Alarming Melting of Switzerland’s Gries Glacier: A Wake-Up Call for Climate Action |

Switzerland’s Gries Glacier is facing an unprecedented crisis as ice retreat sparks concern. A site of critical climate research, the Swiss glacier is shrinking at a record pace as the country faces unprecedented glacier melt. Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS) director Matthias Huss said the 5.4 km long glacier “is dying”, pointing out that the ice thickness dropped by six metres in just the 12 months leading up to September 2025. Situated in the canton of Valais, Gries Glacier has receded 800 metres between 2000 and 2023. Compared to its size in 1880, it is now 3.2 km shorter, with an average ice depth of 57 metres. The devastating potential of glacier melt was seen in May 2025 when a sudden collapse destroyed the village of Blatten, also in Valais. Huss attributed the accelerated melting to consecutive dry years in 2022 and 2023, coupled with a notably warm summer in 2025. While a heavy snowfall in mid-April offered a brief respite, it was not enough to offset summer warming. “We would need much more snow to counter the effect of very warm summers. And the summer of 2025 was again far too warm,” he said. At lower altitudes, the glacier could disappear within five years, while higher-altitude ice around 3,000 metres may last another 40-50 years, Huss added. According to GLAMOS, around 100 glaciers in Switzerland vanished between 2016 and 2022. Globally, ice loss has accelerated since the 1990s due to stronger summer melting, with a recent World Meteorological Organisation report noting that for the third consecutive year, every glaciated region worldwide reported ice decline.