Peru Uses Climate Twist to Lure Tourists to Shrinking Glacier
By Mitra Taj
HUARAZ, Peru (Reuters) - In its heyday, the Pastoruri glacier in central Peru, drew daily throngs of tourists packed into dozens of double-decker buses 16,000-feet (5,000-meters) high into the Andes to ski, build snowmen and scale its dizzying peaks.
It was so bright with ice and snow that sunglasses were mandatory.
But in less than 20 years, including at least 10 of the hottest on record, Pastoruri has shrunk in half, and now spans just a third of a square mile (0.9 square km).
Melting ice has given way to slabs of black rock, two small lakes gathering the glacial runoff have swollen together, and officials have banned climbing on the unstable formation.
"There isn't much left of our great tourist attraction," said local guide Valerio Huerta, squinting at Pastoruri. "Tourists now always leave totally disappointed."
more
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=peru-uses-climate-twist-to-lure-tourism-glacier