The Story

In July 1982 Chip Freund traveled across the country via Greyhound bus to join a backcountry trail crew in Olympic National Park for the summer.  A couple of weeks shy of his 18th birthday Chip found himself in a most spectacular and alien world, the alpine glaciers of Olympic National Park in Washington State.

The trail crew spent five weeks cutting and maintaining trails along the Blue Glacier and in the Hoh rainforest in the valley below.

Chip began taking photographs around age ten and had become an avid photographer by the time he reached the Olympics that summer.  At the time he was enjoying capturing the singular beauty of the area and the day-to-day life of a crew of teenage trail hands.

Little did he know that he was documenting a disappearing natural wonder.

Project Summary

What:    A photographic project comparing the Blue Glacier as it was in 1982 with its current state in the summer of 2022.

Who:     Photographic Artist, Chip Freund, and two of his adult children

When:   July 22-27, 2022

Where: Olympic National Park, Forks, WA 98331

Why:    The summer Chip spent working alongside the Blue Glacier left an indelible mark on his heart, mind, and soul. He longed to return to that special place before it was changed forever, and the fortieth anniversary of my time on the mountain provides the perfect opportunity.

From the 1970s to 2009 the Olympic National Park lost 34% of its glacial mass and Chip estimates that in the 40 years since he last walked along the glacier, that it has lost nearly 50% of its ice. At the current rate, the last glacier could be completely gone by 2050. Source: National Park Service

Project website:   www.blueglacierthenandnow.org

Documentary film about the project: Blue Glacier Then & Now the film (Seattle Film Festival 2024)