GLACIAL RETREAT
IN THE ALPS- In 2017, many of Switzerland’s
glaciers were free of snow by
July, meaning that the bare ice
was exposed to rainfall and the
sun’s rays for longer. - In a study of 20 Swiss glaciers
measured between October
2016 and September 2017,
there was a net loss of 1.5 billion
cubic metres of ice. This was
among the three biggest losses
since records began a century
ago. It’s thought that some
glaciers lost around 2-3m of
thickness in that year alone. - In September 2017, residents
of Saas-Fee near Zermatt were
evacuated due to the collapse
of the Trift Glacier’s tongue.
Monitoring had detected
movement of up to 1.3m per day
prior to the collapse. 150 years
ago, the nearby Aletsch Glacier
was around 3km longer and
200m higher than it is today.- As glaciers continue to retreat,
settlements will increasingly
come at risk from floods,
landslides, and avalanches.
Many villages, towns and farms
depend on glacially supplied
water sources.
glacier. I could see a path wending its way between the cracks,
but it looked nothing like the flat, easy snowfield James and I had
traversed ten years before. I wondered how long this glacier could
hold out against rising temperatures.
My irritation at having failed to climb Mettelhorn didn’t last
long. Platthorn was a worthy mountain in its own right, and as I
sat on a flat rock admiring the beautiful scenery I reflected that
perhaps I hadn’t changed so much after all. I still loved reaching
summits. I may be a decade older and theoretically wiser, but
I still made mistakes judging conditions. The thing that really
stuck in my mind about that afternoon high above Zermatt was
how much more I had learned since 2007 about environmental
breakdown, glacial retreat and the fragile mountain landscape. Ten
years before, I’d been oblivious; the mountains were a playground,
nothing more. But repeated visits to the Alps since had shown me
the glaciers retreating a little more each year.
The difference after a decade was
dramatic. I might have changed less
than I’d initially thought, but the
mountains were changing fast,
and my own role in that
change couldn’t be denied: I’d flown to Geneva, after all, and I’d
be flying home again. It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? How do we
protect the places we love when the act of visiting them causes
damage – a tiny amount on an individual level, but cumulatively
huge? As a society we need to find an answer to that question, and
fast. Scientists have predicted that two thirds of Alpine glacier ice
will vanish by 2100. Without glaciers, the Alps will be a duller, less
beautiful, less dramatic place – and that’s before the huge impact
on biodiversity, climate, agriculture, communities and industry is
even taken into account.
The ice world has changed beyond recognition in the last 150
years. We may be the last generation with the power to prevent
further catastrophic change. I won’t tell you to stop travelling to
the mountains, but I will say this: if you love these places, educate
yourself and try to find a way to help.[below] 2017: Increasingly arid and rocky terrain as I approach the colALPINISM