Snow and ice

Icicles from a barn roof in Funen, Denmark, are bent inwards by repeated thawing and freezing (top). Melted snow from these icicles has frozen on a cotoneaster below. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

In the 1980s and 1990s, I spent several winters on the island of Vorsø, a nature reserve in Horsens Fjord, Denmark. During these stays, I could enjoy a number of very beautiful impressions. Below, a collection of winter pictures from this interesting reserve is presented. Others are shown on the page Vorsø on my mind, where a number of winter experiences are related.

In severe winters, each falling tide leaves a thin layer of frozen saltwater on emerging stones. The following rising tide will press this layer outwards, leaving a new thin layer of ice inside the previous layer. In this way, several rising and falling tides create a ’flower’ with delicate ice petals. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These catkins of common hazel (Corylus avellana) were formed already in late autumn, and now they are covered in rime, ready to burst with the first sign of spring. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Snowdrop (Galanthus) is a genus of c. 20 species in the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae), most of which are native to the Balkans, the Near East, the Caucasus, and the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. One species, the common snowdrop (G. nivalis), is found from northern Spain and western France eastwards to Ukraine, but has become naturalized elsewhere in Europe and in parts of North America.

The generic name is from the Greek gala (‘milk’) and anthos (‘flower’), referring to the white flowers of the genus, whereas the specific name nivalis (‘of the snow’) refers to the early flowering of common snowdrop. The name snowdrop first appeared in 1633, in the book Great Herball by English herbalist John Gerard (c. 1545-1612). (In the first edition of his book, Gerard had named it the timely flowring bulbus violet.) The word snowdrop may be a translation of the German word Schneetropfen – a type of earring, which was popular in those days. Other common English names include February fairmaids, dingle-dangle, Candlemas bells, Mary’s tapers, and, in Yorkshire, snow piercers. (Sources: M. Bishop, A. Davis & J. Grimshaw 2002. Snowdrops: A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus. Griffin Press, and R. Mabey 1996. Flora Britannica. Sinclair-Stevenson)

An old legend relates that when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they experienced dark and cold for the first time, and Eve sat down on the cold ground and wept. An angel appeared before her, caught a snow flake in his hand and blew on it. The water drop fell to the ground, and a snowdrop appeared. This gave comfort to Eve, who began to have new hope.

Common snowdrop is one of the first harbingers of spring, often appearing before the winter snow has disappeared. It is cultivated everywhere in northern Europe and often escapes, in this case in Nature Reserve Vorsø, Horsens Fjord, Denmark. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum) resembles common snowdrop, but has wider, bell-shaped flowers with a yellowish-green spot on each petal. Formerly, the genus Leucojum contained 11 species, but in 2004 nine of these were moved to the genus Acis. Today, only L. vernum and L. aestivum remain in Leucojum. The generic name is from the Greek leukos (‘white’) and ion (‘violet’).

If you walk around the Annapurna Range, central Nepal, you must cross over the pass Thorung La (5415 m). People in this area are mainly Buddhists, and the peak of this pass is marked by a chorten (a Tibetan variety of the stupa) and vividly coloured prayer flags. Below, five winter pictures from this area are shown.

Elsewhere you may read about chortens and prayer flags, see Religion: Buddhism.

Yaks, grazing in a snow-covered landscape, Jarsang Khola Valley. The pointed mountain is Khatung Kang (6,488 m). – The domestication of the yak is described on the page Animals: Animals as servants of Man. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

One morning, we found these partly melted pugmarks in the snow in the Jarsang Khola Valley, signifying that a snow leopard (Uncia uncia) had passed here the previous night. These large and elusive cats live in mountains of Central Asia, but have been hunted to extinction in many areas because of their rich and beautiful fur. In Buddhist areas of the Himalaya, hunting is banned, and in these areas this rare cat has safe havens, where it can prey on species like bharal (Pseudois nayaur), urial (Ovis vignei), Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus), and Himalayan musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster). (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The black Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) is a member of the large family Rallidae, comprising coots, gallinules, rails, crakes, and many others. As a breeding bird, it is widely distributed across Temperate Eurasia, eastwards to Japan, and in north-western Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea, and Australia. Siberian populations are migratory, while African, Indian, Australian, and most European birds are resident. Very similar species are found in the Iberian Peninsula, Africa, the Americas, and Hawaii.

In January 1999, I spent some days in and around Portland, Maine, United States – days of freezing temperatures and heavy wind. It was indeed a cold, but also very beautiful experience, as the following pictures show.

Common mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium fontanum), of the campion family (Caryophyllaceae), is common in grassy areas and in fields in the major part of Europe, and it has also been introduced elsewhere.

In 2011, I participated in an expedition to the Chukotka Peninsula, north-eastern Siberia. Read about our adventures on this trip elsewhere, see Travel episodes – Siberia 2011: Caterpillar trip across Chukotka.

In the summer 1999, I joined a group of Scandinavians on a hike in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The following four pictures show impressions from this trip.

This lady’s mantle (Alchemilla) has been covered in snow during the night, Kaska Su Valley. – Read about the medicinal usage of lady’s mantle on the page Traditional medicine. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The Barun Valley is an alpine valley, situated in Makalu-Barun National Park, which covers an area of c. 1,500 km² in northern Nepal. To the west, this park borders Sagarmatha National Park, covering 1148 km², to the north the huge Qomolangma Nature Preserve in Tibet, covering c. 35,000 km², and to the south a buffer zone, covering 830 km². Thus, the valley is situated in the heart of a very large protected area.

In spring 1991, together with Lars Nørgaard Hansen, I undertook a very interesting hike to this valley, related on the page Plants – Plant hunting in the Himalaya: The rhododendron valley.

Below, four winter impressions from this trip are presented.

On our way across this pass, we met another group of porters, heading the opposite way. Note that the woman is bare-footed. If she had been one of our porters, we would have bought her a pair of sneakers! Unfortunately, we did not have a spare pair to give her. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The snow goose (Anser caerulescens) comes in two colour morphs, a snow-white phase, which has given this species its common name, and a bluish-grey phase, referred to as ‘blue goose’, which has given it the specific name caerulescens, meaning ‘bluish’.

The snow goose is a bird of the New World, breeding mainly in northern Canada and Alaska, with small populations in Greenland and north-eastern Siberia. It spends the winter along the Pacific coast, from southern British Columbia southwards, and also in southern United States and Mexico.

View from inside an ice cave in the Sierra Nevada, Parque Nacional Conguillio, Chile. The taller trees with white trunks are the national tree of Chile, pehuén (Araucaria araucana), in English called ‘monkey-puzzle tree’. This species is presented in detail on the page Travel episodes – Chile 2011: The white forest. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During a snowstorm below the Rohtang Pass (3,978 m), Himachal Pradesh, India, this roadside vendor continues roasting corn cobs, while his partner seeks shelter under a huge umbrella. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The snowy egret (Egretta thula) is named after its snow-white plumage. This small heron, which is very similar to the Old World little egret (E. garzetta), is found in South and Central America, and also in parts of North America, where some populations are migratory, wintering further south.

The generic name is from a French word, aigrette, meaning ‘little heron’. In 1782, the specific name, thula, was given to this bird by a mistake by Chilean Jesuit priest and naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina (1740-1829), who didn’t realize that in fact thula was the local Mapuduncun name for the black-necked swan (Cygnus melancoryphus).

The snow bunting (Calcarius nivalis) is aptly named, as it breeds in the High Arctic, spending the winter in snowy fields and coastal meadows further south. Its plumage is also predominantly snow-white. This species has a northern circumpolar distribution, with isolated populations in northern Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Previously, the snow bunting, under the name Plectrophenax nivalis, was placed in the bunting family (Emberizidae), but recent DNA research has shown that it is in fact a species of longspur, which, together with the other longspurs, forms a distinct clade, now constituting a family of their own, Calcariidae.

The Tibetan snowcock (Tetraogallus tibetanus) is a large gamebird, which is rather common in drier areas of the High Himalaya. These birds are feeding near Tughla, Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Nepal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Early in spring 2009, I paid a visit to the Wumeng Shan Mountains, Guizhou Province, China. You may read more about this trip on the page Travel episodes – China 2009: Among black-necked cranes. – Below, four impressions from these mountains are presented.

Avalanche, roaring down the Bethartoli Glacier, Nanda Devi National Park, Uttarakhand, India. – Read about our adventures in this park on the page Travel episodes – India 1982: Pleasures of Nanda Devi. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

In 1984, the mute swan (Cygnus olor) was elected the national bird of Denmark – an appropriate choice, as it is very common. This was not always the case. In the 1800s, swans were hunted in Denmark, and by 1920, only three or four pairs were breeding in the vicinity of Copenhagen. Swans were protected in 1926, and the mute swan soon began spreading across the country.

In his fairy tale The Ugly Duckling, Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen relates the fate of a cygnet, which is ostracized by its fellow fowl in a farmyard, where it has been hatched together with ducklings. It has to undergo much suffering, before it realizes that it has matured into a beautiful swan. In reality, this story is about the fate of Andersen himself.

The mute swan is native to northern Europe, from southern Norway and southern Finland, southwards to southern France and Romania, and from Ireland eastwards to western Russia and Ukraine, and with patchy breeding occurrence in the Balkans, Turkey, and Central Asia, eastwards to southern Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China. It has also been introduced elsewhere, including North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

As opposed to the other northern European swans, the whooper swan (C. cygnus) and Bewick’s swan (C. columbianus ssp. bewickii), the mute swan is not very vocal, hence the popular name mute. The name Cygnus is a Latinized form of the Greek kyknos (‘swan’), whereas olor is Latin, also meaning ‘swan’.

The winter is a hard time for these birds, and in severe weather conditions, many succumb to cold and starvation.

In these pictures, numerous mute swans are gathered around a crack in the sea ice, near the island of Møn. Some have already succumbed, while others are dying. The dark spots on the ice are excreta from the birds. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Common mare’s tail (Hippuris vulgaris) is a striking plant, growing in shallow freshwater. It is distributed in northern Eurasia, south to the Himalaya, northern China, and Japan, in Greenland, and in northern and western North America, south to California, New Mexico, Illinois, and New England.

The generic name is from the Greek hippos (‘horse’) and oura (‘tail’), thus horsetail. In English, it is also sometimes called horsetail, although this name is usually reserved for species of the genus Equisetum. Previously, Hippuris was the only genus in the family Hippuridaceae, but has now been moved to the plantain family (Plantaginaceae).

Common mare’s tail is utilized in herbal medicine for treatment of wounds, stomach ulcers, and internal and external bleeding.

Snowfinches (Montifringilla) are a small genus of eight high-altitude passerines, mainly distributed in Central Asia. A single species, the white-winged snowfinch (M. nivalis), is found further west, through the Middle East to the Alps and the Pyrenees. Despite their name, snowfinches are not finches, but sparrows, of the family Passeridae.

During a hike in the Upper Ghunsa Valley, eastern Nepal, we were camping at Lhonak. In the morning, we woke up to a snow-covered landscape. – Read about my rather hair-raising experience in this valley on the page Travel episodes – Nepal 1994: A close call. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) is a parasitic member of the heath family (Ericaceae), which derives its nutrients from underground fungi. It is distributed from the Cascade Range of Oregon, south through montane areas of California to northern Baja California, Mexico.

American botanist, chemist, and physician John Torrey (1796-1873) found the colour of this plant so striking that he named it Sarcodes sanguinea, from the Greek sarkos (‘flesh’) and the Latin sanguis (‘blood’), thus ‘the blood-coloured fleshy one’. The common name refers to the early flowering of this species, which often appears, when snow is still covering the ground.

The large-flowered viburnum (Viburnum grandiflorum) is distributed from Pakistan eastwards to south-eastern Tibet, growing at altitudes between 2,700 and 3,700 m. This species is among the few high-altitude Himalayan trees, which bloom in winter and early spring.

The inflorescence of this large-flowered viburnum is covered in ice, which fell as snow the previous night, partly melted, and then froze. – Dodi Tal, Asi Ganga Valley, Uttarakhand, India. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The goat willow (Salix caprea) is a smallish tree, which is native to almost all of Europe, the Caucasus, and parts of Central Asia. As opposed to most other willow species, goat willow thrives in forests, but is far more beautifully developed in open land, where it often becomes a tree with several trunks, to 15 m tall.

Especially beautiful are the male trees in spring, when they display thousands of golden-yellow catkins, which are much visited by bees and bumble bees, as the goat willow is among the earliest suppliers of nectar and pollen. An old Danish name of the species was palm willow. In the days, when people in Denmark were Catholics, flowering branches of goat willow were utilized to adorn the churches on Palm Sunday.

Previously, this species was utilized for numerous purposes. The foliage was a good animal feed, and even today it is utilized as fodder for sheep and goats in certain parts of Norway. The thinnest branches were made into various items, including fish traps and baskets. Today, branches of osier (Salix viminalis) are used, as they are more suitable. Due to the light and tough wood, slightly thicker branches were made into tool handles and fences, the trunk into e.g. furniture.

Wicks were made from the seed hairs, which were also stuffed into quilts and also used as lining in coats. The bark contains tannins and was formerly used for tanning of animal hides. The bark also contains a glycoside, salicin, which was previously used as a febrifuge in the form of salicylic acid, which is today produced chemically.

Most of these old utilizations have today gone out of use. One particular usage takes place in the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, where pegs for the reconstruction of viking ships are made from goat willow wood.

As its name implies, the snow pigeon (Columba leuconota) lives in cold regions. This species is very common in higher mountains, from Afghanistan east to the Yunnan Province, China, and from the Himalaya north to the Qinghai Province, China.

In 1976, an area of 1,710 km² in central Nepal, comprising the Langtang Valley, the Gosainkund Lakes, and the area north of these lakes, to the Tibetan border, was declared a national park, named Langtang National Park. Altitudinal variation in the park is tremendous, from 792 m above sea level along the Trisuli River, to the peak of the highest mountain of the area, Langtang Lirung (7245 m).

No less than five vegetation zones are represented in this park: subtropical, lower temperate, upper temperate, subalpine, and alpine, containing large tracts of forest, comprising species of oak (Quercus), maple (Acer), Rhododendron, Himalayan birch (Betula utilis), Himalayan silver fir (Abies spectabilis), Himalayan hemlock (Tsuga dumosa), blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), and others. These forests are home to several threatened animals, including snow leopard (Uncia uncia), red panda (Ailurus fulgens), and a gorgeous pheasant, the satyr tragopan (Tragopan satyra).

The Gosainkund Lakes, comprising altogether 54 lakes, are all sacred to Hindus. Every year, during Full Moon in July or August, thousands of devout pilgrims undertake the demanding hike to these lakes to have a cleansing bath in their icy waters. Orthodox Hindus wish to bathe in all 54 lakes.

Read about my adventures in this area on the pages Travel episodes – Nepal 2009: Across a snow-covered pass, and Plants – Plant hunting in the Himalaya: Around sacred lakes of Shiva. Hinduism is dealt with in detail on the page Religion: Hinduism.

My guide Tanka Bahadur Pantha enjoys a brief lull in a snow storm below the Laurebina La Pass (4609 m). The lake in the background is one of the sacred Gosainkund Lakes, Surya Kund. In the Hindu pantheon, Surya is the Sun God. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) is a native of North America, but has been introduced as an ornamental to many other parts of the world. Formerly, indigenous American tribes utilized the leaves as a poultice on cuts and other wounds. A mild extract of the bark was used in cases of coated tongue in children.

Primroses (Primula) are ubiquitous in the Himalaya. Two winter pictures are shown below, and a number of other Himalayan species are presented on the page Plants – Mountain plants: Himalayan flora. Primroses from other parts of the world may be seen on the page Plants: Primroses.

This flower of Primula sessilis, encountered in the Asi Ganga Valley, Uttarakhand, India, is partly covered in ice that fell the previous night as snow, which partly melted, and then froze. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Due to their floating, heart-shaped leaves, a group of plants of the genus Nymphoides, which belong to the bog-bean family (Menyanthaceae), are called floating hearts. One species, N. indica, is named Indian snowflake after its fringed flowers, which resemble snowflakes.

Tourists, visiting the glacier beneath Grossglockner (3798 m), the highest mountain in Austria. During the last fifty years, this glacier has been melting at an alarming rate. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The snow lion is a mythical creature of Central Asia, which, according to local belief, ranges over mountains and glaciers. It symbolizes strength, fearlessness, and joy.

The base of this chorten (Tibetan style Buddhist stupa) at Tharke Ghyang, Helambu, central Nepal, is adorned with reliefs, depicting snow lions. – Read more about chortens on the page Religion: Buddhism. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

This wall painting, depicting a snow lion, was observed in the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet. – Read more about this temple on the page Travel episodes – Tibet 1987: Tibetan summer. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The common eider (Somateria mollissima) has an almost circumpolar distribution, found along Arctic coasts in Europe, eastern Siberia, and North America. It also breeds in some northern temperate areas.

Snowbells, of the genus Soldanella, comprising about 15 species, are found in montane areas of southern Europe, from the Pyrenees east to the Balkans. The common name snowbell refers to the early flowering of these plants, which often appear in depressions, shortly after the snow has melted. The generic name Soldanella is a diminutive of the Italian word soldo (‘coin’), thus ‘little coins’, referring to the leaf shape of most species of this genus.

Dwarf snowbell (Soldanella pusilla) is found in the Alps, the Carpathians, the Apennines, and in mountains of the Balkans. – A picture of alpine snowbell (S. alpina) may be seen on the page Travel episodes – Asia & Europe 1975: Long journey home.

The rosebay willow-herb (Chamerion angustifolium) is a colonizer of disturbed areas, readily invading forests clearings and abandoned fields. An excellent example of its ability to completely take over newly abandoned fields can be studied on the page Vorsø on my mind: Expanding wilderness.

(Uploaded October 2017)

(Latest update June 2019)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

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Snow and ice