1937 Explorer Camera Found In Glacier (PICTURES)  

Scientists are trying to display the film

In 1937, cartographer and aerial photographer, Bradford Washburn, found himself in adverse weather conditions in Canada’s frozen Yukon Territory while attempting to climb Mount Lucania. So he was forced to abandon the mission, leaving behind his equipment to save himself. A team of scientists 85 years later discovered his snow-buried equipment on the remote Walsh Glacier.

The “hunt” lasted three weeks.

I was optimistic but I knew it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. A lot can happen to a glacier in 85 years.

Scientists mapped the glacier to narrow down where the equipment might be as it moved over the years. The search was arduous and tiring as the team reached the location on skis and snowboards.

We had an idea of ​​where to start looking, but nothing concrete. We covered many kilometers going up and down the glacier. We couldn’t find it.

The team did not find anything until their second visit two months later. On the last day of the mission, one member had a new theory about where they should look.

Walsh Glacier is a rare type of glacier that moves faster than others. Indeed, the equipment was found 5 kilometers down the road from the search site and a total of 22 kilometers from where Washburn had left it.

A few weeks later, a team of archaeologists arrived at the glacier to retrieve the artifacts. Among them was the Fairchild F-8 aerial camera, with the film still inside. Scientists now hope to be able to display the film to save the images it captured.

The photos may help scientists better understand how glaciers move. If the information is combined with satellite data, we will find precisely if and how the flow of this particular glacier has changed over the past eight decades.