Glaciers

Glacier with associated lakes and rivers

RIVERS	LAKES	GLACIERS
Chandra	Chandertal	Barashigri
Bhaga	Surajtal	Gangstang
Chanderbhaga	–	sonaponi
Spiti	–	Perad
Tsarab	–	–
Bara Shigri Glacier<
The largest glacier in the district is situated in Lahaul sub-division known as Bara Shigri, Bara meaning big andShigri meaning glacier, in Lahaul dialect. Many mountaineers have trekked it for the sake of hobby orgeographical exploration. This glacier rises from a number of large glaciers, meeting in great valley above, filling that up, and then pushing themselves over its rim in one great ice-stream down to the river.

Hugh Whistler, writing in 1924, says, “Shigri is applied par-excellence to one particular glacier that emerges from the mountains on the left bank of the Chandra. It is said to be several miles long, and the snout reaches right down to the river, lying athwart the customary road from Kullu to Spiti.” Estimates differ as to the breadth of the glacier where it is crossed, as owing to its movement and roughness no two caravans cross it in exactly the same way, but it is not less than a mile wide. In 1836 this glacier burst its bounds and dammed the Chandra, causing the formation of a large lake, which finally broke loose and carried devastation down the valley. The story runs that the people of Spiti posted guards in the Kunzam Pass to watch whether the water would rise high enough to flow across into Spiti.”

The Bara Shigri glacier attracted much attention for many years because of the valuable antimony deposits found there. The glacier was first surveyed in 1906 by H. Walker and E.H. Pascoe of the Geologiaal Survey of India. Daring 1955 the Geological Survey of India sponsored an expedition to this glacier as part of the Indian programme for the International Geophysical Year 1956-57, when a number of Himalayan glaciers were examined and their snout position fixed.
The Bara Shigri glacier, whose name signifies ’boulder-covered-ice’, flows northwards and debouches into the Chandra river where its southerly course is deflected westwards, close to the Spiti border. The glacier is above 3,950 m altitude and extends beyond 4,570 m, a 11 km length of which has been recently surveyed and mapped. The glacier is so heavily covered with surface moraine that ice is not visible for long stretches except along the crevices and in the ablation areas.
Across the Bara Shigri is another glacier known as Chhota Shigri. It is a comparatively smaller glacier and does not reach down to the bed of the river, but it is most steep and slippery, difficult to cross.

Gangstang Glacier
The Gangstang glacier situated at the western border of the Lahaul region at an altitude of about 5,480 m streaming into Shahsha nullah which joins the Chandrabhaga river at about 13 km to the south.

Sonapani Glacier
The desiccated glacier lake and the old terminal moraine are visible from the Rohtang Pass. The desiccated lake, about 2.5 km in length, is a narrow meandering plain following the contours of bounding slopes and consists of such fluvio-glacial deposits as mud, fine sand, pebbles and angular gravels, through which the glacier stream runs. The glacier is about 11 km long. An ice-cliff forms the snout which is mostly covered by stone, and the stream issues from an ice cave situated towards the western limb of the curved ice-cliff. To the south of the snout, and near to it, is a small terminal moraine. A large terminal moraine used to hold up the waters of the old lake. Three more old terminal moraines are cut through by the Sonapani stream after its escape from the lake-bed.

Perad Glacier
It is a small one and is easily accessible being within one kilometre of Putiruni. There is a well marked ice-cave and the glacier stream runs between two large lateral moraines.