Radio Script
2001

Mountain climbers say they're seeing changes caused by a warmer global climate. (Courtesy Denali National Park.)

Mountains of Change
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INTRO: Mountain climbers spend a great deal of time traversing glaciers, climbing steep, rocky slopes and huddling in snow caves. So it makes sense that they would have noticed the effects of a warmer climate on the world's loftier regions. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, one of the world's top mountain climbers has noticed. He's now helping the rest of us to notice, too.

STORY: Unless you read Outside magazine or follow the tight-knit community of mountain climbers, you may not have heard of Conrad Anker. Still, Anker is a famous guy. He's made numerous first assents, solo assents, and group climbs on many of the most unforgiving peaks in the world. From Alaska to Patagonia to the Himalayas, he's seen firsthand the impact of an ever-warmer planet on the world's glaciers, ice sheets and snow fields.

ANKER: "The glaciers that climbers ply their trade on and have fun on—they see them firsthand. The changes that these glaciers have undergone are probably among the first thing that climbers notice. It first struck my attention that the glaciers were changing was in 1991. I had gone up to the Alaska range and climbed into Kachatnas. The pictures that we had of the mountain we were climbing on were taken in the early 1970s. And just in that 13 or 14-year period between when we climbed on it and the time those photos were taken, the glaciers had receded quite a bit. That was really my first intimation that, 'Oh my gosh, things are changing here.' Once I saw that, in all of my subsequent expeditions I became quite tuned into it."

So tuned into it that he's now helping scientists study the effects of climate change on mountains. Last year, Anker took fellow climber and glaciologist Dan Stone to the slopes of Antarctica's highest mountain, Vinson Massif. Anker says the NOVA-television-sponsored expedition was aimed in part at learning more about snow accumulation in Antarctica's mountains.

Snow pit—Climbers and scientists studying snow accumulation in Antarctica's highest mountains hope to learn more about how the earth's climate is changing. Climber Conrad Anker, left, takes notes, while glaciologist Dan Stone measures the snow's temperature. (Courtesy Jon Krakauer)

ANKER: "And the goal of our expedition was to climb the highest peak and also to do a baseline snow survey of the mountain range there, to look at how snow accumulation changes over elevation. So we started at 700 meters above sea level and went to an elevation of about 4,200 meters, which was our last survey site. We did intervals of 500 meters, and at each site we would dig a two-meter snow pit and do a profile of the snow in there. So we could see how it was laid down, the density of it, by looking at the crystals and things in there."

Dan Stone says the study of mountain snowfall was a first for Antarctica, and may prove important as scientists study mass-balance—that is how snow and ice accumulates and is removed through melting and other mechanisms on the continent.

STONE: "It'd be wrong to extrapolate results from one trip, one time of the year and one part of the continent to the rest of the continent. But certainly we can provide a starting point, a baseline. There's a possibility that the calculations of mass-balance and in particular snow accumulation in Antarctica could be revised based on how the mountainous areas are treated. Whether or not that's going to make a significant or negligible change in the current values of accumulation, I can't say at this point. At least it's a start to try to think in that direction, anyway."

As a scientist who happens to also be an accomplished climber, Stone is hopeful other scientists will begin to see the climbing community as a useful and important tool as they expand their studies of climate change into the highest reaches of the planet.

STONE: "There's interest in low-latitude, high-altitude glaciers—what their response is, say, in the Himalayas and the Andes. I know of several glaciologists working in different parts of the world like that, and it certainly requires some climbing skills, mountaineering skills, if not technical climbing skills. So I think there's a role for climbers to play."

For his part, Conrad Anker says he hopes to use his celebrity stature to inform people of how climate warming is changing the face of the world's mountains.

ANKER: "Climbing is a pretty frivolous pursuit. It's a great pastime, a great hobby. But we're not out there finding a cure for illness or finding a new crop, or something like that. But if I can use the small bit of notoriety that I've gained from being a climber and share it with other people so they can get an idea of what I encountered in these places, then that's a good thing."

To help in that goal, Anker together with the North Face and A5 Portaledges have created a new Web site devoted to finding solutions to environmental problems. Anker says he hopes the site will bring climbers and nonclimbers together in support of a common cause.

ANKER: "Some of the scenarios that are being put forth sound pretty dire. If I can help make people aware of that and then maybe some people can change their own lifestyle accordingly, driving less, trying to consuming fewer products that harm the environment, then I've done my little bit."

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

Conrad Anker
Bozeman, Montana
Phone: 406-585-5470
Email: Conrad_Anker@vfc.com

Dan Stone, Ph.D.
Senior Hydrogeologist
Geomega, Inc.
2995 Baseline Road, Suite 202
Boulder, CO 80303
Phone 303-443-9117 ext. 101
Email: dstone@geomega.com

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Related Web sites

Conrad Anker profile

Conrad Anker Web site

Nova Expedition

Alex Lowe Foundation

Antarctic Ascent

NOVA special

Geomega Environmental Consulting