![a tale in the desert reddit a tale in the desert reddit](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/r9YLbGbPHFE/maxresdefault.jpg)
![a tale in the desert reddit a tale in the desert reddit](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/78/2a/db/782adba245abd58e1776cea6c6f21b94.jpg)
Then he began to build artificial glaciers by creating closed embankments near the glacial beds and diverting meltwater into them. So, a couple of decades ago, retired Ladakhi civil engineer Chewang Norphel (TEDxIIMUdaipur talk: Making glaciers) hiked up to observe the changing streams for himself. Sonam Wangchuk (far left) and Chewang Norphel (second from left) stand near stupas at a temple. Glacial streams are beginning to dry out before the summer even starts, creating water shortages during the spring when newly planted crops are vulnerable. “We can see that glaciers are receding, and they’ve gone higher and higher,” says Wangchuk. In recent years, the snowline has been shifting due to climate change. The bond between human and glacier is so strong that one local folk tale tells the story of how mother ice and father ice came together to beget baby ice, who provides for the people. Ladakhi communities - which depend on farming to live - rely on the glaciers perched above them in the higher mountains for their water supply. The climate is demanding: Winter temperatures often dip below -20 degrees Fahrenheit, and less than two inches of rain fall over the course of a typical year. More than 11,000 feet above sea level, Ladakh is an arid region filled with spectacular mountains, vast blue skies and some 200 villages. In fact, says Sonam Wangchuk, an engineer and the mind behind the ice structures, “elderly people come and prostrate themselves or pray beside them.”Īfter all, the ice stupas are a monument of sorts - to the earth and to problem-solving. These ice towers are called “ice stupas,” thanks to their resemblance to the Buddhist monuments used for prayer and meditation. They may look enchantingly unreal, but these cones - formed out of glacial meltwater - represent a very real way to help counter some of the effects of climate change. Courtesy of Sonam Wangchuk Using glacier water and pipes (with a big boost from gravity), Indian engineer Sonam Wangchuk has devised a way to store water in the dry high desert.Īmid the dusty peaks of the Himalayas in North India, fairytale-like ice towers soar 80 feet into the sky.