Start of the season and worry about the glacier
Business
The ski season has started on the glacier on the Kitzsteinhorn (Pinzgau). Several lifts and slopes are open. However, the exceptionally warm summer hit the glaciers, and they retreated particularly sharply.
The fresh snow on the Kitzsteinhorn is the very important protective layer for the glacier. At the beginning of the season, concern about the glacier ice is particularly great, which is why the ski start is now viewed critically. Over the past few days, more than 80 centimeters of fresh snow has fallen on the glacier.
When this snow is then prepared on the glacier, the snow is compacted, explains glacier researcher Bernhard Zagel from the University of Salzburg: “You often see this in open terrain. Next to that, it immediately fades the snow again, whereas a prepared snow cover actually preserves the glacier.”
But what damages the glaciers are some snow depots, i.e. large amounts of old snow that are pushed together, according to the glacier researcher: “In my opinion, that would be more of a problem in summer if you pushed the snow together, created snow depots and removed certain snow from the snow.” The glacier on the Kitzsteinhorn has shrunk by two thirds in the last 70 years. Researchers have determined that the glacier on the Kitzsteinhorn will have almost completely melted in around 30 years.