What is the longest glacier in the world outside the polar regions?

The longest glacier in the world outside the polar regions is the Fedchenko Glacier. It stretches for about 77 kilometres through Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains, making it longer than the famous Siachen, Biafo and Baltoro glaciers in the nearby Karakoram.

The glacier lies in the Yazgulem Range of Gorno-Badakhshan and begins at roughly 6,200 metres above sea level. Its meltwater descends toward the Balandkiik River, eventually joining the Amu Darya drainage system. The ice is exceptionally massive: its maximum thickness is about 1,000 metres, and the glacier and its tributaries contain an estimated 144 cubic kilometres of ice.

Fedchenko was named after the Russian explorer Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, although he did not personally discover it. The glacier was identified in 1878 and was not fully explored until a German-Soviet expedition in 1928. Tajikistan officially renamed it Vanch-Yakh in 2023, but Fedchenko Glacier remains the familiar English name.

A common mix-up is Siachen Glacier, which is slightly shorter at about 76 kilometres but is often described as the longest glacier in the Karakoram.