For the first time in the written record, St. Mary’s Glacier in Colorado has melted away in full. Specialists are treating the loss as a historic mark in a period of fast global warming. For decades the year-round snowfield near Denver, known as St. Mary’s Glacier, was a place where snow could be found even at the height of summer. After a poor winter pack and a summer of record heat, the landmark at 11,000 feet is gone. By mid-September 2026 the last patches of ice that could be skied had melted. What remains is bare rock and a makeshift ski rail sitting dry on the dirt. Climate specialists say Colorado’s rising heat and stacked droughts are speeding the loss of high ice. If the present warming holds, the state is projected to lose every named glacier and permanent snowfield by 2080, with late-summer water, local farming and the mountain ecology of the American West at risk. The site is classed as a perennial snowfield, not a moving glacier. Its total vanishing is treated as a warning for the wider system of the region.