Glaciers: the vanishing foundation
Where the Swiss glacier ski areas are, where people used to ski in summer, and what the melt means for the future of the sport.
Sources: GLAMOS/ETH Zurich, IPCC – details in the summer skiing report.
Map: running & abandoned
Why altitude alone no longer protects you
What matters for skiing on a glacier is not the air temperature at the summit but whether a load-bearing layer of snow is sitting on the ice. That layer melts away earlier and earlier: the freezing level in Switzerland has risen by 200 to 700 metres since records began. Once it climbs above 4,000 metres, even the highest glaciers get rain instead of snow.
Once bare ice is exposed, crevasses open – and no piste can be groomed safely over open crevasses. On top of that, the glacier moves and shifts lift pylons. That is why resorts often abandon summer operations years before there is “no snow left”.