Wrap Up Your Glaciers...

Strange but true, a Swiss ski resort is tackling the threat of glacial melting by wrapping part of their piste in a thin layer of reflective sheeting...

Some 40,000 square feet of the Gurschen Glacier has been protected from the sun with a layer of thin foil as the local cable car operator tries to minimise damage to the glacier over the summer months. Apparently the sheeting covers a snow ramp that is built up at the beginning of every season, but then melts and has to be rebuilt for the next year of skiing.

The glacier has sunk an estimated 20 metres over the last 15 years making it harder to get to the skiing on the glacier, the ramp provides access, but is expensive to rebuild, hence the protective sheeting.

Environmentalists are apparently skeptical of the move saying that changes in environmental policy are needed rather than short-term measures like this which, in any case, would be totally impractical on a larger scale. The rate of glacial recession is such, that glaciers will cease to exist by the end of the century.

You can read the full story on the BBC News site where there's also a streaming video report. Thanks to Anthony Dyer for bringing the story to our notice.