Chacaltaya

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Chacaltaya

View of Chacaltaya glacier, March 2011
Elevation 5,421 m (17,785 ft)
Location
Chacaltaya
Location of Chacaltaya in Bolivia
Location La Paz Department, Bolivia
Range Cordillera Real, Andes
Coordinates 16°21′12″S 68°07′53″W / 16.35333°S 68.13139°W / -16.35333; -68.13139Coordinates: 16°21′12″S 68°07′53″W / 16.35333°S 68.13139°W / -16.35333; -68.13139
Climbing
Easiest route walk up

Chacaltaya (Aymara for "cold road") is a mountain in the Cordillera Real, one of the mountain ranges of the Cordillera Oriental, itself a range of the Bolivian Andes. Its elevation is 5,421 meters (17,785 ft). Chacaltaya's glacier — which was as old as 18,000 years — had in 1940 an area of 0.22 km2 (0.085 sq mi), reduced to 0.01 km2 (0.0039 sq mi) in 2007 and was completely gone by 2009.[1][2][3] Half of the meltdown was done before 1980 (measured in volume).[4] The final meltdown after 1980, due to missing precipitation and the warm phase of El Niño, resulted in its disappearance in 2009. The glacier was one of the highest in South America, located about 30 kilometers (19 mi) from La Paz, near Huayna Potosí mountain.

View of Chacaltaya glacier, May 2005

Ski area

Enhanced image of Chacaltaya ski resort, November 2007

The glacier on Chacaltaya served as Bolivia's only ski resort. It was the world's highest lift-served ski area, the northernmost in South America as well as the world's second most equatorial after Maoke, Indonesia. The rope tow, the very first in South America, was built in 1939 using an automobile engine; it was notoriously fast and difficult, housed in the site's original clapboard lodge, and is now inoperable. The road to the base of the 200-meter (660 ft) drop is reached by a narrow road, also built in the 1930s. Traditionally, due to the extreme cold weather, the lift operated exclusively on weekends from November to March. This summer skiing is no longer possible following the unexpectedly early melting of the glacier.[1] As of 2009, skiing is restricted to a 600-foot (180 m) stretch that sometimes receives sufficient snowfall for a run during the winter.[2][5] The mountain is also popular with amateur mountaineers, as the aforementioned road stops only 200-metre (660 ft) from the summit.

Retreat of Chacaltaya glacier

Scientists at the Mount Chacaltaya Laboratory started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Predicted at that time to survive until 2015, the Chacaltaya glacier has melted at a much faster rate than expected. The 18,000-year-old glacier has been reduced in recent years to just a few small patches of ice and snow near the top of the mountain.[6]

Many Bolivians on the Altiplano and in two of Bolivia's main cities — La Paz and El Alto — depend on the partial melting of Andean glaciers for their water supply during the dry season. The World Bank has warned that many glaciers in the tropical portion of the Andes are expected to disappear within 20 years. This will threaten the water supplies of nearly 80 million people as well as the future generation of hydropower. Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru depend on hydropower for about half their electricity.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Vanishing Bolivian Glacier Ends Highest Ski Run (Update1)". Bloomberg. 2009-08-05. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Farewell to a melting glacier". BBC News. 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-07-13. 
  3. ↑ "Bolivia's Chacaltaya glacier is gone". The Miami Herald. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
  4. ↑ Glacier Evolution in the Tropical Andes during the Last Decades of the 20th Century: Chacaltaya, Bolivia, and Antizana, Ecuador 29. AMBINO. 2000-11-01. p. 416. ISSN 0044-7447. Retrieved 2000-11-01. 
  5. ↑ Romero, Simon (2007-02-02). "Bolivia’s Only Ski Resort Is Facing a Snowless Future". Chacaltaya Journal (The New York Times). Retrieved 2009-05-10. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Painter, James (2009-05-12). "Huge Bolivian glacier disappears". BBC News. Retrieved 2011-08-12. 
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