We arrived at Imja Lake and quickly established our camp directly below the terminal moraine — the enormous mound of silt and rock that dams the waters of the lake. If this moraine were to rupture, 10 million gallons of lake water would flood downstream, causing devastating loss of life in many downstream Sherpa communities and on the Mt. Everest Base Camp trail.
Imja Lake, foggy, icy and cold. (Photo by Daniel Byers)
As we hiked up the mountain from our camp, we watched the waterfall that spills water from the lake. More troubling, water was seeping from the bottom of the moraine. We became concerned about the ice beneath the moraine in the area between the lake and the waterfall. That ice appears to be melting slowly and causing the ground to sink, creating a potentially dangerous situation whereby the lake could burst through the moraine. There is very little information about this ice and the threat it poses, but scientists are concerned. This must be studied soon.