A huge mass of the glacier broke off the Marmolada glacier killing 9 people. How can we stop this?

This is the kind of news that breaks my heart. There’s nothing more shocking than a story tragically unfolding so close to home.

Flash back.

My family is originally from Trentino Alto Adige and I grew up hiking and skiing in the Alps. 

Marmolada is the highest peak in the area and it’s an impressive mountain I always wanted to visit. I have been planning this trip for a while with my dad but because of his health I decided to go with my two children instead. 

We visited the Marmolada the summer before the pandemic before being stuck in England for two years. We had to take 3 ropeways to reach the top and during the excursions we discovered the battlefields where many battles were fought from 1915 to 1917 and many young soldiers belonging from each front, Italian and Austrian, tried to survive in a very rough environment with limited means at their disposal.

There were victims from the fights, but also lots of them due to avalanches and coldness.

It was mid august when we visited the Marmolada.

We walked on the glacier, it rained, it snowed and at some point we were surrounded by a thick fog.

It was incredible being on top of such a magnificent mountain but I was surprised that it wasn’t as cold as I expected considering we were at 3.343mt.

Flash forward to last Sunday July 3rd when a huge mass of the glacier broke off, sending an avalanche of ice, rocks and debris thundering down the slope and onto a popular hiking trail.

Nine people have so far been confirmed dead and eight injured, two seriously.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said:

 "We have spoken of the Marmolada tragedy as an element that is symbolic of what climate change, if not governed, is producing around the world. It requires everyone's full cooperation, otherwise it is not governed. There are countries that are not making efforts (on this front). It is necessary to call on everyone to make further commitments. There is no hope without everyone's cooperation.”

Known as the Queen of the Dolomites, the Marmolada has lost more than 80% of its volume over the last 72 years, with the speed of its retreat hastening over the last decade. Italian scientists warned in 2020 that the glacier could disappear within 15 years because of global heating.

The climate of the Alps is changing rapidly. Temperatures are reckoned to have increased by around 2C - twice the global average.

That's driving the retreat of the glaciers of the Alps. 

As glaciers recede, they can become unstable and threaten the people below them, particularly high elevation glaciers like the Marmolada which are often on steep slopes and rely on sub-zero temperatures to keep them locked in place.

As a result, catastrophic glacier collapses are becoming more frequent, says Paul Christoffersen, a professor of glaciology at the University of Cambridge.

The shifting ice of the high Alps shows once again how climate change is altering our landscape and hazards in ways scientists are still trying to understand.

Experts believe the heatwave that has gripped Italy since May, bringing temperatures unusually high for the start of summer even up in the normally cooler Alps, contributed to the pinnacle of the glacier breaking off and plummeting down the slope at a speed estimated at nearly 200mph (300km/h). The winter was also unusually warm and snowfall significantly lower than the previous winter.

Walter Milan, a rescue service spokesperson, told state TV the area has been experiencing unusually high temperatures in recent days.

"The heat is unusual,'' Mr Milan said, noting temperatures have reached 10C at the glacier's peak in recent days.

"That's extreme heat," he said. "Clearly it's something abnormal."

The Italian prime minister Draghi said climate change bears some responsibility for the glacier collapse.

"This is a tragedy that certainly had an element of the unpredictable but is also without doubt linked to the deterioration of the environment and the climate situation,"

The Marmolada glacier tragedy is a new example of global warming's impact.

What can we do to make sure no more people die in this tragic way?

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