The partial rupture of the Marmolada glacier, Sunday July 3, quickly made the rounds of Italian social networks. Filmed from a nearby shelter, the footage shows tons of ice and rocks pouring in a chilling crash down the valley, sweeping away everything in their path. Alpine rescuers measured a landslide speed of nearly 300 km/h.
The Marmolada glacier fractured at one of the peaks of the massif, the Punta Rocca, located at 3,309 meters above sea level, along a route regularly used by hikers. At least two roped parties were on the glacier at the time of the tragedy, which explains the heavy provisional toll: at least six dead and eight injured.
Located on the borders of the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, nicknamed “the queen of the Dolomites”, the Marmolada is the highest point of this massif in the north of the peninsula, and one of the most popular hiking routes. of Italy. On the north face, where the glacier is located, the exceptionally high temperatures of recent weeks have contributed to accelerating the melting of permafrost, the real “cement” of the mountain.
Deadly avalanche
Some have not failed to criticize the imprudence of hikers who have not hesitated to venture on increasingly unstable ice. “With global warming, and especially the high temperatures of recent weeks, the ice is becoming very thin in places, it is no longer the glacier of fifty years ago”, thus commented on the RAI the mountaineer Reinhold Messner, born a few kilometers from the Marmolada and known worldwide for being the first man to have climbed the fourteen peaks over 8,000 meters.
According to him, it was an accumulation of water under the glacier that could have caused the rupture of the serac and triggered the deadly avalanche. The images of the disaster indeed show immense liquid quantities, more than compact blocks of ice.
VIDEO | Il distacco dell’ampio blocco di ghiaccio sulla Marmolada si sarebbe verificato nei pressi di Punta Rocca,… https://t.co/qBEYsZNPD6
“There are times when the danger increases and with it the likelihood of a collapse, explained for his part the glaciologist Massimo Frezzotti in an interview with the Ansa press agency. Thinking of glaciers as frozen rivers flowing through the valley, it’s clear that hiking in such conditions is not safe. »
Dispatched to the scene of the disaster, the Civil Protection warned of other risks of the glacier breaking due to the high temperatures: it was 10°C at the top of the Marmolada a few hours before the collapse of the tons of ice. water and rocks.
You have 42.76% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.