A 1930s Yukon explorer’s camera has been recovered and the images are fascinating.
American explorer Bradford Washburn attempted Canada’s third highest mountain, Mount Lucania in Canada’s Yukon Territory, in 1937.
Joined by his friend Bob Bates, Washburn, armed with several cameras and well known for his documented expeditions and mountaineering, the pair successfully made it to the summit, but encountered difficulties on the descent. did.
Bad weather made it unsafe for the pilot to pick them up, forcing Washburn to abandon much of his equipment, including his camera, at Walsh Glacier.
And as we should all know from old geography lessons and Greta Thunberg’s statements, glaciers move.
Therefore, it didn’t make much sense for Washburn to write down where he left the camera in hopes of returning to get it.
Well, that was the case until last year. Teton Gravity Research (TGR) worked with professional mountain explorer Griffin Post and glaciologist Dorota Medzycka to locate the camera, even though it had been buried in the ice since 1937. The device contains important research into how the mountains have changed over the past 80 years. Plus year.
Post revealed to People magazine that the explorers nearly missed the camera, but were unable to find it on their first trip to the mountain.
“Not only was I disappointed, I knew I was letting everyone down,” Medzycka told ABC News.
“Because technically, I was the one who had the knowledge to figure out where it was. So I definitely felt like I let everyone’s expectations down and I took a lot of responsibility for that.” , it was quite excruciating.”
But when Medzycka looked at the scene and saw rows of broken-looking debris known as medial moraines, he came up with a new theory for finding the equipment.
To support this claim, she looked at satellite images and was able to see two locations where it happened.
According to glaciologists, the Walsh Glacier has risen twice since the 1930s, and Professor Medzycka theorized that the destruction of the moraine occurred during the ascent.
This allowed her to calculate how far the glacier had moved and determine where the camera had been.
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The team decided to test their theory and made a second trip, eventually discovering the camera an hour before a helicopter was scheduled to pick them up.
“That was the moment we saw the equipment that was without a doubt theirs,” Post said. [was] Very surreal and valid in many ways. There has been so much self-doubt over the past 18 months. ”
Washburn’s Fairchild F-8 aerial camera was broken into several pieces, but two movie cameras with film still inside were also found.
“When we found it, it was priceless,” Medzycka said.
Post said the recovered photos revealed that “perhaps 100 or 200 vertical feet of ice have essentially disappeared,” proving how rapidly climate change is occurring. Explaining.
I’m sorry that it ended on a bit of a downer note.
