comparisons with parents' photos

30+ years of change in the mountains

My Parents

My parents met on July 4, 1974 while hiking down the Dosewallips Trail in the Olympic Mountains of Washington State. They soon were married, and they spent the next several years adventuring in Washington's gorgeous Olympic Mountains and North Cascades. In the summer of 1983, as a mosquito-bitten and sunburned happy and smiling 4-month-old strapped to my mother's back, I enjoyed the mountains for the first time. The era of family expeditions into the mountains had begun. 

Now, I spend much of my summers following the shadows of my parents’ boot tracks and picking up where they left off. Over the last few years, I’ve done extensive mountain adventuring and alpine climbing, often traveling through the same areas my parents were 30 years previous. 

I always bring my camera on my adventures, and it's fun to compare my photos with those taken several years ago by my parents. While the mountains have changed little in the 30 years between snapshots, there are some evident changes, such as the size of glaciers, the weight of gear, and the length of shorts. I created this page to show some of these photo comparisons. The amount of glacier recession is particularly evident (and somewhat saddening!) in many of the photos. 

Drastically-shrinking glaciers of the North Cascades

Through comparing my photos to the photos my parents took in the 1970s and 1980s, I've noticed that the glaciers of the North Cascades have undergone significant recession since my parents' glory days. In 2010, I wrote an article for the Northwest Mountaineering Journal titled "Receding Glaciers, Receding Climbs." This article discussed how glacier recession in the North Cascades has affected climbing routes. The following photos were put together for the article. Unlike most of the photo comparisons on this page, these comparisons are not with my parents' photos.

Comparisons with photos my parents took in the '70s and '80s

I have hiked sections of the Ptarmigan Traverse (North Cascades, WA) in 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2023. There are several glaciers on this route. Here are some comparisons. Even the change within my years of mountaineering has been significant.

1979 and 2023Cache Glacier. The Ptarmigan Traverse is now an early summer route.
1979 and 2007Cache Glacier.
1979 and 2023Kool Aid Lake, Mt. Formidable behind.
1979 and 2009Mt. Formidable.
1979 and 2023Spider-Formidable Col.
1979 and 2007Le Conte Glacier.
1979 and 2023Yang-Yang Lakes. No trail in 1979.
1979 and 2023Le Conte Glcier.
1979 and 2009Le Conte Glacier.
1979 and 2003Le Conte Glacier.
1979, 2003, and 2009.Lizard Pass.
1979, 2003, and 2009Dome Peak.

More comparisons:

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