The decision by Chile’s National Forestry Corporation to permanently ban hikers from a popular glacier in Patagonia has incensed adventurers and local guides alike. What officials see as a question of safety – citing rapid, destabilizing melting – has sparked a debate over the risks of ice-climbing in a rapidly changing climate.
. Last July an apartment building-sized chunk of the Marmolada glacier in Italy’s Dolomite mountain collapsed onto a popular hiking route, killing 11 people. The same summer a number of agencies canceled ascents of Mont Blanc for the first time, as melting ice loosened an alarming number of rockfalls.Bianca Miranda has been leading expeditions on the glacier for over a decade and her local tourism company now faces the burden of refunding agencies who had booked up to March 2024.
The study – and eventual closure of Explorers – came after a huge chunk of ice fell off, or calved, the main glacier on Oct. 6. Together, the report says, thinning and the exploding number of glacial lagoons are rushing Explorers to one of two possible outcomes. Will Gadd is a Canadian guide and adventurer – the first person to climb a frozen Niagara Falls – who has watched the ice-clad world he loves fall apart around him.