THe LAST
Glacier Makers
Glacier marriages are an indigenous way to create water sources in the Third Pole. Gulre is scientifically verifying and preserving this tradition through film.
Glacier marriages are an indigenous practice of the Third Pole. Where Hindu-Kush, Himalayas, and Karakoram all converge, the communities have been addressing water scarcity by creating new glaciers through a sacred union of male and female ice. Gulre is working on the first-ever scientific verification of these glacier marriages, and we are also preserving this centuries-old technique in documentary form.
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About the practice
Practiced only in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, glacier marriage, unlike ice stupas or other ice structures built around the world, is not a water-freezing technique; it is the actual birth of a living glacier. Once formed, it grows and expands over the years. Some of the oldest grafted glaciers, now over 500 years old, span more than 400 meters. In this region, every village has a glacier marriage story, and every glacier is known to be either male or female.
Despite being the guardians of the Water Towers of the world, the communities have always faced the challenge of water scarcity. Glacial melt is the only reliable source of freshwater, and when an old glacier retreats or a new village needs water, the glacier makers are summoned. Raza and Nabi today are one of the last glacier makers alive, who learned the technique from the last master glacier maker Ghulam Rasool, 20 years ago. Now they must address a region’s growing need for water as the temperatures rise and the glacier melts speed up.
What is Gulre Doing?
scientific verification
Under the supervision of Prof Neil Glasser, Gulre team is conducting the first-ever scientific verification of glacier marriages.
Documentary Film
A feature length documentary “The Last Glacier Makers” is being produced under the Gulre initiative.
Citizen science Program
Training of community members and students for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data.
preserving Oral History
Preservation of Glacier Marriages technique, which has been passed down in the form of oral history.
The team
Laila Kiran
Producer & Co-Director
Dr.Bali Lee
Producer & Research Lead
Zarrak Baloch
Director & Editor
Qasim Akbar
Writer
Neil Glasser
Glaciologist
What’s Next?
This September Gulre team is setting off to Skardu with the two-fold mission of scientific verification and documentary production of glacier marriage project. The documentary, The Last of Glacier Makers will feature the journey of glacier makers as they perform ten glacier marriages across the region and search for a protege to continue the tradition. The science team will be installing instruments at grafted glacier sites for first ever scientific verification.
Support Us
We were fortunate enough to find individuals, organisations and partners who helped us secure funding for this first phase of the project. This is only the beginning and we will need your continued support to bring this story to a wider audience and preserve the knowledge of last glacier makers.
This is just the first step, help us tell the story of the last glacier makers.
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