The Meier Rephotography Project

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Helen Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 17, p. 46. Original caption: "Helen Glacier. The high peak on the right is Turret Peak and in the center of the picture is Mt. Warren. A small vestigial glacier existed just below the facing cliff of Turret Peak during the Little Ice Age, note the prominent moraine. Elsie's Col is between Mt. Warren and Turret Peak, but is not visible." Brightness, contrast, and structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Helen Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

The straight line distance to the top of Mt Warren (the peak in the center) is about 1 mile.

Helen Glacier, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Sacagawea Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 19, p. 50. Original caption: "Mt. Helen and the upper part of Sacagawea Glacier. Note the large, high-level moraine parallel to the Continental Divide (skyline to the left of Mt. Helen) and the glacieret below the peak." Brightness, contrast, and structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Sacagawea Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

The straight line distance to the top of the moraine hill on the ridge line is .5 mile.

Sacagawea Glacier, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Upper Fremont Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 23, p. 58. Original caption: :Lower part of Upper Fremont Glacier. Note flat surface." Brightness, contrast, structure adjusted in Lightroom.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Upper Fremont Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

The straight line distance to the top of the prominent peak on the right side is .57 mile.

Upper Fremont Glacier, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Bull Lake Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 25, p. 65. Original caption: "Head of the north lobe of Knife Point Glacier. Glacier Crest is the high peak. Medial moraine and a small part of Lower Fremont Glacier is in the foreground. This picture is almost panoramic with Fig. 26." Brightness, contrast, structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Bull Lake Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

Photo taken from atop Meier's Crag. In 1950, Bull Lake Glacier was known as the "upper lobe of Knife Point Glacier," and Jackson Peak was known as "Glacier Crest." The straight line distance to top of Jackson Peak is .85 mile.

Bull Lake Glacier, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Knife Point Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 26, p. 66. Original caption: "Knife Point Glacier from the summit of the unnamed peak between Upper and Lower Fremont Glacier. The snow peak extending out of view to the right is Glacier Crest. In the center of the view the north lobe of Knife Point Glacier turns to the southeast, and then steepens abruptly before joining the south lobe, which is visible in the background. Note the folds in the medial moraine separating Knife Point Glacier from Lower Fremont Glacier )foreground). This view is almost panoramic with Fig. 25." Brightness, contrast, and structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Knife Point Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From the summit of what is now known as "Meier's Crag." Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wyoming, recalls: "I know the recession of Knife Point Glacier first-hand . . . . I understood climate change intellectually for a long time, but not until I returned to Knife Point Glacier after just a decade of ice loss did I understand climate change viscerally. That "lump" of rock in the upper-middle of the photo was where we had lunch each day during my time of collecting frozen remains of the Rocky Mountain locust from the ice--and when I returned to the glacier and realized that the ice had melted away and turned "lunch rock" into a tower of stone, the gut-level reality of global warming hit me." Straight line distance to the "lunch rock" in the upper-middle is about 1.74 mile.

Knife Point Glacier, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Neil F. Humphrey, professor of glaciology and geomorphology at the University of Wyoming has this to say about the pair: "This is a really nice pair, since because of the side view, you can really see the thinning, not just the retreat. So, bottom line, is this glacier has lost a lot of mass. Hard to say how much but much more than the 84% estimated by Mark M. It looks like it has lost as least 1/2 since the 1950s. . . . This glacier was pretty close to glaciologically dead in the 50s, and sure looks dead now, so . . . it probably is largely due to the current warming trend. The fact that it is lower is important. The health of the north lobe may have more to do with accumulation than with melt. Probably the north lobe is still getting lots of wind blown input, while the south lobe may have been more dependent on cold and snowfall. . . . North Knifepoint looks 'dead,' while the south lobe is steep enough that it might still be moving as a glacier, and the upper part might still be active. (Even though the north lobe looks more like a glacier, I think it is not long for this world, while the south lobe will hang on for longer)." Personal communications 10/2/2020, 10/5/2020, 10/14/2020.

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Heap Steep Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 32, p. 83. Original caption: "Heap Steep Glacier, from the top of the bedrock knob in the center of the large cirque. Note the straight firn line, the curved dirt bands, the large bergschrund, the moraine emerging beneath the terminus, and the large, compound Little Ice Age terminal moraine. Heap Steep Peak to the right and Sunrise Peak to the left in the background." Brightness, contrast, and structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Heap Steep Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

The straight line distance to the base of the glacier is about .25 mile.

Heap Steep Glacier, 1950(L) and 2020(R)

Neil F. Humphrey, professor of glaciology and geomorphology at the University of Wyoming, has this assessment of the pairing: "For the last approximately 10K years it has been a tiny cirque glacier. It probably advanced to twice its current length during the little ice age, and has been slowly retreating since then. It doesn't look like it has responded to the current global warming very much, which is not too surprising since it is mainly dependent on the wind patterns (which haven't changed much) and not on the temperature. I expect it will continue to thin slightly, but will take quite a while to reduce to a permanent snowpack." Personal Communication 9/23/2020.

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Heap Steep Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 41, p. 116. Original caption: "Outcrop of spoon-shaped sheer surfaces below the firn line on Heap Steep Glacier, a small cirque glacier. Note that the surfaces are close together at the base of the glacier, and farther apart higher. A morainal ridge emerges from beneath the ice in the right center of the photograph." Brightness, contrast, structure adjusted in Lightroom.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Heap Steep Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

Study of Heap Steep Glacier that is intended from nearly the same vantage point as Meier's photo, labelled Fig. 41.

Heap Steep Glacier Close Up, 1950 (L) and 2020 (R).

Mark F. Meier, 1950. Twins Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

From Meier, Mark F.. "Glaciers of the Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak Area, Wyoming." MS (Master of Science) thesis, State University of Iowa, 1951. Fig. 33, p. 86. Original caption: "Twins Glacier. Note that the surface is nearly completely covered with snow although the summer season is nearly over (photograph taken September 1, 1950). The Little Ice Age moraine is in the form of a sloping bench below the glacier, and there is no single outlet stream. The head end of the Titcomb Lakes valley appears in the foreground." Brightness, Contrast, and Structure adjusted in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2.

Ed Sherline, 2020. Twins Glacier, Wind River Range, WY.

Photo taken on August 4, 2020. The straight line distance to the top of Winifred Peak (the rounded peak in the left center) is about 1.25 miles.