Glacier Noir
The Glacier Noir with l' Ailefroide in the background.
The Glacier Noir (" Black glacier " ) is a glacier in the French Ecrins massif and is part of the Hautes -Alpes. Of all the glaciers of the Dauphiné his tongue flows furthest down the valley. This he owes in addition to a favorable topography of the fact that his tongue is completely covered in the lower area with moraine. Thus it is better protected against the influence of direct sunlight as eg the adjacent Glacier Blanc (" White Glacier " ), with whom he still 1866 above the Pré de Madame Carle united into a single mass of ice. While the tongue of Glacier Blanc has retreated up today to a height of 2,400 m, the glacier end of the Glacier Noir 200 meters in altitude is lower at about 2200 m.
With moraine -covered glacier are quite generally as glacier noir referred to in French.
Geography
The Glacier Noir is fed by two high-altitude firn basin. The northern branch ( branch septentrionale ) feeds from the boiler below the Col des Avalanches, at the foot of the Pic Coolidge and the Barre des Ecrins, the most south-westerly four peaks in the Alps. From here it flows under the south walls of the Crête de l' Encoula ( alternate spelling: Crête de l' Encula ) from said comb over the draws of the Barre to Pointe du Serre Subeyran. The vast majority of the debris that covered the lower tongue of the glacier, is transported from the northern branch of the glacier.
The southern branch ( branch méridionale ) has its origin between the walls of Ailefroide and the Pic Coolidge, below the Col de Coste Rouge ( 3192 m ) and the Col de la Temple ( 3322 m). It is dominated by the steep northern walls of l' Ailefroide, the Pic du Coup de Sabre and the Pic Sans Nom between 1000 and 1500 meters. The ridge, which attracts over this summit east to Mont Pelvoux is also called the Grand Muraille du Glacier Noir. Five peaks of this ridge ( Ailefroide Central, Pointe Fourastier, Pic Sans Nom, Pointe and Pointe Puiseux Durand) exceed the 3,900 -meter mark. On its left bank of the southern Gletscherast is bounded by the eastern foothills of the Pic Coolidge. Squeezed between these walls of Firnstrom first flows in a northeasterly direction until it turns north just before the merger of the two ice streams. Debris occurs on the surface of the southern Gletscherastes only in its lower part, to a greater extent to days.
Still, the two ice streams of the Glacier Noir unite at an altitude of over 2400 m. However, the southern arm going to retire on the boundary edge of the lower basin in the upper boiler, so that the glacier is divided into a lower and an upper Glacier Noir. At present, the common tongue of the merger still a good 200 meters of altitude flows down the valley and ends at the northern foothills of Mont Pelvoux. It is here about 400 m wide and is on the left (north) side surmounted by a high and steep moraine, runs up through a riser from the Pré de Madame Carle above the village Ailefroide.
The measurement of the glacier is due to the debris Edition difficult than other glaciers. 1965, the length of the glacier tongue about 5.5 km, the area just under 6 km ². Because of the debris cover the variations of these quantities are lower than for glaciers same order of magnitude, where such is lacking.
The Glacier Noir drained via the Torrent du Glacier Noir, the Gyr, the Gyronde, the Durance and finally the Rhone into the Mediterranean.
Development
From Pré de Madame Carle with the Refuge Cézanne, here ends the road from the mountain village Ailefroide in Vallouise to a large parking lot, the glacier is easily accessible. First, follow the path to the Refuge du Glacier Blanc, you stick to a fork in the left, and so reached the lateral moraine of the glacier, where you can hike high above the glacier at its tongue along.
From La Bérarde, another alpine center in the Ecrins Massif, provides the Col de la Temple for glacier experienced alpine climbers a high but relatively easy transition into Vallouise. The descent is via the southern Gletscherast of the Glacier Noir, follow it to the union of the two glacier streams, and then cross the northern road to the opposite large lateral moraine. As a base, the offers in the skin Vénéon located Refuge Temple Ecrins.
Historical development
As already mentioned, Glacier Noir and Blanc Glacier formed earlier time, a single glacier system. During the Little Ice Age, the combined mass of ice reached its maximum extent in 1815 and ending approximately at the level of today's Cézannehütte (1874 m). About a kilometer further down the valley is the old terminal moraine of Fontfroide, relic of a thrust of Glacier Glacier Noir and Blanc from before the 16th century. After the retreat of the glaciers has spread in the flat floodplain gradually the vegetation again, thus creating the lovely landscape of the Pré de Madame Carle.