Alarm for the Alps: climate change brings upstairs and new danger!

Alarm for the Alps: climate change brings upstairs and new danger!

Blatten, Schweiz - In the Alps, there is a worrying development: rock falls and avalanches increase. The extreme climber Stefan Glowacz warns of a radical upheaval of the region, in particular on the basis of the effects of climate change. In a tragic incident in May 2025, a massive rock and rubble pigeon spilled the village of Blatten in Switzerland, whereby 300 inhabitants had to be evacuated and a shepherd was missing, such as Merkur reported.

GLOWACZ refers to the ever more frequent rock falls as the "tip of the iceberg" and emphasizes that melting the permafrost's dramatic consequences for tourism in Germany, Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland will have. Ski places could no longer be accessible in the next few years. According to his forecast, closures and diversions are inevitable, as well as the possibility of having to lay entire places.

urgent need for action in tourism

To meet these challenges, Glowacz calls for a rethink in tourism. He suggests promoting summer tourism, but to do without additional attractions such as viewing platforms or suspension bridges. The prevailing trend could turn the Alps drastically and fundamentally change the offer in the region.

In the overall view of the dangerous situation in the Alps, ZDF today experts find that the risks through mountain and rock falls, muren exits and rockfall rise. Climate change leads to melting the permafrost, which endangers the stability of the mountains. An example: In August 2023, an American climber filmed a rock fall on the Aiguille du Midi, in which boulders narrowly missed a group on the mountain foot. Such cases could occur more frequently in the future.

monitoring and forecast

climate researchers warn of the increased dangers caused by rising temperatures. The permafrost is currently melting, even at high altitudes over 2,800 meters. This leads to unstable rock and a domino effect, in which melting ice has further melting. In Kandersteg, a region in the Bernese Alps, geologists have been monitoring an endangered peak for six years. In the worst case, up to 18 million cubic meters of rock could fall into the valley.

The forecasts indicate that the probability for smaller mountain storts that cause mud and scree avalanches will increase. A surveillance system already enables a warning time of 24 hours. In times of growing uncertainty, property prices in endangered areas record a quick decline. Nils Hählen, head of the natural hazards department in the canton of Bern, also documented the decline of the permafrost in its region by about 20 meters.

innovative technologies are also used to better understand the situation. Geoingenieurs from the TU Munich test laser technology on the Hochvogel in the Allgäu Alps. This technique enables up to two million measurements per second and shows that the summit is currently stable, although a 70 meter deeper and 5 meter wide gap.