Mountain glaciers and ice caps are major contributors to sea-level rise, have large impacts on water balance of local to continental-scale basins, and are important indicators of climate change. This is a general session on glaciers and ice caps where the relationship to climate forms a particular focus. In the next IPCC report the Earth’s glaciers and ice caps outside the ice sheets will be covered under the heading of Glaciers. We need to acquire more data, both from new fieldwork and from release of existing unpublished data on glacier mass changes in all regions of the world. Also, we need to improve the understanding of the processes behind the changes. We welcome presentations on all aspects of current, past and future glacier changes based on field observations, remote sensing and modeling. Studies of physical processes controlling accumulation and ablation, including calving, are especially welcome.