A journey to the heart of the glaciers

Water — Oct 20, 2025
Sofie Terzer, CIPRA International and Francesco Pastorelli, CIPRA Italy

The Glacier Caravan 2025 visited eight icy giants in Italy, Switzerland and Germany, calling for concrete action on climate change. The international campaign is backed by Legambiente, CIPRA Italy and the Italian Glaciological Committee.

In the last sixty years over 170 km2 of glaciers have melted in the Italian Alps. By 2050, those glaciers in the Alps below 3,500 metres will have completely disappeared. With them, biodiversity is also shrinking, while risks to water supplies and ecosystems are growing. From 17 August to 2 September 2025, the sixth edition of the Glacier Caravan documented the condition of eight glaciers that are considered extreme examples or that stand out owing to special research.

Flash mobs, frost and research

The journey to the heart of the glaciers began with a flash mob on Italy’s largest glacier, the Adamello, and continued with the largest in the Alps, the Aletsch Glacier. At this point, experts highlighted the successful risk management in regard to the landslide that buried the nearby village of Blatten/CH. Meanwhile, the Ventina Glacier in Lombardy has receded so significantly that it is no longer measurable as such, while the Suldenferner in the Ortler-Cevedale Group in South Tyrol is becoming increasingly dark owing to its increased debris cover. In sum, it has become clear that the main dangers, apart from glacier melt, are the retreat of permafrost and the associated instability of the mountains. This was highlighted during the last two research stages of the trip: the permafrost monitoring on the Zugspitze in Germany, and the multidisciplinary research in the Bessanese-Ciamarella area in Piemonte/I.

Call for Europe-wide glacier monitoring

Vanda Bonardo, the national representative of Legambiente Alpi and president of CIPRA Italy, calls for uniform monitoring of glaciers at a European level. “Only when we understand what is happening to our planet can we take appropriate action”, she says. Under the motto “Where the ice melts’”, CIPRA Italy conducted interviews with experts and participants in the Glacier Caravan. These will be available to listen to on the CIPRA podcast from December 2025.

Sources and further information: https://www.legambiente.it/campagna/campagne-in-evidenza/carovana-dei-ghiacciai/ (it)