Switzerland’s Gries Glacier, stretching 5.4 kilometers in length, is undergoing rapid retreat at an unprecedented pace, raising serious concerns among climate scientists. Rising temperatures and recurring droughts have accelerated ice loss, threatening one of the country’s most closely monitored glaciers.
According to the Glacier Monitoring Service, the Gries Glacier has shrunk dramatically in recent years, with six meters of ice thickness lost between September 2024 and September 2025 alone.
Matthias Huss, director of the service, explained that the glacier, located in the Valais region of southern Switzerland, retreated by 800 meters between 2000 and 2023. Compared with its size in 1880, it is now 3.2 kilometers shorter, with an average ice thickness of just 57 meters.
The consequences of such rapid melting have already been felt. In May 2025, a catastrophic glacier collapse devastated the village of Platten in Valais.
Huss attributed the accelerating retreat to the extreme heat of summer 2025, combined with droughts in 2022 and 2023, despite temporary relief from heavy snowfall in mid-April. “We will need significantly more snowfall to compensate for the impact of such an extremely hot summer,” he warned.
Looking ahead, Huss said parts of the glacier could disappear within five years from its weakest points, while higher-altitude sections at around 3,000 meters may last 40 to 50 years before vanishing completely.
The alarming decline of the Gries Glacier mirrors a global trend. Between 2016 and 2022, around 100 glaciers disappeared across Switzerland. A recent World Meteorological Organization report confirmed that ice loss has accelerated worldwide since the 1990s, with record summer melt contributing to three consecutive years of global glacier retreat.
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