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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/13/switzerland-alps-fiesch-aletsch-glaciers-retreat-ecosystems-mountains-culture-aoe>
"From the slopes behind the village of Ernen, it is possible to see the gouge
where the Fiesch glacier once tumbled towards the valley in the Bernese Alps.
The curved finger of ice, rumpled like tissue, cuts between high buttresses of
granite and gneiss. Now it has melted out of sight.
People here once feared the monstrous ice streams, describing them as devils,
but now they dread their disappearance. Like other glaciers in the Alps and
globally, the Fiesch is melting at ever-increasing rates. More than ice is lost
when the giants disappear: cultures, societies and entire ecosystems are
braided around the glaciers.
The neighbouring Great Aletsch, like the Fiesch, flows from the high plateau
between the peaks of the Jungfrau-Aletsch, a Unesco region in the Swiss canton
of Valais and Europe’s longest glacier. It is receding at a rate of more than
50 metres a year, but from the cable car above it remains a mighty sight.
Clouds scud across the sky and shafts of light marble the ice. On the rocky
slopes leading down to the glacier from the ridge, there are pools of
aquamarine brilliance, the ground speckled with startling alpine flowers. The
ice feels alive, with waterfalls plunging into deep crevasses and rocks
shimmering in the sun.
“It’s just so diverse, these harsh mountains and ice, and up the ridge, a
totally different habitat,” says Maurus Bamert, director of the environmental
education centre Pro Natura Aletsch. “This is really special.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
