Summer Ice in the Whites

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ChrisB

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The prolonged August heatwave got me wondering…

Is there anywhere in the Whites that holds ice or snow remnants through the summer?

The Subway in King Ravine was pretty reliable years ago. As were a few other spots.

Have these refreshing icy oasis succumbed to global warming? Say it ain’t so!
 
The two sites that hold ice longest are likely the Ice Gulch and (not in the Whites) Deboullie up in northern Maine. People have noted shorter ice retentions into the summer for a long time. One indication is the number of sites in New England that are called "ice caves" that only have ice into May now.
 
Mahoosuc Notch (not in the whites) usually has ice year round but its hard to get to.
 
Have these refreshing icy oasis succumbed to global warming? Say it ain’t so!

Useless answer, but at the local Market Basket a couple days ago they were cleaning out the ice chest and dumping large amounts of what looked more like snow than ice. I was mighty tempted to plow my face into it.
 
I took the detour off the King Ravine Trail to visit the Ice Caves on July 15th.
Never thought or cared to do a comparison, but the ice looked about the same 4 weeks ago as it did in my previous two visits in August 2020 and August 2016.
I'll leave the global warming debate and the definition of "ice year round" to others.
 
I'm being pedantic but accurate when I say that nothing within a few thousand miles of here has "ice year round".

you can find chunks of ice in Mahoosuc notch all year. Its most decidedly cold enough. Even in mid-summer, the elevation and steep rift walls has a noticable chilling effect walking through there.
 
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