The Shrinking Glaciers Project

The Fedchenko Glacier is situated in the northern central part of Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, within the Yazgulem Range of the Western Pamir Mountains. It is the largest glacier outside the polar regions. Officially renamed Vanch-Yakh by the Tajik government, the glacier extends for 77 km, descending from approximately 6,200 m asl to about 2,900 m asl. Its surface area is roughly 700 km², with a maximum ice thickness of around 1,000 m and an estimated total ice volume of 144 km³.

Although the glacier was long regarded as relatively stable compared with many other glaciers worldwide, long-term observations and recent datasets indicate a clear trend of retreat. Notably, pronounced ice‑thickness reduction was recorded between 2010 and 2021. One factor moderating the rate of mass loss is the extensive debris cover (moraines) on its surface, which provides thermal insulation and reduces melt rates.

In certain parts of the Pamir Mountains, increased snowfall over recent decades has temporarily contributed to glacier stability or even slight advances – a phenomenon often referred to as the “Pamir anomaly.” However, recent studies, including work by ISTA Austria and Swiss research teams, suggest that this phase of stability has ended. Since approximately 2018-2021, even the previously most stable glaciers in the region have exhibited substantial mass loss, indicating that a critical climatic tipping point has been surpassed under ongoing warming.

Monte Perdido, the highest peak in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park at 3,355 m asl, rises in the province of Huesca, northern Aragon, Spain. Its exceptional biodiversity drew naturalists and mountaineers throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, captivated by the fact that it forms the tallest limestone massif in Europe.

On its northern flank lies the Monte Perdido Glacier — one of the few remaining glaciers in the Pyrenees and a defining emblem of the national park.

The intense heatwaves of the summers of 2022 and 2023 triggered a marked retreat of the Pyrenean glaciers. Projections suggest that within the next one to two decades, these glaciers may vanish entirely.

Recent measurements from the Monte Perdido Glacier underscore this alarming trajectory: between 2011 and 2023, its ice volume has shrunk by 20%, and the glacier has fractured into two distinct sections.

Additional measurements taken in 2023 revealed that the glacier had receded by an average of 3.8 m, with the eastern sector thinning by as much as 8.1 m. The effects of climate change on the Monte Perdido Glacier are increasingly severe: it has now been officially listed in the Global Glacier Casualty List — an international registry that tracks glaciers deemed irreversibly endangered or already lost due to global warming.

The Girose Glacier lies at the base of La Meije (3,984 m asl), a striking peak in the Écrins Massif, a high mountain range in France. To its west stretches the Mont-de-Lans Glacier, while the Vallon and Râteau Glaciers flank it to the east. Pic de la Grave (3,667 m asl) overlooks the Girose Glacier, in a region distinguished by several ice domes—among them, the Dôme de La Lauze which rises to an elevation of 3,568 m asl.

The Girose Glacier is one of the last remaining large glaciers in the Alps. As of 2022, it spanned an area of 4.63 km². However, it has been steadily retreating, with noticeable melting occurring each summer. Since 2003, this process has accelerated significantly. Between 1983 and 2014, the glacier lost approximately 15% of its surface area (Rabatel et al., 2016).

The Girose cable car, once used to transport visitors to the glacier, is currently out of service and is slated for dismantling. This moment could serve as a poignant opportunity to reconsider our perception of this legendary site—a place that evokes both wonder and reverence for the high mountains.

Yet, the glacier is also part of the third section of a cable car development project that has sparked considerable debate. Since 2018, Mountain Wilderness France has actively campaigned to protect the landscape and its biodiversity through the citizen-led initiative La Grave Autrement.