Are the Alps falling down?
Are the Alps falling down? IFMGA Mountain Guide Andy Perkins has a stark warning about the impact of climate change on the Alps: “I don’t have children but if I did I wouldn’t persuade them to be mountain guides. I’d be saying ‘Get your yacht sailing ticket...'" Katy Dartford interviews Andy to find out more.
In 2018 Chamonix saw two major rock falls. The first happened on Cosmiques Arete, one of the most popular climbs in the Mont Blanc range and - until then - considered one of the most stable, on August 22 2018. A month later a huge portion of the south face of Trident du Tacul rained down onto the glacier. A number of classic rock climbs like the Lépiney and Les Intouchables were destroyed.
Scientists believe the reason for things ‘going big' is a rapid increase in the melting of the permafrost: the year-round ice found at high altitude that holds together giant slabs of rock. The effects of this were recently revealed in the study, Rockfalls in the Grand Couloir du Goûter (Mont-Blanc massif): an interdisciplinary monitoring system, by Jacques Mourey, a doctoral student at the EDYTEM laboratory at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc.
Mourey and a team of researchers analysed 95 routes in Gaston Rebuffat’s classic book, Mont Blanc Massif: The Hundred Finest Routes. They found that 93 of them had been affected by the climate crisis, 26 had been severely impacted and three no longer existed.
On June 7 2019, as part of the cross-border European project AdaPT Mont-Blanc, the High Mountain Climate Plan was unveiled, looking at the potential impacts of global warming by 2050 and 2080 and ways to stem it.
The first phase of the 32 million euro ‘climate plan’ ran from 2019 to 2021 and included a series of seven measures to reconcile tourism and environmental preservation:
- Adaptation of the reception conditions in the refuges
- Adaptation of the opening periods of the ski lifts
- Modification of the access to the high mountain and the refuges
- Adaptation of tourist infrastructures
- Reinforcement of the prevention and the training of practitioners
- AdaPT Mont Blanc Transborder Program; Enhanced Equipment Surveillance
On August 7 2019 in Chamonix, Ludovic Ravanel, an academic at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc who has been studying major rockfalls in the area, presented point 7: reinforcing the monitoring of equipment at high mountain sites. Here, sensors were deployed on a dozen sites, in particular the Aiguille du Midi, the Aiguille des Grands Montets, the Cosmiques Arete and the Bochard. From 2019 to 2021 this was estimated to cost between 120,000 and 150,000 euros.
IFMGA Mountain Guide Andy Perkins offers his opinion:
AP: I have no idea how there was no one on Cosmiques when it fell down. It happened at ten in the morning - prime time… a bloody miracle! And the Lépiney. It’s five pitches of solid granite crack that’s existed for years and years. You just wouldn’t consider that it might fall down.
Another incident which was concerning in the summer of 2018: the Bochard gondola was shut in April because the pylons that are driven into the permafrost moved. I wouldn’t want to be in charge of architectural security on the Aiguille du Midi. They must be watching that like a hawk wondering what’s going to happen!
The new normal
For me it’s the middle ground between 3,000m and say 4,000m which is starting to get affected very quickly. This middle ground includes routes like the Cosmiques Arête, the Lépiney and the Bonatti Pillar on the Dru, which was totally washed away by a series of huge rock falls between June and September 2005.
When the freezing level goes above 5,000m for more than a couple of weeks, I’d be staying out of anything in that 3,000-4,000m band. I wouldn’t even go anywhere near it because even if you’re approaching something nominally safe, with the size of the mountains above you, if a rock the size of a district hospital decides it’s going to detach itself you’d want to be a long way away from it. In the case of the Cosmiques Arête it had been super-hot and then bingo, it fell down.
"If a rock the size of a district hospital decides it’s going to detach itself you’d want to be a long way away from it”
We have to readjust: there is no normal anymore. We also have to accept that the optimal climbing conditions have moved. Snow and ice routes are in fantastic nick in early June. Climbing snow and ice routes like the Whymper Couloir is now too late by the third week of June, unless you get really lucky. In the 80s I used to come here in the last week of June or the first week of July and we’d be doing snow and ice routes. Now I wouldn’t dream of doing that. The season has contracted by two weeks.
Climate change also necessitates avoiding some of the legendary routes: If you look at Gaston Rebuffat’s book, 'Mont Blanc Massif: The Hundred Finest Routes' published in 1975 and Philippe Batoux’s 'Mont Blanc: The Finest Routes' published in 2013, the types of routes and the way they are climbed has changed out of all recognition.
And there is the possibility of the season contracting in August as well, due to the heat. Take Mont Blanc. I think we will start to see more years when Guides will decide they don’t want to do it between early and mid-August. Then it will cool off. So there will be a hole in the middle of the season in August and the classic season from mid-June to mid-September will lose two weeks.
The warmer temperatures also lead to an increased avalanche risk, which presents other dangers. Everyone will be forced together into smaller areas, which makes it more dangerous as our decision making is affected by the actions of other people skiing or climbing above you.
Mountain huts open in mid-June because that’s when the alpine season used to begin. But this isn’t true anymore. And innovative hut guardians should start to realise that if they open earlier, then people will come.
Another concern is water supply to mountain huts because they rely on snow melt. The Gonella Hut on the Italian side of Mont Blanc closed in early August last year for the season because there was no water. We could reach a situation where water has to be helicoptered in to huts.
NOTE: The new 'climate plan’ measures look at the renovation of shelters. In June 2019, 50,000 euros was invested into the Cosmiques hut, which experienced a water shortage at the end of winter 2018, including the installation of a new water melter, and 1.8 million euros is also going to be ploughed into renovating the Couvercle refuge.
So what can guides and clients do?
Being adaptable is my kind of guiding: I say come out and we will do whatever is best. Places such as Monte Rosa in Italy, or Switzerland where 4000m peaks are relatively safe. Don't be too set on ticking mantelpiece-worthy objectives like Mont Blanc or the Matterhorn, which is another mountain that’s experienced two big rock falls in ten years.
I believe that in 100 years a Mountain Guide's job will be totally different. At the moment our terrain-du-jour is glacial terrain. That playground, where only we, as IFMGA qualified guides, have a legal right to work, is shrinking.
I don’t have children but if I had I wouldn’t persuade them to be Mountain Guides. I’d be saying ‘get your yacht sailing ticket because by the time you’re grown up, there will be less work, less snow, and the work that exists is going to be more dangerous.
Guides have got the same skill set as yacht captains: looking after people while being the interface between our natural environment and people who are near or out of the limit their comfort zone in those wild natural environments. Or they could become mountain bike or canyoning guides: all that melting water means it will be fantastic, and it’s all in the post-glacial sub-3000m terrain!
Here in the temperate west we think we can do anything, any time as long as we pay enough money. That’s not true and will be less true as the years go by. No matter how much money you throw at the Midi, if it decides to fall down - it will fall down. This all sounds pessimistic and rightly so. What we can do about this is a whole other thing.
Katy Dartford is a freelance adventure sports writer and broadcast journalist from London, who now splits her time between Chamonix in the Alps, and Lyon, France. She's passionate about all things mountain and likes to write about them, as well as take part in all the sports they have to offer. See www.katydartford.com
- Did you know? You can donate free of charge to the BMC this Christmas
- Popeth sydd angen i chi ei wybod am y Parc Cenedlaethol newydd arfaethedig yng Ngogledd Cymru
- Our 6 favourite sunrise & sunset routes for National Hiking Day
- BMC Winter Lecture Series: Bristol
- BMC Winter Lecture Series: Manchester
- BMC Winter Lecture Series: Bangor
- Basic Child Safeguarding Training | Thursday 10th April
- Climbing Equipment Safety
- Top 6 accessible routes for wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams
- The British Mountaineering Council welcomes the British Boulder and Lead Championships to Manchester
- Five reasons to go trekking in Europe
- Julie Smith appointed as Head of Finance at the British Mountaineering Council
- Best 6 climbs at Carn Gowla, Cornwall, according to our Local Access Rep
- Your Climbing Counts | Survey Results
- Bouldering outdoors for the first time
- Youth Climbing Series Grand Final
- Five historic walking routes to explore Scotland in autumn and winter
- 5 favourite Exmoor walks using the new Great Bradley Bridge
- Time Together: Lucy Garlick and Natalie Stilwell
- Basic Child Safeguarding Training | Monday 13th January
- Basic Child Safeguarding Training | Tuesday 18th January
- Basic Adult Safeguarding Training | Monday 20th January
- Basic Child Safeguarding Training | Wednesday 19th March
- Women in Adventure Film Workshop at Kendal Mountain Festival
- BMC Community hike at Kendal Mountain Festival with Komoot
- December BMC Open Forum
- Clubs Open Forum
- Promoting your club using social media | Club Support Webinar
- Mental health, nutrition & exercise during menopause
- BMC x ClimbOut Queer Climbing Session at Kendal Mountain Festival
- Top 5 walks & climbs around the newly repaired footpaths at Haytor Rocks, Dartmoor
- Youth Climbing Series Grand Final to be Hosted in Leeds
- A new, exciting idea for your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) days with the BMC
- Gear Maintenance for Climbing and Mountaineering Clubs | Club Support Webinar
- Gellid osgoi traean o'r sbwriel sydd ar yr Wyddfa gyda Chynllun Dychwelyd Ernes
- Your burning questions answered with Auntie Gravity | Summit Magazine
- BMC welcomes four new members to the Members' Council
- Laura Needham appointed as Head of Performance at the British Mountaineering Council
- Alpine Gems | Dent Blanche, South Ridge
- Happy 100th Gwen Moffat!
- BMC North West Area Hill Walk | Saturday 30th November
- 5 things you didn’t know about hill walking’s most important plant
- Sphagnum moss planting | 15th November
- Climbing in the sun: Steve McClure's ultimate winter destinations
- BMC South Wales Area Meeting
- The future of wild camping on Dartmoor: Supreme Court to decide on historic right
- BMC Huts Seminar
- Aggarwal, Losey Sail, and Musson Medal in Arco at IFSC Paraclimbing World Cup
- 14 reasons why we can't ignore footpath erosion
- BMC volunteers remove 2,765 items of litter from Yr Wyddfa
Related Content
Mountaineering Destinations
Want to know everything you need to know about how to climb the Breithorn - one of the classic "4,000ers". Mountain Guide Andy Perkins offers his insider tips.
Mountaineering Destinations
Get the inside knowledge: IFMGA Mountain Guide Caroline George offers some beta on route-finding, gear, and tackling the cruxes of Chamonix's classic AD alpine route, Cosmiques Arete.
Mountaineering Destinations
Get your hands and feet on rocky slopes and snow, taluses and airy gendarme-studded ridges. Why not challenge yourself to reach the summit, or traverse one of our top 10 alpine peaks this summer?
Mountaineering Destinations
The Matterhorn is surely the world’s most iconic peak. Its commanding, isolated position at the head of the valley is unique in the Alps and its claim to being one of the world’s most beautiful mountains is justified. Mountain Guide Tim Blakemore offers his top tips on reaching its summit successfully.
Mountaineering Destinations
We asked five experienced climbers for their top pick of Europe's alpine routes to get you inspired...
Mountaineering Destinations
Five of Chamonix's leading ski guides tell us their favourite beginner ski tours in and around Chamonix.
Cerdded Bryniau Dysgwch Sgiliau
Camping ‘wild’ is a different way of spending the night outdoors but it isn't allowed everywhere - with a responsible approach however, there are many remote areas where you can still rest your weary head under a star-filled sky.
Mountaineering Destinations
What's the best 4,000m peak in the Alps for beginners? We asked five British Mountain Guides who are based in the Alps this question - Tim Blakemore, Jon Bracey, Matt Helliker, Andy Perkins and Tania Noakes. All of them picked a peak in Switzerland - testament to the concentration of excellent peaks of that altitude there.
Mynydda
Heading to the Alps this summer? Six Chamonix mountain guides explain their favourite routes, all packed with high adventure but with moderate technical difficulty.
Mynydda Dysgwch Sgiliau
A range of Chamonix's expert skiers offer their top tips to improve your off-piste: pro skier Ross Hewitt, Avalanche Academy Director and Mountain Guide Stuart McDonald, and off-piste skiing instructors Alison Culshaw and Dee O'Neill.
Mountaineering Destinations
Get the inside knowledge: Chamonix-based Mountain Guides Will Sim and Stuart MacDonald offer the wealth of their experience for those thinking of ticking the highest point in Western Europe.
Dringo Dan Do Dysgwch Ger
We take a look at the culture of tight climbing shoes. Just how tight is too tight - and are we creating problems for the future?
Mynydda
No other mountain in the Alps elicits emotions like the Eiger. Foreboding and dominant above the Alpine village of Grindelwald, it has been the inspiration for Hollywood films, books and countless mountaineers. IFMGA Mountain Guide Tim Blakemore explains how to climb the Eiger.
Mountaineering Destinations
Here's how to climb Gran Paradiso - the highest independent peak in Italy (the Matterhorn shares its borders with Switzerland). It offers outstanding views across the Alps from its summit and is graded F+ and 4,061m high.
Climate Articles
Want to know more about how you can reduce your own personal carbon footprint and lessen your impact on the environment? We’ve tried to make it simple for you by producing three separate checklists – for yourself, your workplace and for any events you might be arranging.
Governance
On this page, you will find links to recent BMC annual reports and annual accounts.
Climate Articles
What's so great about bogs you ask? As part of our Let's Plant Moor series with Moors For The Future, Charlotte Kenyon gives an excellent explanation into the benefit of blanket bogs for carbon capture throughout our British landscapes:
Climate Articles
Our peatlands store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined and yet here on our doorstep, they're in a state of degradation. As part of The Climate Project's Let's Plant Moor series, Moors For The Future Partnership Officer Alice Leary takes a look at the knock-on effect on the nature surrounding us and what's being done to prevent it.
Climate Articles
Our friends at Moors for the Future Partnership have produced a great series of five short films to help people understand the multiple benefits of healthy blanket bogs and why they are precious and worth protecting.
Mynydda
The Julie Tullis Memorial Award is a small grant to assist deserving female mountaineers or any disabled climbers or mountaineers, both male and female, to achieve their climbing or mountaineering ambitions.
Mountaineering Articles
An introduction to BMC and MEF mountaineering grants
Climate Articles
We breakdown the carbon cost of journeys to popular climbing and trekking destinations abroad and offer alternative modern climate conscious solutions to the method of travelling to get there.
Mynediad Dysgwch
The stark reality of sea birds fledging early or there being a lack of birds nesting on sea cliffs at all is the impact of a changing climate on the ocean and our sea bird populations are undergoing drastic changes.
As part of LGBTQ+ history month we asked members of the BMCs Equity Steering LGBTQ+ sub-group to share their stories about getting into climbing and walking.
Mynediad & Chadwraeth
As the general election date draws nearer, the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) have reviewed the manifestos from each party to help you make a more informed choice when it comes to protecting the landscapes and crags that we love to walk in and climb on.
News
As the world’s garment manufacturing industry moves to a more sustainable business model, what we’re wearing in the hills in three years time will be very different to today’s unsustainable, un-recyclable, polluting garments, predicts Mike Parsons from the Outdoor Gear Coach. But why is change needed? And what is going to happen? Mike explains in this article.
Here’s a rundown on ten of the best places to boulder outside for beginners.
Article
In National Walking month this May we’ve teamed up with BMC Official Retail Partner Cotswold Outdoor to bring you all the info and advice you need to care for and repair your favourite pair of walking boots. Not only does this save you money, it also saves the environment - the less we consume and throw away, the better.
News
BMC member Madalin Cristea, known as Cris, from Romania, has become the first person to summit both Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro from sea level and back again. He is currently attempting to be the first person ever to climb up and down each of the world’s seven summits (the highest mountain on each continent) from sea level - climbing every metre of the mountains up and down.
News
BMC member Wayne Andrews from Bettws, South Wales has started a hill walking group for people who suffer with their mental health or an addiction, called Forever In The Hills.
News
This May is National Walking month, so to celebrate the power of a good old stomp around the UK’s countryside, nine of the BMC staff have shared their favourite hike. From fossil-hunting in the Peak District and airy Scottish scrambling to the Via Alpina in Switzerland, one of these is bound to tickle your fancy this spring or summer. Better still, with the BMC collaborations with Komoot and HotelPlanner, you can plan and navigate your route and find your accommodation for your trip for less!
News
Did you know that we have a BMC Community Liftshare site? The Liftshare site is also able to connect you with others going to the same BMC event or Mountain Training course. The beauty of a community like the hillwalking/climbing/mountaineering BMC community is that many of us are often moving in the same direction. This lends itself to the Liftshare infrastructure which can allow us to move in the same direction – together. Greener, and cheaper!
News
On the 16 April we have the last opportunity to lobby for the 2024 ban on the sale of peat in bagged compost for horticultural use by supporting a Ten Minute Rule Bill speech by England in Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet Theresa Villiers.
News
The BMC have been hard at work presenting the Outdoors For All Manifesto to parliament, kick-starting a new addition to The Climate Project, arranging re-bolting, cleaning up crags and consulting on access across England and Wales. Here are the highlights as we swing into spring.
Hill Walking Skills
Dogs are a great companion for a hike in the hills, but here are a few things to think about before taking your pooch for a mooch.
Of course, there are many more great beginner hills, but here are seven to get you started.
Hill Walking Skills
Outdoor writer and photographer Chris Townsend presents this series of hill walking how-to films. In this episode Chris shows you how to use walking poles.
Mynediad Dysgwch
Thirty six leading national governing bodies and environmental organisations have joined together to support an Outdoors For All manifesto, seeking to extend responsible access to more green and blue landscapes.
The Cwm Idwal Winter Monitoring system is now back live and with new equipment and software. Ready for you to head up the hills in the best wintery conditions.