Climate change threatens Dachstein glaciers and mountaineers
Thursday 10th September 2026 on 20:15 in
Austria
The Große Gosaugletscher glacier on the Dachstein mountain massif could disappear within 10 years, while the upper section of the Hallstätter Gletscher may be close to collapse, glacier researcher and mountaineer Andrea Fischer told ORF.
The Gosaugletscher was still visible from Salzburg’s central region a decade ago, with bare ice glowing in the evening sun to the west and northwest. It lies beside the Torstein, the western pillar of the Dachstein massif. The Torstein is the only one of the massif’s three main peaks that also lies in Salzburg, in the municipality of Filzmoos in the Pongau region.
Today, dark and light brown tones dominate the Gosaugletscher in autumn, replacing the bright white and pale blue of the past. Old layers of gravel, sand and dust now cover the remains of its once-thick ice.
The deposits include Saharan dust and pollen, as well as rock dust and sand carried down over centuries by avalanches and rockfalls from the western slopes above the glacier. Some of the particles may have been transported there thousands of years ago.
These materials are now appearing in concentrated layers because even the lowest sections of the ice are melting, said Fischer, who leads a research team at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Some of the layers are up to 3,500 years old.
“The Gosaugletscher now has only a thin tongue. It also does not extend as far into the ground as the neighbouring Hallstätter Gletscher on the northern side of the Dachstein,” Fischer said. “If we have more summers like this one, the Gosaugletscher could disappear in less than 10 years.”
The situation at the Hallstätter Gletscher is dramatic for a different reason, Fischer said. The ice tongue in its uppermost section near the summit could soon collapse.
Winter snow has completely melted all the way to the top, allowing meltwater to flow into the ice throughout the day and night. As a result, the ice is sliding faster over the ground and the surface is being cut by an increasing number of crevasses.