EVEREST GLACIER MELTING

(ENS) - The glacier from which Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out to conquer Mount Everest nearly 50 years ago, has retreated up the mountain about three miles, says an expert team of climbers that is documenting the effects of global warming as part of the UN International Year of Mountains. Said expedition leader Roger Payne, "It is clear that global warming is emerging as one, if not the, biggest threat to mountain areas. The evidence of climate change was all around us, from huge scars gouged in the landscapes by sudden, glacial floods to the lakes swollen by melting glaciers. But it is the observations of some of the people we met, many of whom have lived in the area all their lives, that really hit home." The president of the Nepal Mountain Association said local people fear that melting glaciers will trigger floods and send huge quantities of water, rubble and mud down the valley.