Vanch-Yakh Glacier

The Vanch-Yakh Glacier (Ледник Федченко; Пиряхи Ванҷях) is a large glacier in the Yazgulem Range, Pamir Mountains, of north-central Gorno-Badakhshan province, Tajikistan. The glacier is long and narrow, currently extending for 77 km and covering over 700 km2. It is the longest glacier in the world outside of the polar regions. The maximum thickness of the glacier is 1000 m, and the volume of the glacier and its dozens of tributaries is estimated at 144 km3&mdash;about a third of the volume of Lake Erie.

Path and location
The glacier follows a generally northward path to the east of the 6595 m Garmo Peak. The glacier begins at an elevation of 6200 m and eventually melts and empties into the Balandkiik River near the border with Kyrgyzstan at an elevation of 2909 m. Its waters eventually feed down the Muksu, Surkhob, Vakhsh, and Amu Darya rivers into the Aral Sea.

To the west is the Academy of Sciences Range, Mount Garmo, Ismoil Somoni Peak, Peak Korzhenevskaya, the headwaters of the Vanj River, and Yazgulyam River. To the south is Independence Peak and to the east Gorbunov Peak (6,025 meters). To the north is Altyn Mazar.

Discovery
The glacier was discovered in 1878 and was named after Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, a Russian explorer (but not the discoverer of the glacier). It was not fully explored until 1928 by a German-Soviet expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers. Between 1910 and 1913 the glacier expanded and moved forward by 800 to 1000 m, blocking up the Balyandlik River the following year. It continued to recede between 1928 and 1960, stopping its inflows such as the Kosinenko, Ulugbeck, Alert and several others.

In 2023, Tajikistan officially renamed the glacier as part of a derussification program.