Returning to northern Italy yesterday from Oslo, Norway, I was barraged with images and commentary from the Italian Dolomites, perhaps my favorite mountains in the world. After little winter snow and extreme heat the prior month, a serac on the Marmolda glacier had collapsed. Marmolada is the highest peak in the Dolommites and features a very popular Via Ferrata to Punta Penia, its summit. Seracs are stabilized by persistently cold weather, so the severe global heating in the Alps in recent decades has not only melted 80% of the Marmolada glacier’s volume, it has causes this beautiful landscape to be an increasing source of danger to alpinists. I had climbed the Via Ferrata Marmolada in 2018 with a guided group (see my post from September of that year). Below are some photos taken both by me and another client, Ron, who was our unofficial photographer, highlighting the Marmolada glacier.
Our group photo at the start of the Marmolada Classico. Walter, our guide, is on the left and I am in the yellow t-shirt. The glacier is behind us here.
My thoughts are with those killed, injured, or still missing on Marmolada.
This week I will be working on a blog from another amazing mountain range I trekked across last week, the Jotunheimen in Norway. Stay safe outdoors.
The Vagabond Hiker
Oh no! So tragic. :*-( What will it take for our world to wake up and do something about climate change – especially the US?!
I am not optimistic. Even the undemocratic Supreme Court appears bent on destruction of the environment.