Dakshin Gangotri Glacier

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Many of us have visited the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas. But a trip to the Dakshin Gangotri glacier is a once in a lifetime event because one would have to come all the way to Antarctica for that. I had this opportunity on 22nd Dec 2008. This was a long pending trip and we should have gone there in the winters itself. But better late than never. The Dakshin Gangotri glacier is about 10 km west of Maitri in the Schirmacher Oasis.

The geologists are monitoring the rate of recession of the glacier since the 2nd Indian Antarctic Expedition in 1982. This time too they were going to take fresh observations. A group of 12 people from the old as well as the new team went to the glacier. A group of scientists from the new team was to collect lichen samples from the Dakshin Gangotri glacier for study.

We left at 10 in the morning by Pisten Bully. We left the vehicle near Shivling that is about 4 km away and then trekked the rest of the way. We passed numerous lakes along the way, all of them in various stages of melting. We also crossed various historical landmarks on the way. The first of them was the place where the second Indian Antarctic Expedition landed in a helicopter and selected the place as a site for a permanent Indian Station. They placed a placard bearing the name “Dakshin Gangotri” there. The idea was later dropped because of the inaccessibility of the area to vehicles. The placard now lies in our station. The second site of historical importance was the site where Indians had first carried out drilling in the rocks to obtain geological samples in 1982-83. The rocks bore tell tale holes all around. An iron rod was inserted in one of them.

Most of the route was downhill. After a trek of about 5 km, we saw a tongue of ice projecting into Schirmacher from the continental ice cap on the southern side. This was the Dakshin Gangotri Glacier. It is also know as the Dakshin Gangotri snout, because of its resemblance to an elephant’s snout. It lay in front of us in all its grandeur. The contrast between the ice cap and the rocky Schirmacher was striking. We descended towards it, and on the way we saw markings on a rock that demarcated the spot from which the 2nd Indian Antarctic Expedition carried out the first survey of the DG glacier. The glacier rose abruptly from the ground. All its walls were absolutely vertical. Blocks of ice lay in front of it, descending into a lake. We lazed around the glacier for a while, taking in its beauty. The rocks around bore parallel markings signifying the direction of movement of the glacier. These markings were made by the rubbing of rocks by the moving glacier.

Soon it was time to get back to work. I was the ‘official photographer’, the position I have earned during the last one year. We ascended along the eastern face of the glacier and found some markings on the rocks. These were made by the GSI team in 1996 to mark the position of the glacier. We were shocked to see that the glacier was no where near those points. It had receded at a rate of 1 meter per year. These markings were present at various places on the eastern end of the glacier, and all of them told the same story. At places where the glacier had been 4 meters from the markings, it was now 16 meters. We made fresh markings at the present position of the glacier and I took photographs of the old and new positions of the glacier.

While ascending, we saw an ice cave in the vertical face of the glacier. There were massive icicles hanging from the roof, extending almost to the floor. At the base of the glacier, fine mud was seen. This was rock flour, and is formed by the grinding of rocks under the weight of ice over millennia. Water flowed from all sides of the glacier in copious streams into the lake at the snout of the glacier. There were small waterfalls too, falling from the ice face. I collected water from one of these to take back to India as a souvenir. Icicles hung all around the place with water dripping from their tips. We sucked them like lollipops. Soon it was lunch time. We descended to the base and had alu paranthas and fruit juice, rested awhile and then proceeded to the western face of the glacier. It was considerably less steep than the eastern face. But the findings were more shocking here. At one point, where the glacier was 1 meter away from the marking in 1996, it was now 33 meters. Nobody would believe it, neither did we. But the proof was right in front of our eyes. At places where the GSI team had to scale vertical rock faces in 1996, we could now walk over comfortably. There were some waterfalls here as well. If the glacier continued to melt at this rate, there would be hardly anything left in the next 10 years. We continued our work till 3 pm and then we collected a few rocks as souvenirs and started our return journey. We were dead tired by the time we reached the vehicle near Shivling. It was 7 pm by the time we reached Maitri. A tiring but highly satisfying day had come to an end. A trip to Dakshin Gangotri was something I could only dream of. But it has now come true.