Swiss Want Brit Death Peak Closed To Climbers

Swiss mountain experts have called for one of the country’s highest peaks to be closed off for climbers as melting ice is making it deadly for tourists.

Six people have already lost their lives this year climbing the Matterhorn, which stands at 4,478 metres (14,769 feet) high, including a 24-year-old British man who is said to have fallen to his death after a chunk of rock came loose as he came down from the Hoernli ridge on the mountain.

Mountain guides at the iconic site claim rocks are crumbling as a result of climate change causing melting permafrost and they say this is having fatal consequences.

Hans-Rudolf Keusen, who is a geologist and a nature expert for the Swiss Alpine Club, claims the rising temperatures are most likely to blame.

Credit: CEN/ Zermatt Bergbahnen
The Matterhorn mountain

He said: “With a high probability, the rising temperatures are responsible. In increasingly higher locations the permafrost is melting.

This is also backed up by readings from permafrost measurements by researchers at Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network (PERMOS) who report changes in permafrost levels in 15 different locations in Switzerland.

Researches confirmed the highest temperatures ever recorded in the region were recorded between 2014 and 2018.

As a result the experts believe the mountain has become too unstable and dangerous for climbers.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Kathryn Quinn, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News


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