(Top) Glacier Peak from Lake of the Clouds (1972) Dick Behan 

(Bottom) Glacier Peak from the air (2015) Rick Graetz 

Glaciers of the Mission and Swan Mountains: Last week pilot Ric Hauer and I found the clear stable air we needed to examine what was left of the moving ice of these ranges. We found only two true glaciers in the Missions and only one in the Swan. Certainly there are many semi-perennial snowfields that have ceased to be active glaciers. Having climbed many of these summits over the past ten years, it is obvious that what is left is going rapidly. The two in the Missions are on McDonald Peak and Glacier Peak, with the Glacier Peak ice the most extensive.

University of Montana's Department of Geography