In Pictures: As Switzerland’s glaciers shrink, a way of life may melt away

Rising temperatures and retreating glaciers threaten the country’s mountain stores of water, sometimes called Europe’s water tower, forcing local farmers to adapt and presaging a way of life that may one day melt away.

Updated

Published

Jan 22, 2024, 07:53 AM

An aerial view of sheep, near Belalp, Switzerland, on Aug 26, 2023. They could once cross a glacier that filled the canyon, but they now use a path that was cut into the rock face in the 1970s. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A team from ETH Zurich, a research university, using orange dye for an annual measuring of surface melt at the Rhone Glacier on Aug 23, 2023. The glacier has retreated by about half a kilometre since 2007. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A team from ETH Zurich, a research university, walking through a part of the Rhone Glacier draped in tarps to slow down melting, on Aug 23, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

An aerial view of stone pens, which date to medieval times, in Belalp, Switzerland, on Aug 26, 2023. The pens are still used by sheep farmers to sort grazing herds after they descend from higher pastures. PHOTO: NYTIMES

An aerial view of the historic Belvedere Hotel which once offered a view of the Rhone Glacier, near Obergoms, Switzerland, on Aug 23, 2023. The glacier has since retreated out of sight from the now closed property, PHOTO: NYTIMES

Cattle being led down from summer alpine grazing pastures near Engstligenalp, Switzerland, on Sept 2, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Part of a herd of sheep being led from their summer pasture in the Aletsch Valley in Switzerland, on Aug 27, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Cows at the summer alpine dairy farm of farmers Andrea and Josef Herger, near Isenthal, Switzerland, on Aug 29, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Mr Thomas Comploi and his family members harvesting hay on a slope in the Italian Alps, as his ancestors have done for more than 100 years, near Tyrol, Italy, on Aug 8, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A family’s mobile milking system, used because the grass on its alpine pastures is sufficient for grazing only for about two weeks in a year, near Andermatt, Switzerland, on Aug 23, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A new water pipe and electrical system being installed for dairy farms, in an area where helicopters have been used to take water to cows so they can continue to graze on alpine pastures, near Jaun, Switzerland, on Aug 31, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A water bladder the Mottier family installed at their alpine dairy farm to cope with more frequent droughts, near L’Etivaz, Switzerland, on Sept 1, 2023. PHOTO: NYTIMES

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