AdvertisementDigital analyst Kora Fong on her first snowboarding trip in Val Thorens, in the French Alps, in 2023. (Photo: CNA/Kora Fong)17 Jul 2025 03:32AM (Updated: 17 Jul 2025 03:40AM) Bookmark Bookmark WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedInRead a summary of this article on FAST.Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST SAINT-CHRISTOPHE-EN-OISANS: An early summer heatwave has accelerated the melting of snow and glaciers in the French Alps, triggering water shortages at mountain shelters just as the hiking season begins (July 16).“Everything has dried up,” said Noemie Dagan, caretaker of the Selle refuge, a 60-bed chalet perched at 2,673 metres in the Ecrins mountain range.The snowfield that typically feeds the shelter’s water supply now “looks a bit like what we would expect at the end of July or early August,” she said.“We are nearly a month early in terms of the snow’s melting,” she added.MOUNTAIN SHELTERS UNDER PRESSUREThe Selle refuge lacks a water tank and depends entirely on snowmelt. If the flow stops, the shelter will have to close, as it did in mid-August last year.Dagan has tried to prevent another shutdown by installing a kilometre-long pipe to tap a nearby glacier near the Pic de la Grave. But the steep, unstable slopes make the setup vulnerable, especially as storms in the range grow stronger and more frequent.Over 15 years in the job, Dagan said she has witnessed a “metamorphosis” of the glaciers and mountains that once acted as natural reservoirs.“We are basically the sentinels who have seen what is coming,” she said.The Gamsspitzl mountain with Freigerferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. The glacier split in two parts, and both are hollow. The big cavities indicate that warm air is streaming through the glacier base, causing additional melt and eventually leading to a collapse of the flat ice sheet. (Photo: AP/Matthias Schrader)GLACIERS NO LONGER RELIABLEThomas Boillot, a mountain guide, said the idea of water running out at alpine shelters had once “never even crossed our minds.”That is no longer the case. Melting snowfields, reduced precipitation, and reshaped glaciers are combining to disrupt the natural flow of water. In some cases, future supply may need to be pumped from lower altitudes.Scientists warn that climate change is hitting the Alps nearly twice as hard as other regions. Many glaciers could vanish entirely by the end of the century, leaving only traces behind.VISIBLE IMPACT IN FRANCE AND SWITZERLANDIn neighbouring Switzerland, authorities say snow and ice reserves have melted five to six weeks earlier than usual.Xavier Cailhol, an environmental science PhD student and guide, recently toured Mont Blanc and called the heatwave’s effects “brutal.”“I started ski-touring in June with 40 centimetres of powder snow. I ended up on bare glaciers, even at 3,700 metres near the Midi Peak,” he said.A snow cover helps protect the glacier beneath by reflecting sunlight, he noted. But this year, “above 3,200 metres, it’s drier than anything we’ve seen before.”One stark example is the Bossons Glacier, which looms over the Chamonix valley. A patch of gravel that formed on the ice is now expanding, and absorbing more heat, accelerating the melt.The glacier’s retreat is clearly visible from Chamonix, a daily reminder of what is happening across the Alps.Source: AFP/fsSign up for our newslettersGet our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inboxSubscribe hereGet the CNA appStay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best storiesDownload hereGet WhatsApp alertsJoin our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat appJoin hereAlso worth readingContent is loading...