The Kolpakovsky Glacier is the most significant glacier of the Terkey-Ala-Too range.
Its length is about 12 km, consisting of three branches with separate powerful accumulation areas, which represent extensive snow plateaus at an altitude of 4300-4400 meters, dropping to the north with elongated walls. To the south, the glacier gently descends to the moraines, making it wide and mostly calm, forming a small icefall only in the middle part. Right in the center of the glacier, about 20 meters apart, two narrow medial moraines stretch.
The description is given from the plateau of the Ulyanovtsy Pass to the tongue. Due to the large number of passes located in the cirques of the glacier, its description is provided separately for convenience. The path down from the plateau of the Ulyanovtsy Pass runs through the closed central part of the glacier. The saddles of the Karabaltyk East Pass, the Soviet Pedagogues Pass, and Barocco are clearly visible on the sides, with a steepness of 5-7. Crevasses appear before the central branch of the icefall. The icefall consists of two parts.
One is located at the right bank, the other at the left - slightly lower. It is possible to bypass either from the right, descending a 30° ice slope of 100 meters, or from the left, weaving between the crevasses. From under the icefall, the saddles of the Mysteries, the moraines, and behind them, Akshyrak, and the gorge of the Nameless Glacier are visible. Below the icefall, the glacier is open. In the lower part of the glacier, there is an icefall. The slopes of the ridges to the north and south, between which the glacier lies, are steep.
Glaciers are retreating everywhere, and their surfaces are cluttered with debris. The tongues of glaciers usually lie at altitudes of 3000-3500 m.
Significant changes in volume are observed for the Kolpakovsky Glacier (No. 317), which, along with tributary No. 319, lost 0.4 km³ of ice from 1977 to 2000.
It is known that in the 1910s, many glaciers of the Inner Tien Shan were stationary (Solomina, 1999). The reason for this was apparently a brief favorable period of mass accumulation at that time. Then, a widespread retreat of glaciers began (Kalesnik, 1935), following a deterioration of conditions and a decrease in mass balance in the 1915-1920s. Some reduction in the rate of glacier retreat in the mid-1960s and the Kolpakovsky Glacier in the 1980s is apparently the result of relatively favorable conditions and mass accumulation in the accumulation areas of glaciers in the 1950-1960s. The subsequent reduction in the rate of retreat is associated with increased precipitation and mass balance in the 1990s. Thus, the response time for glaciers is from 5 to 15 years, and for the Kolpakovsky Glacier, about 25 years.
