LONDON
Global warming is increasingly destabilizing the Swiss Alps as thawing permafrost and retreating glaciers threaten mountain infrastructure, affecting nearly half of the Swiss Alpine huts, according to media reports Thursday.
The Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) is being forced to relocate certain huts and spend millions on new facilities and protective measures, news outlet Swiss Info reported.
Cracks had been steadily spreading and widening in the Mutthorn mountain hut in the Bernese Oberland until it was closed in 2021 as it faced danger of collapsing due to thawing permafrost.
“We knew this hut probably wouldn’t last another hundred years. But the fact that it collapsed so quickly really scared us,” Fabienne Notter, president of the Weissenstein section of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), told Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
Of the 152 SAC huts dotted across the Swiss Alps, 65 are in areas potentially threatened by thawing permafrost. Access routes are also becoming more hazardous due to rockfalls, mudslides and ground movement.
“We cannot predict what will fall or when. But one thing is certain it will collapse,” said Nils Hahlen, head of natural hazards for canton of Bern.
The Aletsch Glacier is losing between four and six meters in thickness each year, forcing the staircase to be extended every two or three years.
“When there is no more meltwater left, the available water has to last until the following May,” said Christoph Sager, the hut manager.
In one case, a replacement Mutthorn hut was built slightly over half a mile (900 meters) from the original site, on more stable ground in a location less exposed to avalanches.
The old hut was completely dismantled in the summer of 2025 at a cost of more than $480,000.
