Rescue workers are still looking for other victims of the glacier and avalanche accident in the Dolomites, when the search for the culprit begins. Had the tragedy on the Marmolada glacier with at least seven dead can be prevented? Have the Italian authorities failed? Or should the mountaineers who died in the accident have known better? After all, at this time of year you don’t go under a sérac – an ice tower on the edge of the cliff, as extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner explained.
Sure, there were signs of the glacial fall. About the 200 meter long and 60 meter deep fissure. Only: Not every crevasse opening is followed by a break-off of ice masses. Should you really have blocked the tourist magnet? So far, the Marmolada glacier has not been known for major ruptures. How many other mountains in the Alps would then have to be closed to tourists? And for how long? Only in summer or will it become increasingly dangerous in winter as well?
Of course, technical monitoring of the glacier movements would have been helpful, as is practiced in many places in Switzerland. Glaciologists have compiled an inventory of particularly dangerous glaciers there, which are observed using radar and cameras. In Italy this has only happened sporadically so far. But even rich Switzerland cannot or does not want to afford comprehensive surveillance, especially since climate change can also break off seemingly harmless glaciers and kill people – as happened in the western Valais Alps in May. At that time, several chunks of ice had detached from the glacier on the Grand Combin. Two people died and nine were injured.
The accident shows how unpredictable the situation has become
That means people have to learn how to deal with natural hazards in times of climate change. Anyone who goes mountaineering in the Alps has always had to keep an eye on the weather and terrain and knows that there is always a risk with a tour. If only because the climbs often lead along abysses or because rocks that you hold on to can break out, or because of storms that are approaching. However, as glaciers retreat, glacial avalanches and rockfalls are becoming more frequent and much more difficult to predict, requiring even more caution than usual. The tragic accident on a glorious summer’s day clearly shows how unpredictable the situation has become. This also applies to the weather: rain turns into a flood disaster, sunny days into a heat wave that kills people. The impartiality is gone. People will have to deal more and more with the weather forecast. And have to learn that nature is not just a recreational factor in the service of people.
What the tragedy on the Marmolada will do for tourism in the Alps cannot yet be foreseen. If it should have at least one use, it is that it teaches reverence for nature.