Melting Dachstein glacier makes crevasses more dangerous

Two German via ferrata climbers fell into a crevasse on the Hoher Dachstein mountain and survived with serious injuries, ORF reported. They were rescued during a ten-hour operation overnight into Sunday.

The accident highlights the increasingly difficult conditions for glacier tours on the Dachstein. After a hot summer, much of the glacier ice is now exposed where snow would normally cover it.

Measurements on the Hallstätter Glacier show that more than a third of its surface was completely snow-free by early July, around three weeks earlier than in previous years. According to Alpine police, the snow-poor zone now extends to about 2,800 metres above sea level.

These conditions make crevasses more dangerous because they can become wider and harder to avoid. Crevasses form when flowing ice passes over uneven or steeper ground, causing it to stretch and split. As the glacier loses ice, it becomes thinner and changes shape and flow, which can cause existing crevasses to shift or open further. After hot summers, the snow layer that partly fills crevasses is also often missing.

The Dachstein glacier has been changing for years, and warmer summers are accelerating the process. Since 2006, the Hallstätter Glacier has lost about one-third of its ice mass. More than six million cubic metres of ice disappeared during the most recent measurement year alone, equivalent to a water layer about three metres deep across the glacier’s entire surface.