Melted glacier stops Italy’s summer skiing

THE heatwave that has swept southern Europe has forced the closure of summer skiing on an Italian glacier for the first time in 90 years.

Skiing is normally possible in the summer on the Stelvio Pass glacier in the eastern Alps, which lies at 11,319ft, but the pistes have become wet slush.

Much of Italy, including Rome, Naples and Florence, has been baking in temperatures of more than 104F (40C) and even in the mountains the temperatures have been well above average.

The glacier has been used as a training ground by generations of top skiers, some of them Olympic champions.

“It’s terribly sad that these pistes, which are a symbol of summer skiing, have become too dangerous because of the lack of snow,” said Deborah Compagnoni, a former ski champion who now runs a hotel in the area.

Gustav Thoeni, another ex-champion skier, who used to train here in the Seventies, said: “It would not infrequently snow in July and August.

“At the time you could use the ski lifts that start at the pass [9,048ft], while for the past few seasons skiers have been forced to use those that start above 3,000m (9,842ft),” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper. “Unfortunately, every day we see crevasses opening up. It saddens me and I worry about the future of winter sports here when you see how quickly the landscape of the mountain is changing.”

Scientists say many glaciers in are in retreat because of global warming. One macabre consequence is that the bodies of Italian and Austro-hungarian soldiers who fought each other at high altitude in the Trentino region of the Dolomites in the First World War are being revealed. The latest body emerged just this week – an Italian soldier who took part in what was dubbed La Guerra Bianca, the White War.

♦ French rescuers say two German brothers in their 40s have died of apparent hypothermia when they were caught in a storm while climbing a glacier on Mont Blanc du Tacul, which is part of the Mont Blanc massif.