Switzerland’s magnificent Gries Glacier is caught in an accelerating crisis, with its ice retreating at an alarming rate. This majestic natural wonder, also a crucial hub for climate research, is shrinking faster than ever, signaling a concerning trend for glaciers across the nation.
Matthias Huss, director of Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS), has delivered a dire assessment: the 5.4-kilometer-long glacier is “dying.” He revealed that its ice thickness plummeted by a staggering six meters in just the year leading up to September 2025.
Located in the beautiful canton of Valais, the Gries Glacier has pulled back by 800 meters between 2000 and 2023 alone. When compared to its extent in 1880, it is now an astonishing 3.2 kilometers shorter and possesses an average ice depth of merely 57 meters.
The grave dangers of such rapid glacier melt were tragically demonstrated in May 2025, when a sudden collapse led to the destruction of the village of Blatten, also within Valais.
Huss points to a combination of factors driving this accelerated melt: successive dry years in 2022 and 2023, compounded by an exceptionally warm summer in 2025. Although a significant snowfall in mid-April provided a temporary reprieve, it proved insufficient to counteract the intense summer heat. “We would need far greater snowfalls to combat the effects of these increasingly warm summers. And the summer of 2025 was simply too hot once again,” he emphasized.
At its lower elevations, the glacier could vanish completely within a mere five years. However, ice located at higher altitudes, around 3,000 meters, might endure for another 40 to 50 years, Huss noted.
GLAMOS reports that Switzerland has already lost approximately 100 glaciers between 2016 and 2022. On a global scale, the pace of ice loss has surged dramatically since the 1990s, primarily due to intensified summer melting. A recent report from the World Meteorological Organization shockingly confirmed that for the third year in a row, every glaciated region on Earth is experiencing a decline in ice mass.