As Glaciers And Permafrost Melt, Rockfalls And Crumbling Peaks Add Danger To European Alps
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This mountain range is partly covered by permafrost, areas where the landscape is constantly frozen. Ice within rock fissures acts like cement, keeping parts of the mountain together. But around 20 years ago, the freezing level—the altitude at which air temperature remains at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the day—began to creep upward. In the 1990s, the summer freezing level was typically around 11,000 feet, but in 2003, it was closer to 13,000 feet, according to Fondazione Courmayeur Mont Blanc, an organization supporting research on the Alps. That summer, the permafrost started to thaw. Scientists say it will continue to melt as the climate warms, causing more rocks to come loose, like the one that nearly killed Pernigotti.
Recent years have seen massive rockfalls. From 1990 to 2017, 102 climbers died and 230 were injured in the Grand Couloir, on the popular route to the 15,774-foot peak of Mont Blanc, the highest summit in the range and the tallest mountain in Western Europe. Rockfall accounted for 30 percent of the accidents.
Mourey said that while the number of yearly injuries on the Grand Couloir has remained roughly flat over the past two decades, fewer people are staying overnight on the mountain, a figure that has decreased from 62,000 between 1999 and 2001 to less than 51,000 between 2014 and 2016. In other words, smaller groups of climbers are racking up the same number of injuries, which means the probability of getting hurt has increased over time.
“On a trafficked route, the rock was previously glued with ice, and mountaineers were using it. That rock had never moved before but suddenly fell,” Mourey explained. He believes that at least two deadly accidents in 2018 can be blamed directly on climate change. In one case, a climber grabbed a huge stone that slid unexpectedly. It was precisely what happened to Pernigotti, except the other climber was crushed and killed by a falling rock. Alpine guides spend most of the year in the mountains, where they see the growing danger firsthand. Roberto Rossi, 44, started climbing in the Alps with his parents when he was five and became a guide in 2002, when he was 26. He compared the cold summers of his childhood with the unusual heat he saw last January, “when the sun felt closer and closer.”
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https://www.outsideonline.com/2417763/how-climate-change-making-alps-more-dangerous
