7) East of Salenques and 8) West of Salenques

Both glacieres, with a northeast orientation, come from the fragmentation of the old Salenques Glacier, which occupied the cirque located under the ridge that links the Margalida Peak (3,290 m) with the Russell Peak (3,207 m), and the latter with the East Russell Point (3,034 m).

The moraines from the Little Ice Age indicate the length and extension reached by the glacier 175 years ago, 480 m and 20.3 ha in the eastern sector (base of Russell Peak), and 840 m and 30 ha in the western sector (base of Margalida Peak). The fragmentation into two glaciers probably took place at the end of the 19th century. In the middle of the 20th century, their extension and length were considerably reduced, although the western one was still close to 300 m and a lower fragment had already broken off in the form of an ice-axe. This glacier became totally extinct in 2006.

The Western 8) Salenques has disappeared at an unprecedented rate. In 1985, crevasses were visible, revealing its activity, in 1990 it took on the appearance of a glacier ice field, and in 2005 only a snowfield occupies the place of the extinct glacial.

Este aparato glaciar pertenece al siguiente macizo:

B) Aneto – Maladeta

Catalunya, Aragón
17 glaciers

Galería de imágenes

In 1985, the Western Salenques Glacier (8) under Margalida Peak (2), and the Eastern Icefield (7) with the LIA moraine (3) under Russell Peak (1). From Tuc de Mulleres (Jordi Camins).

The Eastern (left) and Western (right) glaciers of Salenques in about 1920 (Fragment of postcard no. 14 "Pirineu Català - Malaïdes: Cresta de les Tempestes. Signature illegible on the original").

In 2017, the old location of both glaciers with their moraines. A snowdrift in the central right part of the photograph, which manages to resist some summers, indicates the place where the fragment split off from the Western Glacier resisted for decades in the form of an icefield in the middle of the 20th century (Jordi Camins).