Glacier's Glaciers
You may have come to Glacier National Park to see the icy glaciers working, carving out valleys and reducing the mountains to rubble. Piedmont glaciers carved the park’s major features of jagged mountains, U-shaped valleys, knife-like ridges, and big lakes. Those glaciers melted more than 12,000 years ago. This happened before there were records of humans living in the area. The glaciers in the park today were created in the last 400 years, with a growth spurt before the 1800s. They are grinding mountains and carving valleys—at their own pace. You will not see them working, because their movement is at the rate of one inch per year.

A Glacier is Born!
Glaciers begin when there is enough snowfall in winter so that in the warm summer months all the snow does not melt, blow away, or slide. Snow collected over several years becomes a snowfield. The snowfield turns into a glacier when snow on the bottom is squeezed by the weight of the new snow above. After many years, the snow at the bottom becomes pressed into ice, and the glacier begins to move downhill by the force of gravity.

Did You Know?
Most of the glaciers have shrunk to one-half or one-third the size they were 100 years ago. Others have disappeared altogether. In 1850, there were more than 150 glaciers in the park. At the present rate of melting , all of the glaciers will be gone by the year 2030.

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