White Chuck Glacier, Retreating glacier in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Washington, United States.
White Chuck Glacier is a retreating glacier in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest that spreads across steep terrain near Glacier Peak. Meltwater has created several small lakes in front of its terminus, marking its advanced stage of withdrawal.
White Chuck Glacier has retreated markedly since the end of the Little Ice Age. It thinned from about 1850 to 1930, and a fast rate of retreat began by 1940. By 1955 the glacier had three separate termini; by 2005 its northern terminus was gone.
The glacier's name comes from White Chuck Mountain and the White Chuck River valley below it. Its retreat has left several small proglacial lakes at the foot of the ice, and the arête off the Kololo Peaks still separates it from the White River Glacier. Hikers in the Glacier Peak Wilderness pass these features on the approaches to the peak.
The glacier sits in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) south of Glacier Peak, and is reached on foot through the White Chuck basin; no road or facility stands at the ice. Approach is a multi-day wilderness trip, so carry everything out and expect route-finding on steep, snow-covered ground. The ice is separated from the White River Glacier by an arête off the Kololo Peaks.
Between 1958 and 2005 the glacier lost more than half its surface area, and its northern terminus disappeared by 2005. The ice is separated from the White River Glacier only by an arête off the Kololo Peaks, so the two glaciers nearly touch without meeting.
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