - but I'd have to learn to fly first ;) This shot was pure "hard" work though! :)

Kind regards to you all,

Justin

You hiked up? Wow - it looks like an aerial, and that you are about to go soaring up the glacier. Truly a viewpoint worth the climb! I'll rephrase then - maybe you should hike up every 10 years......;). Best, alicia

Alicia, maybe I shouldn't exaggerate my gargantuan efforts to get up here - you can take a cable car up to 2800 meters altitude or so and then it's something like 20 or 30 minutes to the top and this point. Much as I love nature, I'm still a pragmatist you see ;)

Cheers, Justin

Hello Justin. Great panorama and very good and illustrative photo of the glacial processes.

Don't ask me why, but your gallery wasn't in my favourite list... how could it be?!? ;) Now it's fixed, so be sure I'll visit you from time to time in order to enjoy your fantastic pictures.

Greetings from Catalonia. David.

Hello David, thanks very much for those words of praise, I'm honored! :)

So why wasn't I in your list? ;) Looking forward to your visits.

Kind regards, Justin

Dear Justin ... and Alicia and other Panoramio friends,

I have just be transported into my past! I learnt my glacial geomorphology first from a text written by N K Horrocks and this was the glacier that was featured. And that text was published 50+ years ago (1950, 1951) so I don't have to wonder, Alicia, I know. And I have just walked into my study and opened it at the fronticpiece photograph (p. ii) of The Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland, with the Jungfrau, Moench and Trugberg in the background and the Maerjelensee in the foreground.

The first most obvious difference between then and now is that the Maerjelensee has disappeared or emptied. The water in the foreground side valley was backed up from the ice of the glacier. Now it is impounded by an artificial wall into a small pond and the floor and sides of the side valley are exposed.

The pattern of medial moraines is the same and the level of ice appears at this point to be quite similar but on closer inspection there is some lowering. The image in Horrocks, photographed by Hans Steiner from St Moritz, would appear to be a late summer photo and so there is quite a bit more snow in the GE image and also in Justin's photo on the higher slopes to the east and above the main cirques.

This has been quite a personal flashback for I drew detailed annotated maps of Aletsch Glacier in my exam papers, so it is etched clearly in my memory...along with all the annotations. And the elevation of the glacial surface at the midpoint in Justin's photo was 7880feet amsl in 1950. Check it out on GE Terrain! By my calculations that same elevation (2400M) is now 1km further up the glacier.

Thank you for this journey down memory lane and forgive me for my indulgence!

Kind regards to all, and if there are geographers among us - Keep Geoging!

Kind regards to all,

Ian

Horrocks, N. K. 1950, 1951 Physical Geography and Climatology, London, Longmans. [And by the way, I wasn't at school in 1950-51, but it was my text in 1964.]

That is so cool Ian! Thanks a lot for your indulgence down memory lane ;)

I didn't know the valley on the side used to glacier as well! Interesting. I think you'll find in the old photo that the valley just off-center on the left was filled with a glacier as well, I think that one retreated some years ago. Glaciers are one of the tell-tale signs of global warming (yes, some are growing, but that's not the global trend).

In the days before this photo, we'd had some fresh snow (which you can also see in this shot), so that may also be partly why there is more snow in this photo (although that does surprise me a bit).

So thanks again, kind regards,

Justin

You have chosen a good place to take this photo, well done. You have a very good gallery, I'll put a yellow star for you. Greetings from Finland!

Juha, thank you very much for your kind words. I'm honoured to be in your favorites! I'll have a look at your gallery in the next few days.

Greetings to Finland from Holland,

Justin

PS - Sorry for the late reply, but I was on holiday in South Africa!