What the ice kept
Glaciers are archives. Melting opens them, and then erases them.
For thousands of years, ice preserved what people left or lost on high passes. At the Schnidejoch, melting ice released objects spanning 6,000 years. On the Tsanfleuron Glacier, a couple missing since 1942 was found in 2017.
Glaciers also carry meaning. In 2019 people held a funeral for the Pizol glacier. On the Theodul Glacier, the melting ice moved the national border.
2003The Schnidejoch finds
A melting ice patch on a 2,756 m pass gave up objects spanning 6,000 years, including a Neolithic bow.
A bridge over a new lake
The retreat of the Trift Glacier left a lake where hikers used to walk on ice. A suspension bridge replaced the crossing.
The Dumoulins come home
A couple who vanished in 1942 was found in the retreating Tsanfleuron Glacier, 75 years later.
A funeral for the Pizol
About 250 people climbed to 2,700 m to mourn a glacier that had lost most of its ice since 2006.
A border on the move
The Swiss–Italian border follows the watershed. As the Theodul Glacier melted, the watershed moved under a mountain hut.
The glacier vote
A popular initiative named after the glaciers led to a law that sets net zero emissions by 2050. Voters approved it with 59%.
Sources
- Hafner, A. (2012). Archaeological discoveries on Schnidejoch and at other ice sites in the European Alps. Arctic 65. journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/67240
- CBS News (2017). Glacier reveals bodies of couple who disappeared in 1942. www.cbsnews.com/news/glacier-bodies-switzerland-tsanfleuron-couple-dumoulin-swiss-alps/
- swissinfo.ch (2019). Vanishing Swiss glacier gets its own funeral procession. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/pizol-glacier_vanishing-swiss-glacier-gets-its-own-funeral-procession/45247078
- CBS News (2022). Melting Theodul Glacier moves Swiss-Italian border. www.cbsnews.com/news/melting-theodul-glacier-moves-swiss-italian-border/