Spectacular rockfalls in the Alps more frequent as mountain permafrost melts
A 100-tonne rock crashes from the side of a French mountain and falls hundreds of metres to the valley below. Images of a spectacular rockslide on the Col de l'Encrenaz in the French Alps spread on social media and TV channels on September 10th. It followed a series of similar falls on the other side of the Chamonix valley, in the famous Mont Blanc massif. Experts say that such events have become more frequent in recent years because rising temperatures are gradually melting permafrost high in the French Alps.
August 7th, August 22nd, August 27th, August 30th, August 31st. Through the month of August, mountaineering pages on social media have been flooded with videos showing rockslides in the Alps, especially in the Mont Blanc massif, the range that includes Europe’s highest peak, at 4810 metres.
And then on September 10th, a tourist captured an even more spectacular video. Between 30,000 and 40,000 m3 of rock rolled down the peaks of the Aiguilles Rouges in an area that isn’t usually subject to rockfalls. Due to its location and size, experts say the rockfall could be the biggest in the Aiguilles Rouges in recorded history. “The only known instance of such a large rockfall in the Aiguilles Rouges was an event that happened 10,000 years ago,” geomorphologist Ludovic Ravanel told FRANCE 24. “There may have been others but they weren’t recorded or haven’t been detected.”
Four rockslides on the Aiguille du Midi
At least four major rockslides were filmed on a single mountain in August: the Aiguille du Midi, famous for the cable car that takes tourists to its 3842-metre summit from the town of Chamonix in the valley.
However, Ravanel points out the risks of these increasingly frequent events.
