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I hate to be that guy, but the himilayas aren't a pole. There can be only two

elorant 7y ago
It's used as a metaphor to signify the vast quantities of ice deposited on the Himalayas.
rkachowski 7y ago
Yeah I was also wondering whats happening here. The article states that the region stores ~15% of the earth's water in ice, so it has similar consequences as the poles melting, but its completely distinct from magnetic poles
- comradesmith 7y ago
  Or rotational poles
finalight 7y ago
i think it's akin to saying antarctica is a desert as well
truculent 7y ago
Hate to be that guy but metaphors and allusions are okay?
yk 7y ago
Also it would be nice if The Guardian could state that this is an article about the Himalaya somewhere in the title or the abstract.
snowwrestler 7y ago
Calling Everest the "third pole" dates back about 100 years to the golden age of exploration in the early 20th Century. The North and South Poles received their first visits from humans in the early 1900's, and the hardest remaining spot to reach on Earth--the summit of Everest--was colloquially named "the third pole" since the challenges to reaching it were in some ways similar to reaching the geographic poles. See for example: > The attempted ascent was – notwithstanding other aims – an expression of the pioneering thinking that was common in the British Empire. As the British were unsuccessful as the first to reach the North and South Poles they tried to go to the so-called "third pole" – to "conquer" Mount Everest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_British_Mount_Everest_expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_British_Mount_Everest_exp... The term has today been adapted for discussions of climate change because of the commonality of ice. It's a poor fit IMO since the impacts of melting ice at the North Pole, South Pole, and Himalayas are all significantly different from one another: the North Pole primarily impacts wildlife and navigation, the South Pole global sea level rise, and the Himalayas fresh water availability in South Asia.

It's used as a metaphor to signify the vast quantities of ice deposited on the Himalayas.

Yeah I was also wondering whats happening here. The article states that the region stores ~15% of the earth's water in ice, so it has similar consequences as the poles melting, but its completely distinct from magnetic poles

comradesmith 7y ago
Or rotational poles

finalight 7y ago

i think it's akin to saying antarctica is a desert as well

truculent 7y ago

Hate to be that guy but metaphors and allusions are okay?

yk 7y ago

Also it would be nice if The Guardian could state that this is an article about the Himalaya somewhere in the title or the abstract.

snowwrestler 7y ago

Calling Everest the "third pole" dates back about 100 years to the golden age of exploration in the early 20th Century. The North and South Poles received their first visits from humans in the early 1900's, and the hardest remaining spot to reach on Earth--the summit of Everest--was colloquially named "the third pole" since the challenges to reaching it were in some ways similar to reaching the geographic poles. See for example: > The attempted ascent was – notwithstanding other aims – an expression of the pioneering thinking that was common in the British Empire. As the British were unsuccessful as the first to reach the North and South Poles they tried to go to the so-called "third pole" – to "conquer" Mount Everest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_British_Mount_Everest_expedition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_British_Mount_Everest_exp... The term has today been adapted for discussions of climate change because of the commonality of ice. It's a poor fit IMO since the impacts of melting ice at the North Pole, South Pole, and Himalayas are all significantly different from one another: the North Pole primarily impacts wildlife and navigation, the South Pole global sea level rise, and the Himalayas fresh water availability in South Asia.