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<\/a><\/p>\nHundreds of rockslides in a single summer: According to geomorphologist Ludovic Ravanel, 2026 is likely to be a record year in the Mont Blanc massif. Speaking to the AFP news agency, he mentioned around 450 recorded events\u2014compared to just a few per year about a decade ago.<\/p>\n
In Switzerland, the situation has been less dramatic so far. Major landslides have been relatively rare. But that doesn’t mean the Alps have been standing still.<\/p>\n
Christophe Lambiel, a geomorphologist and permafrost specialist at the University of Lausanne, observed heavy rockfall activity in numerous regions. Areas at elevations above 3,500 meters are particularly affected, as are rock faces that have only recently become ice-free or where the snow melted especially quickly in the spring.<\/p>\n
The most dangerous time may still be ahead<\/p>\n
The fact that there have been fewer spectacular events so far is no reason for Lambiel to let his guard down. On the contrary: Major landslides could occur as late as fall.<\/p>\n
The reason lies deep within the mountain. It takes time for the summer heat to penetrate from the surface into the permafrost. It is not until fall that it can reach the core of the permafrost. Locally, this could destabilize large volumes of rock.<\/p>\n
In high-alpine rock faces, permafrost acts as a kind of \u201ccement.\u201d When the ice in the cracks thaws, the rock loses some of its cohesion. What\u2019s particularly problematic is that once the ice has disappeared, it doesn\u2019t simply reform completely during the winter.<\/p>\n
“What has melted is gone for good”<\/p>\n
Lambiel makes it clear that this is a long-term process. While the layer of permafrost near the surface freezes and thaws with the changing seasons, ice that melts deeper inside rock crevices may, in some cases, be unable to reform at all or only partially.<\/p>\n
The situation is similar with the glaciers. \u201cEverything that melted this summer is gone for good,\u201d says Lambiel. He estimates that it would take about ten favorable years for the glaciers to recover. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not on that path at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tortin Glacier in Valais illustrates just how rapidly the loss is now progressing. The glacier, which is about 30 meters thick, has already lost nearly 3.5 meters of its thickness this summer alone\u2014even though the melting season isn\u2019t over yet. \u201cAll of these phenomena have been accelerating for about ten years,\u201d says Lambiel.<\/p>\n
Switzerland is well prepared\u2014but not everywhere<\/p>\n
After all, according to the expert, Switzerland is in a comparatively good position to detect dangers early on. Research in this area is very active, and areas at particularly high risk are being monitored. In addition, there are often measurable warning signs before a major rockslide occurs.<\/p>\n
The problem: Not every area that could become dangerous in the future is already known as such today. There is still work to be done here, says Lambiel. As glaciers disappear and permafrost thaws, new potential hazard zones are constantly emerging in the Alps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Expert warns The extreme heat of this summer is also taking its toll on the Swiss Alps. While…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-121791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117172265695806115","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121791","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=121791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Today at 09:10\u2022![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bluewin.ch\/_next\/static\/media\/085-synchronise.2282m66wb_dy4.svg?w=32\"\/)
Today at 09:19Here’s what it’s all aboutNumerous rockfalls were observed in the Swiss Alps this summer, particularly at elevations above 3,500 meters.Because the summer heat takes time to penetrate deep into the permafrost, an expert says that major landslides may not occur until the fall.Glaciers and permafrost are losing ice at a steady rate\u2014and these changes have been accelerating for years.Summary created with