Due to the high temperatures, there is little snow in the Alps and glaciers are melting at a rapid rate. This summer, a number of popular hiking routes in the area will therefore not be accessible. There is a danger of falling rocks coming loose from the ice.
“At the moment, warnings are in place in the Alps for about a dozen peaks, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc,” Pierre Mathey, the head of the Swiss Mountain Guides Association, told the French news agency AFP. “This is happening much earlier in the season than usual. Usually we see such closures in August, but now they started at the end of June and will continue into July.”
Alpine guides who guide thousands of hikers to Europe’s highest peak each year have this week halted climbs on classic routes on Mont Blanc, which spans France, Italy and Switzerland. Also, the guides waive tours to the Jungfrau peak in the Swiss Alps. The tours are reportedly canceled for the first time in 100 years.
At the beginning of this month, 11 mountaineers were killed and eight injured after being buried under ice, snow and boulders in the Italian Alps. That happened when part of the glacier on Mount Marmolada broke off. The day before, a record temperature of 10 degrees Celsius had been measured on Marmolada, the highest mountain in the Dolomites. Scientists argue that climate change makes previously stable glaciers more unpredictable.