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AUTUMN EXPEDITION

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How to grow a glacier?

The Himalayas and the other great mountain ranges surrounding them are homes to an incredible cultural heritage. For ages, the local people have been living in these harsh conditions, which shaped their unique culture.

And among the many interesting things happening there, maybe one of the most incredible is the “home” growing of glaciers.  People in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and Karakoram have been growing glaciers for ages.

The legend has it when Genghis Khan took upon a mission to conquer Europe and Asia he succeeded with most of Asia but then encountered a massive wall of ice grown by locals to protect themselves from the invaders. He looked up at the wall and then turned back and never returned. This obstacle was unpenetrable. The wall of ice was too big for him.

We don’t know how accurate this story is, but what we are sure of is that local people in these mountains have grown and still grow glaciers for different uses. They use the ice from the glaciers as a source of fresh water, creating irrigational systems and more.

But “homemade” glaciers are not the same as those grown by nature.

In the wild, glaciers require three conditions to grow. First, they need a thick layer of snow to form. Second, they need cold weather so the formed snow layer can stay throughout the whole year. And finally, third, glaciers need a lot of time. With decades and even centuries, the snow turns into highly compacted glacial ice.

Glaciers grown by people, however, are completely different. This tradition originates by the local people living in the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains. Some of these people have believed for centuries that glaciers are alive and even have genders, including males and females.

The process of growing glaciers starts by marrying small chunks of ice from a male and female glacier. Then they are covered with charcoal, seeds, cloth, and other things. They are left, and as time passes, they start to grow. This way, people living in places with extremely low rainfall can have access to water for drinking and irrigating their crops throughout the year.

As climate change speeds the melting of wild glaciers people in some regions start to rely more and more on their glaciers.

And this practice is spreading throughout the world faster and faster as the temperatures are rising and more and more people need reliable access to water.

In 2016 people from Switzerland built up their first glacier in the Swiz Alps. In countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan growing glaciers is getting more popular and their numbers are growing fast.

This is one of the ways we can create reliable sources of water for people in which climate change is hurting the most.