Global Forum for Sports and Environment
Climbers Bring Climate Change From Mountaintop to Laptops
A climbing expedition led by two world-class American athletes, Alison Gannett and Zoe Hart, is bringing the story of glacier melt in the Karakoram to a global online audience. The water that flows from the Tibetan Plateau is the largest river runoff from any single location in the world. The threat of climate change prompted the Chasing Glaciers team to set out in June on a journey to Pakistan to document glacier melt and the living conditions of the mountain communities who depend on the flow of water these glaciers produce. Via a mix of interactive maps, photography and supporting material on glaciology, and the area's cultural and natural history, Gannett, a world champion free skier, and Hart, one of three internationally certified female alpine mountain guides, are introducing the world to the Balti people who inhabit this region of remote villages with no roads or electricity. Gannett and Hart completed their ascent on July 1, and then achieved another goal by becoming the first women to complete a ski descent of Mt. Workman. Abridged LINK : |
July 31, 2007 (ENS) - The glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau provide more than 70 percent of the fresh water used by 178 million people who live downstream in Pakistan, India, and China. Recent shrinkage of these glaciers in the lofty Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu-Kush mountain ranges is threatening to dry the rivers that provide this vital water supply.