Glacier Facts

Compiled few glacier facts for your perusal. The significance of glaciers sometimes blows us away.

Admire them or if you can, ski them. Skiing these beasts may not always be the most enjoyable experience, but engraves itself in our minds as a truly historical event of geological standing. Clinging onto your fine line as you scrape the glacier, often taking the turns not knowing if the edges will actually grip the surface will add to your ski experience.

Skiing a glacier is a unique experience that ought to be lived.You can enjoy them when it’s summer at the base of the mountain. Check some of the Facts below.

• Glaciers comprise the largest fresh water reservoir on the planet
  
  
• They are found on all the continents( excluding Australia)
  
  
• Fastest moving glacier is found in Antarctica, the Byrd Glacier, moves at approx. 750m/ year, ( 6 feet/ day)
  
  
• Fjords are known to be formed by Glaciers
  
  
• 96.6% of glacierized regions are in Greenland and Antarctica
  
  
• 2.3 % of Glaciers lie in high altitude ice caps
  
  
• 100,000 Glaciers are in Alaska alone , most not even named
  
  
• North America’s longest glacier is 204 kilometers ( 127miles ) long, found in Alaska ,Bering Glacier.
  
  
• Glaciers cover about 10% of land surface(last Ice Age 32%).
  
  
• Some Glaciers are over 4km thick (2.5mil).
  
  
• One glacier fact for the next time you are having a drink; glacial-ice-cubes last longer in your drink because the ice crystals are larger, and carry smaller pockets of air bubbles. In case you are tempted to try, just be advised , glacial ice can carry annelid worms which can survive up to 22F.
  
  
• The biggest skiable vertical on a Glacier (in summer) in a ski resort, is in Zermatt, measures about 990m (3200feet).
  
  
• Vatnajokull is the biggest glacier of them all, found in Iceland, measures 8300 km2.
  
  
• Juneau Icefield is the largest icefield in Alaska.
  
  

• The second largest glacier in the world is in Alaska 8000km2, named Malaspina.