Environment

Sierra at Tahoe ski area says in California say it will re-open this winter having been devastated by the huge Caldor Fire that swept the region in August-October last year. The fire damaged lifts and some buildings although the resort had prepared for its arrival by dousing buildings and lifts with water via its snowmaking system and cutting fire breaks. The damage left it unable to open last season, with one of the main issues removing thousands of fire-damaged trees that posed a potential danger to skiers. Looking at the positives for skiers, once the fire-damaged landscape is covered in snow, a resort spokesperson told local media that the ski area had been able to increase its inbound ski area…

Glaciologists in Italy’s Lombardy region have produced a timelapse film of the summer melting of the country’s Fellaria glacier, which accelerated dramatically, as did the melt of most other glaciers in the Alps, during the long hot summer of 2022. The film has been produced by a camera first installed in June 2019 which has since recorded a total loss of 26 metres (86 feet) of ice thickness over four summers or 16 summer months. https://youtu.be/WPMzK8uK0Gk  The glaciologists say that the 7.55m (25 feet) of ice thickness lost on the eastern tongue of the Fellaria glacier at 2650 m is a quantity never previously recorded on any Lombardy glacier. “It is not easy to find the right adjectives to describe…

A study by the Swiss Academy of Sciences released this week reports that the country’s glaciers’ ice volume declining by 6% over the spring and summer. Switzerland has more glaciers than any other Alpine nation. The Alps saw unprecedented high temperatures even at 3000-4000m altitude,  far above freezing. The hot temperatures followed below average snowfall last winter meaning there was less of a snow cot to reflect the heat from the ice and it quickly melted away. “2022 was a disastrous year for Swiss glaciers: all ice melt records were smashed by the great dearth of snow in winter and continuous heat waves in summer,” the academy said in a statement. The academy based its report on data collected by…

The past year have shown the impact of the climate emergency on the world’s snowy places like never before, but the Protect Our Winters (POW) group continues to raise awareness with the aim of encouraging everyone to do what they can to fight back. The groups UK’s division have just published an Impact Report detailing what they achieved in 2021. “Do you ever wonder what aliens would think of us? Would they think us mad? Given the only habitable planet we’re aware of to live on, we have set about systematically destroying our life support system - exterminating species, destroying habitats, poisoning the biosphere, destabilising the climate and so on,” the report’s introduction by POW UK founder and chair Sandy…

Verbier has created a trail in its Col des Gentianes themed on the melting of glaciers. The path starts at more than 2,800-metre altitude and descends from the Gentianes station to the Tortin glacier. “(The trail offers) …a rare and precious experience that allows you to get into relationship with a glacier by contemplating it, touching it and discovering both its history and future,” a Verbier statement explains. The walk only takes about 20 minutes but there are marked points along the way for spending additional time. These include a bench-photo spot to take a picture with the glacier; milestones with dates showing where the glacier used to cover; an interpretive panel showing the glacier's past, fixed to a large…