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Climate Change Is Melting The French Alps

Climate change is significantly impacting the French Alps, leading to the rapid melting of glaciers and increased rockfalls due to destabilized permafrost. The Mer de Glace glacier has lost substantial depth, and many climbing routes have become unsafe, prompting authorities to adapt trails and safety measures. While the future of climbing in the region remains uncertain, experts believe that mountaineers will need to adjust their practices to continue safely in the changing environment.

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1 views3 pages

Climate Change Is Melting The French Alps

Climate change is significantly impacting the French Alps, leading to the rapid melting of glaciers and increased rockfalls due to destabilized permafrost. The Mer de Glace glacier has lost substantial depth, and many climbing routes have become unsafe, prompting authorities to adapt trails and safety measures. While the future of climbing in the region remains uncertain, experts believe that mountaineers will need to adjust their practices to continue safely in the changing environment.

Uploaded by

kylianbarbe1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Climate change is melting the

French Alps, say mountaineers


Permafrost ‘cement’ is evaporating, making rocks unstable and prone to
collapse with many trails now deemed too dangerous to use

Simon Birch

Mont Blanc in the French Alps as seen from Brevent mountain.

For the tourists thronging the streets and pavement cafes of Chamonix,
the neck-craning view of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, is
as dazzling as ever.

But the mountaineers who climb among the snowy peaks know that it is
far from business as usual – due to a warming climate, the familiar
landscape is rapidly changing.

“Global climate change has serious and directly observable consequences


in high mountains,” says Vincent Neirinck from Mountain Wilderness, a
campaign group that works to preserve mountain environments around
the world.

One of the consequences of climate change is the ongoing retreat of


glaciers.

“In the Alps, the glacier surfaces have shrunk by half between 1900 and
2012 with a strong acceleration of the melting processes since the
1980s,” says Jacques Mourey, a climber and scientist who is researching
the impact of climate change on the mountains above Chamonix.

The most dramatic demonstration of glacial retreat is shown by the Mer


de Glace, the biggest glacier in Franceand one of Chamonix’s biggest
tourist hotspots which would now be unrecognisable to the Edwardian
tourists who first flocked there.

“The Mer de Glace is now melting at the rate of around 40 metres a year
and has lost 80m in depth over the last 20 years alone,” says glaciologist
Luc Moreau.
A stark consequence of the melting Mer de Glace is that 100m of ladders
have now been bolted onto the newly exposed vertical rock walls for
mountaineers to climb down onto the glacier.

The glacier Mer de Glace has lost 80m of depth in the past 20 years.
Visitors now have to use ladders climb down onto it. Photograph:
Courtesy Compagnie des Guides

Another key impact of climate change in the mountains is that it is


leading to an increase in the number of rockfalls; more than 550 occurred
in the Mont Blanc massif alone between 2007 and 2015.

The reason, explains Mourey, is that the permafrost that lies within
cracks of rocks and cements them together is now melting.

“As the permafrost melts, whole sections of rock become destabilised and
more prone to collapse.”

This is what caused the destruction of the iconic Bonatti pillar, a massive
column of rock and popular climbing spot that collapsed in the scorching
hot summer of 2005. Significantly, climate change is happening almost
twice as fast in high mountains as compared to the rest of the planet.

“Whilst there are many theories as to why this is happening, we don’t


fully understand what’s going on,” says Mourey. What is not disputed,
though, is that many climbing routes have been drastically altered by
climate change.

“A 1970s climbing and mountaineering guidebook to the 100 best routes


around Mont Blanc isn’t useable any more as most of the routes have
changed and can’t be used,” he says.

The trails to the high mountain huts around Mont Blanc which are used
by climbers are becoming more dangerous too, forcing the authorities to
adapt and take action.
In 2012 the trail to the Conscrits hut was judged to have become too
dangerous following increasing numbers of rockfalls, so a 60m
Himalayan-style suspension bridge was built to make access to the hut
safer.

The recently constructed Himalayan-style bridge to the Conscrits hut –


built because the trail was judged to be too dangerous.

A completely new trail, including the installation of fixed ladders, has


recently had to be built to the Charpoua hut following the melting of
glaciers which made the previous trail too difficult and dangerous.

Given Chamonix’s status as the cradle of modern mountaineering and


alpine pursuits, the authorities are now making a determined effort to
adapt to these changing conditions to ensure that climbing can continue.

“We want to support the idea that alpinism and its values are not dead
and we must keep on climbing safely,” says Claude Jacot, a Chamonix
councillor and head of mountain safety for the region.

But for some, the area is already becoming too dangerous.

“This year we’ve deliberately reduced our programmes on Mont Blanc


due to the increased rockfall caused by higher temperatures over the last
few years,” says Ed Chard from trekking operator Jagged Globe.

So what will happen to climbing around Chamonix in the coming years?


Mourey is optimistic that the sport still has a future in the Alps, but
future mountaineers will have to adapt.

“You’ll still be able to climb in the future – you’ll just have to change the
way you climb,” he says. “If anyone doesn’t believe that climate change
exists, they should come to Chamonix to see it for themselves.”

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