Scimitar Glacier lies on the west and northwest slopes of Glacier Peak in Washington and, like the mountain’s other glaciers, has generally been shrinking. During the Little Ice Age it was joined to Kennedy Glacier to the north. From about 1850 to 1946, it retreated roughly 5,250 feet, then advanced 1,738 feet during a colder, wetter period that lasted until about 1980. After that it resumed retreat, although the thickness of ice at its terminus helped preserve much of its overall length through 2005.