The end of the glacier at Argentière in the Chamonix Valley has been given a protective summer coat in a bit of slow down its thawing as a result of climate change.

Working with the Mayor of Chamonix, and the Prefecture of Haute Savoie, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc lift operator is spending 3,000 Euros on a small 750 square metre tarpaulin to cover a sector at the Grand Montets.

“ This technique of ice covering has already proven itself on Swiss glacier and is required to keep a maximum volume of ice on the mountain while limiting the action of sunlight reflection.” Said a statement from the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc.

The lift company has advised those hiking or mountaineering in the area that it’s dangerous to walk on the tarpaulin and that they should use marked routes around it.

The tarpaulin will be removed in mid-October before the first major snowfall on winter 2011-12 is forecast.

Veronica adds “This has been a successful tactic in maintaining depths in Verbier and other Swiss resort so it is understandable why Chamonix has made this move.   What they need to think about though is the visual impact for summer hikers and climbers – particularly in a resort like Chamonix that has a big summer season.   Chamonix is known for its wild untamed landscapes – if it starts to look like a building site – it won’t be popular”

 
 
The Presena Glacier above Passo Tonale is the latest Alpine glacier to attempt to cover its surface with an insulating and reflective ‘blanket’ this summer in a bid to slow its rate of melting.

More than 90,000 square metres of the glacier, has been covered with a thin reflective material, a process already being used my glaciers in Austria such as Pitztal and Stubai, and in Switzerland and on Germany’s Zugspitze which ended summer snow sports a few years ago. In France snowmaking has been tried on the glacier at Val d’Isere, which is one of three glaciers in the country still open for summer snow sports.

Small scale tests of the material used on the Presena glacier have shown that it reduces melt rates by up to 60%, potentially good news for the glacier which a study found lost nearly two-fifths of its mass in one decade alone up to 2003 due to global warming.

Veronica Tonge comments “It’s an interesting idea to cover a part of a glacier to protect it during the summer and previous studies in Verbier have shown that covers can make an enormous difference.   It demonstrates that resorts are investigating a myriad of options to protect their winter ski industry due to its value to the local economy.  Covering glaciers is never ultimately going to be the answer and resorts need to look at diversification and offering a range of activities to reduce their overall reliance on downhill skiing - one strategy is to boost summer tourism (incidentally those resorts that open their lifts for summer tourism to view the glaciers need to consider - no-one wants to look at a large ‘tarpaulin’. "