Seven glaciers retreat along Grossglockner road

Seven glaciers beside the Grossglockner High Alpine Road have lost substantial ice in recent years, ORF Salzburg reports. The glaciers lie on the northern ramp of the road, across the valley from Fusch in Salzburg state and extending towards the border with Carinthia.

Although they were less famous than the Pasterze glacier, their icefalls were once an imposing feature for mountaineers and a familiar backdrop for millions of visitors travelling to the Grossglockner.

Glaciologist Andrea Fischer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences said the retreat is now particularly visible along the upper edges of the glaciers. “They are losing their future with the accumulation area,” Fischer said.

The report compares photographs taken in the week before publication with archive images from 2021, 2023 and, in one case, 2025. The latest images were taken on 15 September 2026.

Walcher Kees has thinned dramatically

The Walcher Kees glacier, in the northwestern part of the Fusch valley, once extended high into the large cirque between Hoher Tenn, Kleines Wiesbachhorn and Grosses Wiesbachhorn. Until about a decade ago, it reached as far as the Wiesbachschartl ridge.

In the latest images, the ice in the steep slope below the ridge has completely melted away. The glacier has also become noticeably thinner along its entire length.

Compared with photographs from 23 September 2021, the difference is also visible in the snow cover. Large amounts of winter snow, with some fresh snow on top, were still present in the earlier images. None remained in the 2026 photographs, and the glacier no longer extended as far down the valley.

Sandboden Kees loses its ice towers

The Sandboden Kees glacier once carried a massive ice cover from the summit ridge of the Grosses Wiesbachhorn northeastwards and over the ridge into the high cirque. Its summit area featured imposing seracs and overhanging ice towers.

The ice bulge on the summit ridge, once visible from far into the Alpine foothills, has now disappeared. ORF describes the glacier as a once magnificent feature in advanced decline, despite its high elevation and relatively low temperatures, particularly in winter.

Fischer said ice on steep slopes is generally thinner than ice on flatter glacier sections. Such areas therefore show especially pronounced and clearly visible retreat. In the Hohe Tauern mountains, she said, green vegetation is increasingly replacing the ice, reaching right up to the glaciers after the region’s long summer growing season.