St. Mary’s, a popular snowfield about an hour from Denver, melted completely this September, marking the first time in recorded history it has lost its year-round snow. The disappearance prompted a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 2, hosted by activists with Glacier Nation, an international climate movement, and The Green House Connection Center, a Denver-based nonprofit, to mourn the loss and emphasize the urgency of climate issues.
For a century, the snowfield known as St. Mary’s Glacier was a popular Colorado destination, drawing thousands of visitors, including sightseers, skiers, and snowboarders seeking summer turns. However, scientists have clarified that St. Mary’s has not been a true glacier—defined by ice dense enough to move under gravity—in recent history. Following this year’s complete melt, it is no longer even a perennial snowfield.
At the ceremony, Morgan Sierra Mae, who grew up in Evergreen, sat on the rocks where the snowfield once lay. She sang, "I melt away, I melt away, I melt away — don’t forget my name," accompanied by a mountain stream and a cool breeze. Marcela Fernandez, founder of Glacier Nation, quickly organized the event after seeing headlines about the snowfield’s disappearance while at New York City Climate Week. Fernandez, who hails from Colombia, explained that Glacier Nation aims to "shine a light on the fact that glaciers are disappearing," inspiring action rather than melancholy. The group began their ceremony at the trailhead, forming a circle, holding hands, and praying for safe passage, a tradition from Fernandez’s home country.
Fernandez’s concern about glacier loss began a decade ago when she learned about disappearing tropical glaciers in Colombia. Her country has already lost eight glaciers in the last century, with the remaining six expected to melt within 30 years. For the ceremony, Fernandez carried a wooden box containing vials of water collected from disappearing glaciers worldwide, including Colombia, with plans to exchange water with St. Mary's as a prayer. She warned that Colorado's Arapaho Glacier and Isabel Glacier are next "in the countdown to be the next glaciers to disappear."
Scientists confirm that Colorado’s glaciers and snowfields are expected to follow similar trends. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), glaciers worldwide have shrunk every year for the past 39 years, with each of the last three decades showing greater declines than the one before.
Dan McGrath, a Colorado State University Associate Professor of Geoscience and a glaciologist, noted that Colorado’s mountains were carved by glaciers. He stated that Andrews and Arapaho are considered the state's "two most glacier-like features," though comprehensive surveys are needed to definitively confirm they still flow as true glaciers. The U.S. Geological Survey lists 16 glaciers in Colorado, but McGrath cautioned that this includes perennial snowfields like St. Mary’s, which have not been true glaciers for a long time and may no longer contain snow and ice. While melting has occurred since the "Little Ice Age" (1750-1850), the rate has accelerated significantly in recent decades.
McGrath attributes this accelerated melting to human activities. Global temperatures have risen approximately 2 degrees Fahrenheit on average worldwide since 1850, with the warming trend intensifying recently, NOAA reports. In Colorado, the Climate Change in Colorado report found that annual average temperatures warmed by 2.3 degrees between 1980 and 2022, with an additional 1-4 degrees expected by 2025. This, combined with Colorado's worst snowpack and hottest summer on record, has led to rapid ice loss in perennial snowfields. McGrath stated, "This is not natural. The observed warming today is not natural," emphasizing that the current warming is an "anthropogenically driven" signal.
