74) Taillón Norte

Extinguido

A consistent moraine more than 1 km wide at the base of the extensive northern slope of Pico Taillón, between the northeast and northwest ridges, shows the existence of an ancient glacier of short length but with a powerful horizontal development. It is estimated that during the Little Ice Age it could have reached an area of 15 ha, ranking 10th in terms of headwater width. Between 1982 and 1985 it was split into three units (74-1-2-3). Its powerful moraine kept it largely hidden from view, remote and out of the way of most observations. In the eastern fragment (74-1), faint cracks were last seen in 2012 in the upper sector at the point where it received the maximum accumulation of snow from the north-western ridge of Taillón. Most of its surface was already covered by erosion material, taking on the morphology of a black snowfield. In 2017, only the ice in its upper sector was visible. Five years later, it still retained a minimal thickness of ice and was classified as extinct in 2023. A snowfield still occupies its former location and the possibility of ice fragments buried under the debris cannot be ruled out. The fragments of the central (74-2) and western (74-3) snowfields remained as residual features until their total extinction in 2023.

Este aparato glaciar pertenece al siguiente macizo:

I) Gavarnie Massif

Aragón
12 glaciers

Galería de imágenes

The three Taillón Norte icefields (74-1-2-3), with their frontal moraine (12) in 2017. The then Gabietous Glacier (75), inside its cirque nestled between the peaks of Taillón (10) and Gabietous (11). The two sections of the Helero de Tourettes (76-1-2) and the modest peak of the same name (19). On the left, the Taillón Glacier (72), Dedo de la Falsa Brecha (9), Pico Balzillac (8) and Brecha de Roland (7). (Jordi Camins).).

In 2012, it became a black ice field, the easternmost part of the Helero de Taillón Norte. (Jordi Camins).

In 2022, with reduced ice thickness, the eastern fragment will be very close to extinction. (Jordi Camins).

A snowfield persists at the former location of the eastern fragment in 2024, and the existence of some ice remnants beneath the eroded material cannot be ruled out. (Jordi Camins).

The moraine from the Little Ice Age at the front of the eastern fragment. (Jordi Camins – 2012

The North Taillón Glacier reaching the limit of its frontal moraine in the 1920s, in the area of the central and western ice fields. (Fragment of postcard Hautes-Pyrénnées-36-Le Taillon- Alt. 3146).