Washington
Washington’s tallest mountain is shrinking with age
In a discovery that has literally changed the landscape of the Pacific Northwest, Mount Rainier—Washington state’s towering icon—has been found to be shorter than previously known.
A local scientist and mountaineer has confirmed that the volcano’s famous summit point has shifted and shrunk, marking a significant change in the mountain’s geography.
The discovery was made following a recent expedition to the summit by Eric Gilbertson, a teaching professor in mechanical engineering at Seattle University.
“Mt Rainier is the tallest peak in Washington, the most topographically prominent peak in the contiguous US, and the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous US,” Gilbertson wrote in a blog post.
“The peak is very significant in Washington—it is easily visible from Seattle on a clear day, and its picture is even on the state license plate and the state quarter. Some people refer to it simply as ‘The Mountain.’”
Jennifer J Taylor/Getty
Using survey-grade GPS units borrowed from his university’s civil engineering department, Gilbertson found that the mountain’s official summit, known as Columbia Crest, is no longer the highest point on Mount Rainier.
On August 28, precise measurements revealed that Columbia Crest stands at 14,389.2 feet, while the southwest crater rim reaches 14,399.6 feet. This means Mount Rainier is approximately 10 feet shorter than its historically recorded height of 14,410 feet, which was first measured by triangulation in 1914 and officially established in 1956.
In total, the Columbia Crest has shrunk by 21.8 feet since 1998.
The reason for the shrinkage is relatively simple: ice is melting. “The summit area of Mt Rainier has a crater rim that melts out to rock every summer, but there has historically been a permanent dome of ice on the west edge of the rim,” Gilbertson said.
That ice dome is the Columbia Crest. Official measurements of a permanent ice cap such as this are usually made in late summer, when the ice cap is at its lowest point. Gilbertson added: “Measuring at this time of year ensures seasonal snow does not count towards the summit elevation.”
Gilbertson’s discovery came as part of his ongoing personal project to measure the exact heights of Cascade peaks, which he began in 2022. Reports from mountain guides who noticed that Columbia Crest, traditionally the summit where climbers pose for photos and plant their ice axes in triumph, no longer felt like the highest point sparked this particular expedition.
Despite their remarkable accuracy—the measurements have an error of just 0.1 feet—these new heights aren’t official just yet. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) still lists Mt Rainier as being 14,410 feet on its website.
Newsweek reached out to the USGS for comment via email outside of business hours.
Gilbertson didn’t point to a specific cause behind the shrinking, but climate change could play a key role. The mountain has undergone dramatic changes over the past century, with 42 percent of its glacier ice vanishing since 1896. At least one glacier has completely disappeared.
Based on his calculations, Gilbertson estimates that the southwest crater rim surpassed Columbia Crest as the highest point around 2014, a high-water mark in the mountain’s ongoing transformation.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about mountains? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Could one of New York City’s most iconic parks soon be surrounded by gates?
At a Wednesday night meeting of the local Community Board’s Parks Committee, tensions ran high over whether or not to install locked gates at Washington Square Park.
The historic Washington Square Arch welcomes visitors from near and far to the park, but when the clock strikes midnight, the police and Parks Department put up French barricades, cross-chained together, until 6 a.m.
Some residents, however, said the barricades aren’t aesthetically pleasing.
“Now it’s time to replace the unattractive police barricades with appropriate gates that really represent the history of that park,” landscape architect George Vellonakis said.
Others said the barricades aren’t effective at keeping people out. One resident shared a photo of a person sleeping overnight on a mattress in the park.
Opponents, however, argued gates aren’t the answer to that issue, and some longtime residents said they hoped the park would be open 24/7.
“I think that the barricades have to go. I think they’re really, really ugly,” one person said. “They’re really hard for the Parks Department and the police to handle, and they don’t work.”
“Particularly Millennials and Gen Z will have these changes for the rest of their lives,” another person said. “I enjoy traveling other similar parks in Europe where you can walk at all hours of the night.”
Back in 2005, the Parks Department considered installing gates but canceled the plan after fierce opposition from the community. A Community Board member said the idea to install gates resurfaced during COVID when overnight gatherings in the park got out of hand.
“We are not anti-gate. We do believe that they should find more effective ways to support the NYPD,” Washington Square Association President Erica Sumner said.
The committee voted on a resolution to formally ask the Parks Department for its recommendations.
Kent, 28, joins the Nationals after he was claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on
Protester scales Washington DC bridge, stays for days
A demonstrator protesting the war in Iran and the use of artificial intelligence climbed Frederick Douglass Bridge, and stayed for days.
Despite saying he would “soon” come down, a protester has remained on top of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC since May 1, impacting traffic and extending a dayslong standoff with police.
Guido Reichstadter climbed the 168-foot bridge Friday, then draped a black banner and set up a tent while making the bridge his home for the past four days.
Here’s what to know about Reichstadter’s protest and how it is affecting locals in the nation’s capital.
Why is there a man on top of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge?
After Reichstadter climbed the bridge Friday, he identified himself as a protester, writing on X that he was “calling on the people of the United States to bring an immediate end to the Trump regime’s illegal war on Iran and the removal of the regime power through mass nonviolent direct action and non-cooperation.”
He has posted on X throughout his protest, reminding his followers of his cause as he thwarts attempts from the DC police to bring him down.
“The Trump regime occupying the office of the US executive is prosecuting a criminal war of aggression against the nation of Iran, enabled by the refusal of Congress to assert its constitutional power, and by the continued submission of the majority of the US population to this intolerable state of affairs without effective civil resistance,” he wrote on X, saying it’s the public’s responsibility to nonviolently put an end to Trump’s presidency.
Reichstadter said May 4 he hasn’t eaten for days, but previously told NewsNation he went on a 30-day hunger strike while protesting AI outside the Anthropic headquarters.
He has run out of water, however.
“I’ve got the stamina to stay up here a bit longer,” he told WTOP Monday.
What impact is the protest having in Washington, DC?
Reichstadter’s protest has caused lanes to shut down on the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, but lanes had reopened for traffic late Monday morning.
Tuesday morning, all lanes were open for traffic, but the pedestrian walkway was closed, according to the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC) Program.
If he stays on top of the bridge into Tuesday night, it’s unclear how his protest could impact people traveling nearby to the Washington Nationals game.
“My efforts here have had impacts on the local community and its people, and it is my desire not to harm but to work in communication, to lift up and to contribute what strength I can to the ongoing struggle for rights and freedom which this community has been engaged in for years,” Reichstadter said Sunday.
Police said Monday that their negotiators will remain on the scene.
Mike Stunson is the DC Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network.
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