Film documents photographer's quest to capture melting ice on film

In the spring of 2005, National Geographic photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: capture images to help tell the story of Earth’s changing climate. The magazine had just documented dramatic glacial melting in Glacier National Park. Now Balog was taking it to the far north on the boldest expedition of his life.

Balog’s photographic adventure, “Chasing Ice,” screens at 7:30 p.m. April 27 at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish.

Following the screening, an expert panel of local scientists and park managers will respond to audience questions about Montana's own melting glaciers and the looming impacts of a changing climate on our parks and downstream communities.

“Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime,” Glacier National Park's resident expert Dan Fagre told National Geographic in 2004. “It’s like watching the Statue of Liberty melt.”

A few years later, Balog documented Arctic glaciers three times as tall as the Empire State Building calve, buckle and crumble into the ocean.

“Chasing Ice” is the story of one man’s mission to change history by gathering undeniable evidence of the changing planet. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multiyear record of the world’s changing glaciers.

Following the 75-minute film, local experts will answer questions and lead a community discussion about the impacts melting ice will have on Glacier National Park and the Flathead Valley. Panelists include Fagre, research ecologist and glacier scientist, U.S. Geological Survey; Chas Cartwright, retired superintendent, Glacier National Park; Jack Potter, retired chief of science, Glacier National Park; and Clint Muhlfeld, research ecologist and fisheries biologist, U.S. Geological Survey.

Tickets are $5 at the door. The screening and discussion are sponsored by Glacier Climate Action and the National Parks Conservation Association.

For more information, call Michael Jamison, National Parks Conservation Association, at 862-6722, or Steve Thompson, Glacier Climate Action, at 862-3795.