The Artificial Glacier

Artificial Glacier Stupa

Village of Ladakh

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In 2015, with $125,000 raised on a crowdfunding site, Wangchuk built a 64-foot-tall “ice stupa”— an artificial glacier made by piping mountain streams into a Ladakhi village.

The prototype began melting in April, watering a field of newly planted poplar trees. On May 1st, the Ice Stupa was still 3m high and providing water! By June, when the regular glacial melt began to flow, the ice stupa was mostly gone.

Ice Stupa on 1st of May 2015
Ice Stupa and a baby stupa in the making on the deserts of Phyang.