Glacier Noir
The Glacier Noir with the Ailefroide Ailefroide The Ailefroide is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins in the French Alps, and is the third highest peak in the Dauphiné Alps after the Barre des Écrins and La Meije. It lies at the south-western end of the Mont Pelvoux–Pic Sans Nom–Ailefroide ridge....  in the background
Location	Hautes Alpes, France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Range Mountain range A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...	Massif des Écrins Massif des Écrins The mountains of the Massif des Écrins form the core of the Écrins National Park in France.-Mountains:*Barre des Écrins 4102 m*La Meije 3983 m*Ailefroide 3954 m*Mont Pelvoux 3946 m*Pic Sans Nom 3913 m*Pic Gaspard 3883 m*Le Râteau 3809 m... , Western Alps
Glacier Glacier A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...  type	Valley glacier
Length	5.5 km (1965)
Area	5.95 km² (1965)
Height	to
Geographic location	44°54′54"N 6°23′0"E
align="center" colspan="2"|

The Glacier Noir (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for "black glacier") is a glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

 in the Massif des Écrins

Massif des Écrins

The mountains of the Massif des Écrins form the core of the Écrins National Park in France.-Mountains:*Barre des Écrins 4102 m*La Meije 3983 m*Ailefroide 3954 m*Mont Pelvoux 3946 m*Pic Sans Nom 3913 m*Pic Gaspard 3883 m*Le Râteau 3809 m...

 in the French Alps

French Alps

The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....

. It is located in the département of Hautes-Alpes

Hautes-Alpes

Hautes-Alpes is a department in southeastern France named after the Alps mountain range.- History :Hautes-Alpes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

.

Geography

Of all the great glaciers in the Oisans

Oisans

LOisans is a region in the French Alps, located in the départements of l'Isère and Hautes-Alpes, and corresponding to the drainage basin of the River Romanche and its tributaries...

 region, the Glacier Noir is the one that descends furthest into the valley. This is thanks to favourable topography

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 and the fact that the lower tongue of the glacier is entirely covered with ablation

Ablation

Ablation is removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. This occurs in spaceflight during ascent and atmospheric reentry, glaciology, medicine, and passive fire protection.-Spaceflight:...

 moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

. As a result it is better screened from direct sunshine than, for example, its neighbour, the Glacier Blanc

Glacier Blanc

The Glacier Blanc is a glacier in the French département of Hautes-Alpes. Its name derives from the fact that – unlike the nearby Glacier Noir – its surface appears pristinely white due to an absence of morainic debris.A glacier that is largely free of such moraines is generally described in...

 ("white glacier").

Until at least 1866 the Glacier Noir and Glacier Blanc were combined into a single glacial system above the Pré de Madame Carle. But whilst the foot of the Glacier Blanc has retreated today to a height of around , the snout of the Glacier Noir descends a further 200 metres in height to about .

Glaciers covered in moraine debris are generally referred to in French as glacier noir.
The Glacier Noir is fed from two high-altitude firn

Firn

Firn is partially-compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé. It is ice that is at an intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice...

 basins. The northern branch (branche septentrionale) is in turn fed from the bowl below the Col des Avalanches, at the foot of Pic Coolidge and the Barre des Écrins

Barre des Écrins

The Barre des Écrins is a mountain in the French Alps, the highest point of the Massif des Écrins, and the most southerly alpine peak in Europe that is higher than 4,000 metres.- Geography :...

, the southwesternmost four-thousander

Four-thousander

A four-thousander is a mountain summit that is at least 4,000 metres above sea level. Because the highest peaks in Europe fall into this category, the summits of four-thousanders are popular in Europe with climbers and mountaineers as climbing goals...

 of the Alps. From here it flows below the south face of the Crête de l'Encoula (also: Crête de l'Encula), a crest that runs from the Barre to the Pointe du Serre Subeyran. The great majority of the rubble that covers the lower section of the glacier is transported from its northern branch.
The southern branch (branche méridionale) originates between the faces of the Ailefroide and Pic Coolidge, below the Col de Coste Rouge and the Col de la Temple . The steep north faces of the Ailefroide, Pic du Coup de Sabre and Pic Sans Nom

Pic Sans Nom

The Pic Sans Nom is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins in the French Alps. It lies in the middle of the steep mountain mass that runs south-west from Mont Pelvoux to the Ailefroide....

 tower 1,000 to 1,500 metres above the glacier. The arête

Arete

Areté is the term meaning "virtue" or "excellence", from Greek ἈρετήArete may also be used:*as a given name of persons or things:**Queen Arete , a character in Homer's Odyssey.***197 Arete, an asteroid....

, which runs over these peaks eastwards to Mont Pelvoux

Mont Pelvoux

Mont Pelvoux is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins in the French Alps.For many years Mont Pelvoux was believed to be the highest mountain in the region since the higher Barre des Écrins cannot be seen from the Durance valley....

, is also called the Grand Muraille du Glacier Noir. Five summits along this crest (Ailefroide Central, Pointe Fourastier, Pic Sans Nom, Pointe Puiseux and Pointe Durand) exceed the 3,900 metre mark. On its left-hand side, the southern branch of the glacier is bounded by the eastern foothills of Pic Coolidge. Hemmed in between these two faces, the firn stream flows initially northeastwards before swinging north just before the two ice streams merge. Rubble first appears on the surface of the southern glacial branch in large quantities in its lower reaches.

The two ice streams of the Glacier Noir merge at a height of over . However, the southern arm is about to retreat over the boundary between the lower basin and upper bowl, which will separate the glacier into distinct lower and upper sections. Currently the combined tongue of ice flows from its junction, descending another good 200 metres in height, and ends beneath the northern foothills of Mont Pelvoux. It is about 400 metres wide at this point and a high and steep lateral moraine towers over it on the left-hand (northern) side, across which a climbing path runs from the Pré de Madame Carle, above the village of Ailefroide.

Measurements are more difficult than on other glaciers as a result of the covering of moraine. In 1965 the glacier was about 5.5 km long from head to snout and had an area of just under 6 km². Due to its covering of moraine, variations in these dimensions are less than those of other glaciers of similar size that are not so covered.

The meltwaters of the Glacier Noir pass down the Torrent du Glacier Noir, the Gyr, the Gyronde, the Durance

Durance

The Durance is a major river in south-eastern France.Its source is in the south-western Alps, in Montgenèvre ski resort near Briançon and it flows south-west through the following départements and cities:* Hautes-Alpes: Briançon, Embrun.* Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: Sisteron, Manosque.* Vaucluse:...

 and finally the Rhône

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

 into the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

.

Access

The glacier may be easily reached on foot from the hut of Refuge Cézanne at the Pré de Madame Carle, where the road from the climber's village of Ailefroide

Ailefroide

The Ailefroide is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins in the French Alps, and is the third highest peak in the Dauphiné Alps after the Barre des Écrins and La Meije. It lies at the south-western end of the Mont Pelvoux–Pic Sans Nom–Ailefroide ridge....

 ends in the Vallouise

Vallouise

Vallouise is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France.-Population:-References:*...

 at a large car park. Initially following the path to the Refuge du Glacier Blanc, it bears left where the paths fork and reaches the lateral moraine of the glacier on which there is a route high above the glacier on that side.

From La Bérarde, another alpinist centre in the Écrins Massif, the Col de la Temple offers a high, but comparatively easy crossing into the Vallouise for experienced glacier walkers. The climbing path runs over the southern branch of the Glacier Noir and then makes for the junction of both glacial arms before crossing the northern branch to the lateral moraine on the opposite side. The Refuge Temple-Écrins in the Haut Vénéon may be used as a base.

Historic development

As already mentioned, the Glacier Noir and Glacier Blanc used to form a single glacial system. During the Small Ice Age the combined ice mass reached its maximum extent in 1815 and ended roughly at the height of the present-day Cézanne Hut . About a kilometre further down the valley is the old terminal moraine of Fontfroide, relic of an advance of the Glacier Noir and Glacier Blanc from the time before the 16th century. After the retreat of the glacier vegetation gradually returned on the flat river meadows and created the majestic landscape of the Pré de Madame Carle.

External links

• Information about the Glacier Noir with historic photos at vallouimages.com