Climate Change

Among the kisc staff, I'm in a rare position. I'm lucky enough to be in my second Snow and Ice season in a row. The Snow and Ice (or more commonly "Snice") guides are four members of summer staff who come to KISC specifically to guide groups on the Glacier at Fründenhütte. It's a fantastic job, and the Snice guides are always a slightly odd group, even when surrounded by Pinkies and Greenies. Most only have one Summer as Snice, but I was here last summer, and here I am again.

This is a job which puts me in the same mountains almost every day, meaning I've gotten to know them very well, and one of my favourite things is noticing things that have changed, or are in the process of changing. The mountains are moving, and "geological time" includes now.

Be it a simple broken branch or an enormous rockfall, there is always something different on the way up to the hut. The Summer sun is always pushing the snowline higher up the slopes, and as the freezing level rises things become looser. Our glacier (like most) is an extremely changeable environment, ever day sees avalanches and rockfalls from the side walls, and the ice itself bends and warps as the ice flows downhill. Crevasses open and close, chunks of ice the size of cars slowly become detached, and snowbridges disappear, leaving gaping holes where they were. The ice and the mountains are alive.

I also notice the difference in the ice between this year and last - there is less of it. Looking at photographs from previous years shows this even more clearly. Our little glacier above Kandersteg is disappearing, and it's heartbreaking.

We all know why this is; it is now almost universally accepted that our climate is warming, and that we are responsible. Our glacier is not alone, ice is melting all over the world. Every year Kandersteg and the rest of Europe sees less snow than in the past, and I find that upsetting. I can't place my finger on why, but I do. Climate change will affect us all in some way. Sometimes those effects are drastic and devastating. Sometimes, however, they're just a little bit sad.

By Duncan Butler (UK) - SNICE Guide 2015 & 2016