Introduction: Icy beginnings
Part One: The smell of the ice. Glimpses of an underworld : the Swiss Alps ; Bears, bears everywhere : Svalbard
Part Two: The great ice sheets. Plumbing the depths : Greenland ; Life at the extremes : Antarctica
Part Three: In the shadow of glaciers. Beware of the GLOF! : Patagonia ; White rivers running dry : the Indian Himalaya ; The last ice : the Cordillera Blanca
Afterword: A fork in the path