We encounter the glaciers of the Icefield as vulnerable, ephemeral: the old guard departing, their time coming to an end. For the first time on record, our glaciers are melting year round, forced out of the essential year-long freeze-thaw cycle that has sustained life for millennia. These glacier systems are leading indicators of climate change impacts across the world. “Water Towers” like the Icefield supply the water needs of 1.9 billion people across the globe. They are failing rapidly and the Columbia Icefield is among the most threatened. Within the lifetimes of people living today, glacial ice will be hard to find in the Rocky Mountains.
