Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Melting Point

Himalaya is the Sanscrit word for “abode of the snow.” The mountain range certainly lives up to its name, given that it includes Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth. Having summited this marvel of plate tectonics five times, David Breashears has an intimate relationship with the landscape, and it inspired the award-winning filmmaker and mountaineer to found the nonprofit GlacierWorks. As part of the organization’s ongoing effort to raise public awareness about climate change, Breashears’ illustrated lecture “River of Ice” compares archival photographs with recent images of the Greater Himalayas’ vanishing high-altitude glaciers. They are the least studied of their kind in the world.