There are countless reasons why some 40，000 trekkers are drawn to Tanzanias Mount Kilimanjaro each year. Theres the glory of climbing the worlds highest freestanding mountain. The wonder of standing atop Africas highest peak， with the great continent at your feet. And the reward of seeing Kilis majestic summit glaciers， some of the only equatorial glaciers found on Earth. And， in a shocking study published in Science magazine in 2002， the glaciers were supposed to completely disappear between 2015 and 2020. As in， right now.

The good news： glacier experts and ecologists now believe the 11，700-year-old ice is nowhere near extinction in the next 5 years， or even in the next 15. The bad： the glaciers are still continuing to shrink. New figures suggest that they will disappear by 2040.

I saw the great glaciers myself when I climbed Kili last July， and they looked just as Ernest Hemingway famously described them in his book The Snows of Kilimanjaro “As wide as all the world， great， high， and unbelievably white in the sun…” It was hard for me to understand how these giants could ever melt away. Theyre too big， too solid， too impressive.

Reports on why the glaciers are disappearing have varied， with many blaming widespread global warming. But interestingly， their diminishing size has little to do with human interference. The glaciers are lessening because of a natural and inevitable climate change that occurred in the first half of the 19th Century（before cars or major pollution） and no longer brings as much rain to the top of Kili. Its a change that simply made the current conditions unsuitable for equatorial glaciers.

As a climber， I had a hard time imagining any sort of melt happening atop Kilimanjaro. The cold and dryness is so extreme that it cracks your lips and fingertips， despite my wearing five layers of clothing. Pole-pole， the Swahili phrase for “slowly， slowly”， was said over and over again by our guides; each step up was more tiring than the last.

What could reverse the glaciers disappearance？ Unfortunately， not much under human control. Only major snowfall could fill the bare ground between the ice and slow its disappearance， and the last time that kind of snowfall happened was during the first half of the 19th Century. “The loss of Kilimanjaros glaciers is inevitable even without the effect of climate warming，”said Georg Kaser， a glaciologist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. That is， “unless considerable changes in the Indian Ocean occur within the next 10 to 20 years， causing repeated strong and abundant rainy seasons over East Africa.” The likelihood of this happening is uncertain.

In the meantime， though， these cold， old beauties are now one of the best reasons to climb the famous mountain. Take the Macheme route， one of seven trails to the top. Its particularly known for passing through Kilis multiple climates， from the rainforests at the base to the moorlands in the middle and the high alpine deserts towards the top.

And when you get to the top， dont just focus on the famous welcome sign thats featured in too many celebration-themed selfies. Turn your attention （and your camera） toward the glaciers， which rise up like frozen waves on a sky island—there now， but not for long.

每年，坦桑尼亚境内的乞力马扎罗山总会吸引约四万名登山客前来朝圣，这不无原因——你可以享受攀登世界最高独立山脉的荣耀;你也可以站在非洲之巅感叹这片雄伟大陆在你脚下的壮景;你还可以对着乞力马扎罗的雄伟冰峰一饱眼福，它们是地球上仅有的位于赤道地区的一部分冰川。此外还有一个理由：据2002年发表于《科学》杂志的一顶令人震惊的研究推测，乞力马扎罗的冰川将在2015年和2020年间完全消失。就是现在。

好消息是：冰川专家和生态学家们相信，在未来5年内，甚至在未来15年内，这些已有11700年历史的冰川是暂时不会消失的。而坏消息是：它们仍在不断萎缩。新的数据显示，它们将在2040年之前消失。

去年七月攀登乞力马扎罗山时，我亲眼见到了这些巨大的冰川。它们就像海明威在其著作《乞力马扎罗的雪》里形容的那样：“像整个世界那样宽广无垠，在阳光中显得那么高耸、宏大，而且白得令人难以置信……”我难以理解这些巨大的冰川怎么可能会完全消融。它们是如此巨大，如此坚实，如此令人过目难忘。

关于冰川消失的原因有各种各样的报告，许多人把矛头指向大范围的全球变暖。然而有趣的是，冰川的萎缩与人类的干扰几乎没有关系。冰川萎缩的原因是19世纪上半叶（早在汽车和主要污染出现之前）发生的不可避免的自然气候变化，这种变化导致乞力马扎罗山顶的降雨量减少，使得目前乞力马扎罗山顶的条件不再适合赤道冰川的形成。

作为一名登山客，我有一段时间很难想象乞力马扎罗的山顶怎么会出现冰雪消融的景象。那里极度寒冷干燥，尽管我穿着五层衣服，但我的嘴唇和指尖还是被冻裂了。我们的向导反复讲着一句斯瓦希里短语：“波尔波尔”，意思是“慢点慢点”。每一步都比上一步更加吃力。

有什么办法可以扭转这些冰川消失的局面吗？很不幸，人为可控的因素没有多少。只有大型降雪可以填满冰川之间裸露的地面，减缓冰川的消失。然而，上一次发生这种降雪，已是19世纪上半叶的事了。“即使没有气候变暖的影响，乞力马扎罗冰川的萎缩也是不可避免的。”奥地利因斯布鲁克大学的冰川学家格奥尔格·卡泽尔说。也就是说，“除非未来10到20年内印度洋发生巨大变化，在东非反复形成充足的、带来强降水量的雨季。”而发生这种情况的可能性无法确定。

不过，这些冰冷而古老的冰川美人目前成為了攀登这座名山的最佳理由之一。你可以走七条登山路径之一的马基姆路线到达山顶。这条路线以途经乞力马扎罗山的多种气候而闻名——从山脚的热带雨林气候，到山腰的高沼地气候，再到山顶的高山沙漠气候。

到了山顶，可不要只把注意力放在那块欢迎登顶的指示牌上哦（它已经在庆祝型的自拍里出现太多次了）。把你的目光（和相机）转向那些冰川吧，它们就像一座空中海岛上卷起的凝固的海浪——现在还在你的眼前，但不会太久了。

A Thank-you Note

Once I received a thank-you note from a friend whom I had helped. In the envelope were five lottery tickets that had been scratched， revealing the numbers. “Thank you very much for your help，” the note read. “As a gift， I bought you some lottery tickets sorry you didnt win. ”

有一次，我收到一封感谢信，是一个我曾帮助过的朋友寄来的。信封内有五张彩票，都被刮过了，露出了数字。“非常感谢您的帮助，”信上写道，“作为礼物，我给您买了些彩票——真遗憾，您没中奖。”