 In the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan 28 of 30 glaciers examined retreated significantly between 1976 – 2003 , with an average retreat of 11 m ( 36 ft ) per year . One of these glaciers , the <unk> Glacier , retreated 460 m ( 1 @,@ 510 ft ) during this period , not quite 10 % of its 5 @.@ 2 km ( 3 @.@ 2 mi ) length . In examining 612 glaciers in China between 1950 and 1970 , 53 % of the glaciers studied were retreating . After 1990 , 95 % of these glaciers were measured to be retreating , indicating that retreat of these glaciers was becoming more widespread . Glaciers in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas are all in a state of retreat . The <unk> Glacier , draining the north side of Mount Everest into Tibet , has been retreating 20 m ( 66 ft ) per year . In the Khumbu region of Nepal along the front of the main Himalaya of 15 glaciers examined from 1976 – 2007 all retreated significantly and the average retreat was 28 m ( 92 ft ) per year . The most famous of these , the Khumbu Glacier , retreated at a rate of 18 m ( 59 ft ) per year from 1976 – 2007 . In India , the Gangotri Glacier retreated 1 @,@ 147 m ( 3 @,@ 763 ft ) between the years 1936 and 1996 with 850 m ( 2 @,@ 790 ft ) of that retreat occurring in the last 25 years of the 20th century . However , the glacier is still over 30 km ( 19 mi ) long . In Sikkim , 26 glaciers examined between the years 1976 and 2005 were retreating at an average rate of 13 @.@ 02 m ( 42 @.@ 7 ft ) per year . Overall , glaciers in the Greater Himalayan region that have been studied are retreating an average of between 18 and 20 m ( 59 and 66 ft ) annually . The only region in the Greater Himalaya that has seen glacial advances is in the Karakoram Range and only in the highest elevation glaciers , but this has been attributed possibly increased precipitation as well as to the correlating glacial surges , where the glacier tongue advances due to pressure build up from snow and ice accumulation further up the glacier . Between the years 1997 and 2001 , 68 km ( 42 mi ) long Biafo Glacier thickened 10 to 25 m ( 33 to 82 ft ) mid @-@ glacier , however it did not advance . 
