奇偉瑰麗冰川旅游

冰川旅游雖是件很刺激很另類的事，但迄今為止除了冰川考察人員外，只有極少數的人登攀過冰川。

不久前，筆者與朋友相約，有幸登攀和游覽了“七一冰川”，留下的感覺終生難忘。

千年冰川有3000多條

長達一千多公里的祁連山 “七一冰川”，藏臥在嘉峪關市西南的祁連深谷中。祁連山有大小冰川3000多條，冰川儲量達1145億立方米，“七一冰川”是祁連山眾多冰川中離城市最近的一個。“七一冰川”的形成已有1000多年歷史，發現這條冰川則在上個世紀的1958年。

那是新中國歷史上的一個特殊歷史時期，因為各行各業需要“大躍進”，甘肅省和中國科學院商定大規模地展開祁連山冰川考察，計劃在半年時間內基本摸清祁連山冰川資源的分布和數量。于是短短10天內一支百人高山冰雪利用研究隊成立了，這是中國的第一個冰川考察隊，還請了蘇聯冰川專家做顧問。

據中科院研究員、考察隊副隊長、我國冰川學元老施雅風介紹，他們全隊于1958年的6月30日出發，很快進入祁連深山中，到達海拔4000米的時候，一些人就出現高山缺氧反應，但大家堅持繼續前進。將近中午，當他們翻過一座陡峭的小山之后，一條巨大的冰川出現在他們的視野里。

大家興奮地從冰舌爬上冰面，一邊向上攀登，一邊進行各種測量、取樣和考察。經過兩三個小時的艱難攀登，有一部分人終于登達冰川的至高點。這條冰川上寬下窄，上面由4個粒雪盆組成，下面伸出一條很長的冰舌，后來從航空照片上測算，這條冰川總長為3.5公里，最寬的地方2.4公里，估算至少有1.6億立方的儲水量，相當于北京十三陵水庫蓄水量的兩倍。

因為考察發現的日子是1958年的7月1日，又是中國第一次對冰川的考察，所以這條冰川就被命名為“七一冰川”。

領略“一日四季”奇妙景色

我們這次從嘉峪關市啟程一路西南行，穿過浩瀚戈壁和荒原后，進入了祁連山的褶皺山巒地帶，再經過崎嶇山路的兩個多小時顛簸之后，就到了“七一冰川”的登山點。

行前就聽說去冰川的路上天氣一日幾變，一日之內便有春夏秋冬四季的景色變換。進入“七一冰川”果真如此：這里時而飛云、滾雷，時而暴雨傾盆而下，倏忽又晴天朗日，到了海拔更高的地方，忽又寒風刺骨，冰碴紛落……一路上，只見兩邊山坡生長著不少奇異野草和山花，還有長滿了毛茸茸的雪蓮。到后來路越來越窄，海拔已超過4000米，空氣變得異常稀薄，天上又忽然摔下銅錢大的冰碴。大家突然感覺很冷，感到頭痛、胸悶，多數人出現了程度不同的高山反應。待到我們艱難地爬上一個亂石密布的山崗時，看到一座石碑，上面刻著“七一冰川”4個大字，呵！我們終于到了目的地，這里的海拔為4800米。

此時此刻，久仰的“七一冰川”就在眼前，站在山谷高處俯看腳下冰川，儼然就是一條白色巨龍！它從遠處蜿蜒而來，那至極的白、那浩瀚、那壯美，構成了一幅絕美的冰川奇景，呵，這是天工與地球的孩子，大自然神奇力量的杰作！

捷足先到的一些年輕人爬到了冰河的冰面上打著滾兒，大呼小叫地瘋著。其實這是很危險的，冰川往往有不少冰隙深不可測，只是它被表面的積雪覆蓋著，如果不小心踩在冰隙上，那就會墮入“萬丈深淵”的！新疆的“天山一號冰川”就發生過一位日本小姐掉進冰縫身亡的事件。

上山容易下山難，我們又遇到大雨，山路一片泥濘，稍不留心就會滑下山谷，然而奇怪的是，正因為險象環生，來此一游的人卻更加樂此不疲。

四方游客紛至沓來

1986年嘉峪關市將“七一冰川”列為旅游景點，修了登山便道，建了游人借以避雨的房屋，上山登臨游冰川的人漸漸多起來了。除了國內旅游者外，前去登山的還有臺灣人、香港人、日本人和別的西方人。但由于這一景點海拔高，安全性低，當地政府于2002年開始，又對“七一冰川”再度進行了開發和包裝，建設了通達山下的車行道路，有些地方做了護坡，重建了4.3公里的上山人行道，部分地段搞了人造臺階。在山腳下設立了旅游服務營地，建設了接待、救護用房及其他相關旅游配套設施，于是前往“七一冰川”旅游者就變得容易了許多。近幾年一到夏秋季節，來旅游的人成倍增長，專業的登山探險者、業余的探險驢團驢友也是紛至沓來，不絕于山。

登臨冰川，向導向我們介紹：現在冰川開始退縮，冰舌所處的位置已比前些年高了許多，我國科學家近年通過實地觀測發現，“七一冰川”確實在萎縮！主要表現為“冰川物質出現嚴重的負平衡、冰川零平衡線位置不斷升高”，尤其近幾年的冰雪消融量遠遠大于積累量，冰川物質虧損嚴重，冰面已出現顯著的減薄狀態，這是近30年來所有觀測資料中負平衡值最大的年段。專家們指出，這反映了大氣變暖對冰川的影響，如果氣候變暖趨勢繼續，冰川的萎縮還會加劇。因為人類對大氣候的變化無能為力，不知道若干年后“七一冰川”還會離我們那么近嗎？

（本文攝影紅樺）

Adventure Tour to Glacier

There are not many people who have toured glaciers. I have. My experience of visiting the July 1 Glacier in the summer 2006 is unforgettable.

Tucked away in the Qilian Mountains which extend more than 1，000 kilometers， the July 1 Glacier is in a remote valley southwest of Jiayuguan City in China’s northwestern Gansu Province. Of more than 3，000 glaciers in the Qilian Mountains， this one is the nearest to a city. The July 1 Glacier is more than 1，000 years old and it was found in 1958.

The year 1958 was a special year in a special period after New China came into being. The Great Leap Forward Movement generated this large-scale geographic investigation. Gansu Province and the China Academy of Sciences organized a team of 100 experts within ten days and planned to survey all the glaciers in the Qilian Mountains.

The expedition started on June 30， 1958 and pretty soon the team entered the mountains. Near the noon of July 1， the team saw an expansive glacier unfurl before their eyes. The experts were excited. They mounted the glacier and began to gather samples and data. After three hours?efforts， some reached the crown of the glacier. Pictures taken later by airplanes showed that the glacier was 3.5 kilometers long and the widest part was 2.4 kilometers. The ice of the glacier equaled 160 million cubic meters of water. The glacier was named July 1 Glacier in commemoration of the day it was found.

Since the glacier became a tourist destination in 1986， infrastructure and tourist facilities have been added there to make the glacier adventure safe and convenient. A large-scale construction project in 2002 has enabled visitors to hike up a 4.3-kilometer-long path to the top of the glacier. More and more mountaineers from Hong Kong， Taiwan， Japan and Europe as well as domestic tourists flock there to view the glacier.

Some friends and I took a bus tour from Jiayuguan City to the Glacier. The two-hour bumpy ride revealed amazing picturesque scenery of the highland climate. Before our trip we had learned that the weather here was erratic and that we could experience changes of four seasons within one single day. It was true. After a thunder storm， sunshine streaked down from a cloudless blue sky. We saw nameless verdant grass， flowers and velvety Saussurea involucrata on slopes beside the highway. As altitude rose gradually above 4，000 meters， wind became icy. The road narrowed as the air thinned. Some of us had difficulty breathing. Suddenly coin-sized chilly hailstones rained down. It became extremely cold. We had headache and a choking sensation in the chest. On a low hill thickly strewn with rocks， we saw a monument bearing July 1 Glacier in Chinese characters. The altitude here was 4，800 meters above sea level.

The view from the top was breathtakingly beautiful. The glacier looked like a white dragon. It was extremely white， grand， and magnificent. It was indeed a powerful masterpiece of nature.

Some young people were rolling on the glacier and shouting with excitement. But it was very risky to do so. A glacier always has some crevices covered by accumulated snow. We were told that a young Japanese woman fell into such a hidden crevice in a glacier in Xinjiang and got killed. On our way down， we were caught in a big rain. The path became quite slippery.

The guide told us that the glacial tongue had been withdrawing for years. Scientists have found that July 1 Glacier is dwindling. Over the last few years， snow melting has been faster than snow accumulating. Data shows that the glacier has been shrinking at the fastest rate over the last few years. As climate continues to warm up， the glacier will further collapse. As we can do nothing about the macro climate changes， will the July 1 Glacier be as close to us in a few years as it is today?

(Translated by David)