Mt. Rainier Shrinking

This picture of John Race and Olivia Cussen, from Sunday on the top of Mt. Rainier, is subtle. You need to look closely to see two things: one, the 350 wristband that John is wearing (he's a premier American alpinist). And two, the summit marker from the top of Mt. Rainier, which has melted out of the ice for the first time since it was hammered in back in 1956. What does that mean? It means Mr. Rainier, the most iconic peak in the lower 48, is not 14,410 feet any more. And it means we better start doing something fast about global warming.


Share/Save

Anonymous says... on Oct 01,2009

the photos a fake the marker was moved to this location from a historically snow free location according to the usgs see seattletimes.com for the truth

Anonymous says... on Oct 01,2009

Waiting for the retraction, since this post is plainly wrong.

Anonymous says... on Oct 01,2009

Anonymous says... on Oct 01,2009

If you're truly interested in truth, not alarmist hype, pleas print a correction to this poorly researched and incorrect post. The marker was moved and pounded into the ice at the summit by someone. Here's a link to the facts: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009977050_rainiershrink...

InDooRherbGaRDeN says... on Oct 01,2009

Regardless of your opinion on climate change and the global warming debate, I would think the truth would be the most important goal. Allowing misleading or flat out false information on your website only serves to undermine legitimacy and gives the impression of propaganda or an agenda, regardless of whether or not your message holds any merit. Propagating false information weakens your argument, whether true or false.

Anonymous says... on Oct 02,2009

To quote Joe Wilson..."YOU LIE!!"
Your credibility is ZERO when outright lies are posted to further your agenda on such a critical issue as global warming.

Anonymous says... on Oct 02,2009

Is global warming shrinking Mount Rainier? A survey marker atop the Northwest's tallest peak sure makes it look that way.

Protruding from the summit with nearly 2 feet of pipe high and dry, the marker appears to have melted out of the ice cap that covers the mountain's highest point.

But records from the U.S. Geological Survey tell a different story.

The marker was never buried beneath the ice - and wasn't installed on the summit in the first place, said surveyor Larry Signani, who led teams that remeasured the mountain's height in 1988 and 1999.

"It looks like the original," he said after examining photos of the marker. "But it didn't melt out of the ice."

The marker was installed by the USGS in 1956 on bare ground on Rainier's crater rim, more than 200 feet from the actual summit. The rocky rim is almost always snow-free, swept bare by wind and warmed by steam that rises from the volcano's depths.

"We're not going to put a survey marker in snow or ice," said cartographer Dale Benson, of the USGS Denver office.

Anonymous says... on Oct 02,2009

Maybe the ice grew and moved the marker up by 200 ft...

Anonymous says... on Mar 12,2010

yjy 20100313 gxh20100313
Nike brought back all of the memorable Air Max shoes including the Air Max 1, Air Max 360, Air Max 180, Air Max 95, Air Max 97, and Air Max 2009. Not only were all of these Air Max Nike shoes retroed, Nike Air Jordans Shoes, but Nike also made these shoes available on airmaxsite.com. Here, Air Max fans could create their favorit Air Max shoes in whatever color they wanted!

As one of offical retail seller,we wish every one always orders their favorite Nike shoes. And now the Popular Nike Kobe Bryant shoes are on sale for the women's day. We promise all Cheap Nike Air Max shoes are low price but top quality! Why pay more? Why not act on now?

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.