Chamonix, France \u2013 The exceptionally hot summer in the Alps has been marked by a record number of rockfalls, some of them fatal, with \u201ca large majority attributable to the climate crisis,\u201d according to scientist Ludovic Ravanel.<\/p>\n
This year \u201cwill undoubtedly be a record year\u201d both in terms of the frequency of rockfalls and the sheer volume of rock breaking away from the mountains on an almost daily basis, the research director at CNRS, France\u2019s national scientific research center, said.<\/p>\n
The area around Mont Blanc \u2014 nicknamed the \u201croof of Europe\u201d \u2014 has been particularly hard hit.<\/p>\n
At the end of a summer punctuated by extreme heat waves, the number of rockfalls recorded in the Mont Blanc massif alone is expected to reach 450, Ravanel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an absolutely staggering figure, given that just 10 or 20 years ago, there were only a few dozen,\u201d the geomorphologist added.<\/p>\n
The previous record stood at 300 and was set in 2022, another year marked by heat waves.<\/p>\n
\u201cA large majority (of the rockfalls) can be attributed to the climate crisis,\u201d Ravanel said, noting that rising temperatures are degrading and reducing the permafrost.<\/p>\n
For several thousand years, \u201cinvisible\u201d ice has been lodged in cracks in the rock, where it \u201cacts as a kind of cement holding the mountains together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With high temperatures, the ice can melt and rocks break loose, causing rockfalls.<\/p>\n
Rockfalls are also caused as glaciers melt, when the stabilizing pressure they exert on rock walls eases as the glaciers \u201close thickness,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Temperatures are expected to drop at high altitudes in coming days.<\/p>\n
However, it doesn\u2019t mean the return of stability, as \u201ceven if the surface freezes over again, the enormous amount of heat from the summer of 2026 will continue to penetrate the ground until November, December, or even as late as January,\u201d Ravanel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re expecting the biggest rockfalls to happen this autumn,\u201d Ravanel predicted, though they are likely to be less frequent.<\/p>\n
The rock destabilization poses risks to mountaineers, and several climbers have died since the start of the summer season.<\/p>\n
In July, two Czech tourists were killed in a rockfall on the most commonly used route up Mont Blanc. In August, a 31-year-old man also died in a rockfall in the Mont Blanc massif.<\/p>\n
Authorities closed two shelters used to climb Mont Blanc, a precaution also taken in 2022.<\/p>\n
But Ravanel doesn\u2019t believe access to the high mountains should be completely restricted, describing them as \u201cabove all, a place of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mountaineering community regulates itself\u201d and \u201cdoes not put itself at greater risk during a heat wave than during a cooler summer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his view, there is therefore \u201cno surge in accidents\u201d caused by rockfalls.<\/p>\n
Rather, the increase in accidents reflects the growing popularity of mountain resorts and villages among holidaymakers, leading to higher visitor numbers overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chamonix, France \u2013 The exceptionally hot summer in the Alps has been marked by a record number of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,799,57491,39552,57387,6451],"class_list":["post-118313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-climate-change","tag-cnrs","tag-heat-wave","tag-ludovic-ravanel","tag-mont-blanc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117131976815822187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}