No Geotextile Sheets for the Marmolada, Protest Flares Up

In this apocalyptic summer there is one glacier that seems to be suffering from the heat more than any other: the Marmolada.
The Queen of the Dolomites is watching the glacier that has always been its hallmark disappear. In recent days temperatures have reached never-before-recorded values, with a full 13 degrees in the middle of the day and temperatures constantly above zero for more than 30 days now.
There is no respite from the melting of the ice, which continues relentlessly every summer, while less and less snow arrives in winter.

To keep this heritage from disappearing, Marmolada S.p.a. (the company that operates the lifts) asked the Autonomous Province of Trento to include the Marmolada Glacier as well in the glacier protection project that was launched on the Presena Glacier a few years ago.
The Presena project involves closing the ski lifts in the first days of June (so no more summer skiing) and covering the snow with special white geotextile sheets to protect the ice from the sun and the rain.
This initiative has achieved significant results, so much so that the sheets make it possible to save between 50 and 200 cm of snow a year. The Presena Glacier is not the only one protected by geotextile sheets during the summer: similar examples can be found in the Aosta Valley and Piedmont (Monterosa group), in Austria at Stubai and in Switzerland.
The results are so surprising that researchers go as far as saying that geotextile sheets could be the only tool to stem the effects of the global warming now under way.

Presena Glacier, August 2012, photo by Valtorta Matteo

So last year Marmolada S.p.a. submitted a request to join the project, but to date there has been no answer. The lift company is on the warpath and accuses the Province of Trento of wanting to let the glacier die simply because it lies in a border area.
The Autonomous Province of Trento replies that no request was ever submitted by Marmolada S.p.a. and that the only request received was the one from Adamello Ski to protect the Presena Glacier.

Besides melting the snow, the heat is also fueling the debate on “Marmolada and geotextile sheets”. What we hope is that political and administrative squabbles will be set aside and that everyone will focus on the work needed to save a heritage called the “Marmolada Glacier”