Vassar Glacier flows southeast for 4.3 miles (7 km) from the eastern flank of Peak 8080 in the Chugach Mountains to College Fjord‘s western shore. about 52 miles (83 km) west of Valdez, and 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Whittier, Alaska. The terminus lies near the confluence of Harvard Arm and Yale Arm, about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of College Point. Named in 1899 for Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, the glacier was charted during the Harriman Alaska Expedition, which included professors from elite colleges. College Fjord, a glaciated estuary in the northwestern sector of Prince William Sound, lies between Point Pakenham and College Point. The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers, which terminate in seawater, five large valley glaciers, and dozens of smaller glaciers. Most are named after renowned East Coast colleges, with women’s colleges on the northwest side and men’s colleges on the southeast. The Chugach Mountains are the northernmost range of the Pacific Coast Ranges on North America’s western edge. The Chugach Mountains stretch approximately 250 miles (402 km) in length and 60 miles (97 km) in width, from the Knik and Turnagain Arms of Cook Inlet in the west to the Bering Glacier in the east. The highest peak is Mount Marcus Baker, with an elevation of 13,094 feet (3,991 m). The range receives more snow than anywhere else globally, averaging over 50 feet (15 m) annually, due to its position along the northern Gulf of Alaska coastline. Part of the Southern Margin Composite terrane, the Chugach Mountains form one of the world’s largest accretionary complexes. The bedrock along the northern coast of Prince William Sound primarily consists of rocks from the Valdez Group, partially metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from the Late Cretaceous. The metasedimentary rocks around College Fjord and beneath Vassar Glacier are highly deformed turbidites, including sandstone, siltstone, argillite, slate, and phyllite, deposited in a deep ocean trench and subsequently lithified.
The name “Chugach” originates from the Chugach Sugpiaq word “Cuungaaciiq,” referring to the indigenous people of the area. The Chugach are descendants of the Alutiiq people and speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiiq language. In 1778, Captain James Cook entered Prince William Sound and initially named it Sandwich Sound after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich. Later that year, it was renamed in honor of Prince William Henry, King George III’s third son, who was then 13 years old and serving as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. In 1786, the Russian Lebedev Company established Fort Constantine, a trading post at Nuchek on Hinchinbrook Island. At that time, Chugach villages or fish camps lined the north coast of Prince William Sound. In 1790, Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo entered the Sound, naming many of its features. Some places still bear the names he gave, such as Port Valdez, Port Gravina, and Cordova. Fidalgo landed at the site of present-day Cordova, claiming the land for the King of Spain. In 1794, Captain George Vancouver entered Prince William Sound and dispatched two survey parties in small boats for exploration. Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey led one party to survey the western side, including present-day College Fjord, while Lieutenant James Johnstone charted the eastern side. In 1887, Samuel Applegate, a fur trader and fox farmer, explored College Fjord again on his schooner, Nellie Juan. In 1899, Edward H. Harriman, a railroad magnate, chartered the steamship George W. Elder for a two-month expedition along the coast from Seattle to Alaska and Siberia. This venture, known as the Harriman Alaska Expedition, included an interdisciplinary team of scientists. The expedition discovered nine new species of algae and 240 species of plants, collected a wide range of faunal specimens, and named numerous glaciers and geographical features.
On the west side of College Fjord, a prominent peak named Mount Emerson rises to a summit elevation of 5,022 feet (1,531m). It is named after Professor B.K. Emerson, a member of the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Northeast of this peak, several glaciers descend to College Fjord. From south to north, they are Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, and Smith glaciers. Vassar Glacier covers an area of 2,368 acres (958ha), with most of its accumulation zone between 3,500 and 5,000 feet (1,067-1,524m) in elevation. The glacier’s terminus is heavily covered with ablation moraine, likely providing some solar insulation. Its front has a very low-angled slope, making it difficult to determine the ice margins. Historically, the glacier terminus was tidal, but now several hundred meters of scattered vegetation separate the buried ice front from tidewater. Except for one instance, all historical observations of this glacier have been made from a distance, primarily focusing on the extent of exposed ice versus ice buried by surface moraine. Vassar Glacier was first observed by Whidbey in 1794 and later by Applegate in 1887. It was not until 1899 that Karl G. Gilbert described and named it during the Harriman Expedition, noting it as a tidewater glacier. In 1909, Ulysses S. Grant and Daniel F. Higgins of the U.S. Geological Survey reported the glacier’s front as approximately 200 feet (60 m) high, heavily covered with rock debris, with underlying ice visible only upon close examination. Aerial photos by Bradford Washburn in 1934, and by the U.S. Armed Forces in 1941, 1947, and 1950, showed that the moraine-covered terminal lobe had significantly diminished. By 1957, nearly the entire glacier was buried under debris. Observations in 1978 indicated well-established vegetation at the terminus, obscuring any remaining ice. In 2004, continued retreat and thinning were evident along the glacier’s bare ice margins. Read more here and here. Explore more of Vassar Glacier and College Fjord here: