Soliciting help for the Nisqually Glacier Survey later this month

I received the following e-mail from Scott Beason, Mount Rainier's geologist, this week. He's looking for help surveying the Nisqually Glacier, and is open to volunteer assistance. If you're interested, contact him at the e-mail address or phone number below. Note that this is arduous work, suitable only for those in excellent physical condition--but it's also a cool opportunity (no pun intended)!

---

Hello Everyone!

I think we’re finally getting to the point on the Nisqually Glacier where we’ll be able to see some rocks or other stuff on the surface to survey! We’re hoping to get a pretty large area of rocks surveyed in order to determine the extents of stagnating ice on the lower glacier. This will involve using a Total Station to survey in individual rocks on the glacier over the course of several weeks. We will hopefully have between 2 and 3 teams combing the Nisqually Glacier surveying in rocks. Each team will also GPS and photograph the rocks in order to get relative positions so they can be resurveyed.

At this point, I am seeking the following information:

1) Are you able/willing to help out on the following dates:

Thursday, August 18;
Thursday August 25;
Thursday, September 1; and
Thursday, September 8.
(Possibly one other day in September, to be determined)

There may also be another day down the road where we’ll have surveys. I think the first 2 surveys will be the most important in determining the initial surface velocities.

2) Do you have glacier hiking/climbing skills and have personal gear necessary for the trip?

We have a limited amount of equipment (crampons, helmets, ice axes, etc) for the excursion, but not enough to supply everyone.

3) Do you know others that may be interested in helping?

Please let me know if you are willing/interested in helping… this isn’t really a funded project for us, but it’s definitely important and will be a cornerstone for future delineation of ice extents at Mount Rainier. If you can forward this on to anyone I may have forgotten who you think might want to help, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks again for all the help!

Scott Beason
Park Geologist
Mount Rainier National Park
360-569-6781
Scott_Beason@nps.gov