Shrinking glaciers
A few years ago we stood above what was once the mighty Pasterze glacier, at the foot of Austria’s highest mountain, the Gross Glockner. Where less than 40 years earlier I had crossed this river of ice, all I could see now was mud and stones and dirt. What was once the longest glacier in Austria is now reduced to a distant remnant.
I came across some beautiful old photographs in my grandparents’ photo albums, and I started looking for pictures I had taken from similar vantage points. Here are examples of glaciers in France (Mer de Glace and Glacier de Bossons) and in Switzerland (the Rhone Glacier). We know of course that the glaciers have been retreating since the last ice age, but the speed at which this is now happening is quite shocking. Below are 3 pictures of the Mer de Glace Glacier, above the Chamonix Valley in the French Alps. The first one comes from one of my grandparents’ albums, the other two I took on 2 different vacations. The red stars in the pictures indicate the same locations, illustrating the distance to the ice.
On old engravings and photographs one can see how the Rhone Glacier used to reach the town of Gletsch. An old hotel in the town is now a museum devoted to the history of this glacier, the source of the Rhone River. This picture is from 1932.
Rhone Glacier from the town of Gletsch, 1932. This photograph is on display in the museum in Gletsch.
This is what you see now when you look up: the glacier has disappeared from view. The Belvédère Hotel can be seen in a hairpin in the Furka Pass road, about one third from the top. It once stood right next to the glacier.
View from Gletsch, 2018
Higher up the Furka Pass, near the once famous Hotel Belvédère, you can still see the glacier, but the view has changed as well. Even in the pictures I have taken there over the last 30 years, you can see the difference. The 1920s postcard below I found in one of my grandparents’ photo albums. Together with some other family members, they walked on the glacier, as seen in this 1921 picture.
My grandparents on the Rhone Glacier, 1921
Upper part of the Rhone Glacier, 1923
The upper parts of the Rhone glacier today (2020)
The Belvédère Hotel today (2020)
A final set of pictures of the old glorious Rhone Glacier. The first one is taken by my parents during a 1960 vacation in Switzerland. It shows the Furka Pass and Rhone Glacier from the Grimsel Pass. The third one shows an almost identical scene in an old View Master reel. In both pictures you can spot the Belvédère Hotel above the glacier.
