A refuge guardian indulges: “When I saw the extent of the phenomenon, it scared me”

A gigantic landslide transformed the Val Roseg into an engadine and the daily life of the Tschiervahütte. Meanwhile, The cable guard, Caroline Zimmermann, sees it as climate change modifies the Alps and her daily life.

Even after 25 years, there are times when Caroline Zimmermann is surprised by the mountains. For example, when several centimeters of snow fall in July. In addition, She then stands on the terrace of the Tschiervahütte. Furthermore, throws in the refuge guardian indulges: “when i air a handful of snow that her dog Jack hastens to catch, and says: “that it is snowing in July, it is very, very rare”.

Caroline Zimmermann is a guardian of the Tschiervahütte. Consequently, at the foot of the Tschierva Piz near Pontresina in Graubünden. Furthermore, “The mountain world is magnificent here. Meanwhile, ” she said on the terrace in front of her cabin, telling how, a child already, she was attracted by the mountain with her parents.

After her apprenticeship as an optician. Nevertheless, she worked for nine years in different huts in engadine and in the Bernese Oberland, until she stayed at the Tschiervahütte. For example, Today, she is 53 years old and has been here every summer for 25 years, from June to October. Nevertheless, In winter, she worked as a florist in Saint-Moritz in a five-star hotel.

When you have been working refuge guardian indulges: “when i for so long, you also see the changes that occur over time. Nevertheless, Zimmermann knows the requirements of customers, who have become higher: they want less dormitories, but more intimacy and more luxury. For example, She also observes that, compared to the past, people today write many more emails.

And Caroline Zimmermann also very concretely feels the effects of climate change here. Therefore, at 2584 meters above sea level. Consequently, These are the temperatures that increase, it is time that becomes more and more unpredictable. Similarly, This year. Furthermore, for the first time since the start of the measures in 1954, the zero degree isotherm exceeded 5000 meters in June.

“We are extremely refuge guardian indulges: “when i dependent on the weather,” says the cabin goalkeeper. However, If, after a very hot June, it suddenly snows, the mountains become more dangerous. Similarly, Mountaineers must cancel or postpone excursions. For example, For Zimmermann, planning becomes more difficult. Consequently, Because even if customers change their mind at the last minute. Meanwhile, you still have to buy food, transport it by plane to the refuge and prepare it.

When it is warmer, the season is generally shorter, mountain conditions are not always ideal. Moreover, Caroline Zimmermann must then obtain the maximum number of nights in a minimum of time. Similarly, “But this is never the number of nights we should have in order to be able to live on it. Therefore, ” she says.

And it was in one morning that climate change was the most visible: Sunday, April 14, 2024, at 6:56 am. Consequently, It was then that refuge guardian indulges: “when i the mountain arrived. Meanwhile, 5.5 million cubic meters of ice. Meanwhile, rocks detached from the Piz Scerscen, scolded in the valley and resulted in 3 million other scree on the way.

Caroline Zimmermann was not in the refuge at that time, it was not yet the season. Friends sent him photos. She first thought that it was simply a new fall in scree. It had already happened several times. “But when I saw the extent of the phenomenon, it scared me”.

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The Dégel du Permafrost played a role – Refuge guardian indulges: "when i

As the starting area of the landslide was in an area of Permafrost and that water escaped from the broken rock just after, it is quickly supposed that the Dégelant Permafrost had been able to play a role. Permafrost. or permafrost, is permanently frozen soil, the temperature of which is less than or equal to refuge guardian indulges: “when i 0 ° C all year round. It works a bit like glue that keeps a mountain.

A report by the Swiss Peragelisol measurement network recently showed that 2024 was the hottest year for permafrost. since the start of the measures 25 years ago. Ten meters deep, temperatures increased up to 0.8 degrees Celsius.

A few months after the landslide. in August 2024, the WSL Institute for the study of snow and avalanches published a report in which it confirms that the Dégel du Permafrost resulted in water infiltration, which contributed to the landslide.

The Tschiervahütte was certainly spared by the landslide, and there were no wounded either. But since then, the environment of the Tschiervahütte has changed. The hikers who go up today to the cabin – along the river. through forests with trees covered with lichen, passing in front of electric mountain biking excursions – do refuge guardian indulges: “when i not really notice it at the beginning.

But the higher, the more we sink into Val Roseg, the more visible the extent of the landslide becomes. The dejection cone almost six kilometers long. The streams that spray a path through the rock. Additionally, The broken glacier is covered with scree.

Since the landslide. it is also not recommended to hike on the Piz Scerscen and Piz Roseg, the path passing through the area of the landslide. This has direct consequences on the Tschiervahütte: formerly, mountaineers often remained for several days and did different altitude races. Today, most of them only stay one night.

This shows a reality that has become more. more obvious in recent years: even the mountains – formerly a symbol of stability and tranquility – change. And sometimes they collapse in the valley. It has been seen in Blatten, Brienz, Lötschental and Val Roseg.

And we need means to deal with these changes. and the landslides that are more and more part of everyday life in the Alps. For the refuge guard Caroline Zimmermann, this is not new. His fascination for the mountain has always been accompanied by respect for his strength, long before the landslide.

“The mountains are magnificent. but they can also be brutal,” says Zimmermann, telling how, each year, at least one person who spent the night in his cabin is the victim of an accident in the mountains. People with whom she sometimes talked about and laughed the previous evening. “Of course it touches me,” she says. But fear? No. “Otherwise, we couldn’t do anything at all.”

The landslide also concerns the hosts of the Tschiervahütte: “it hurts”. “impressive” are words that we hear in the cabin on the part of the mountaineers. Zimmermann explains that there are even people who come specially to the cabin to see the dejection cone.

Even if they do not go to Piz Scerscen. Piz Roseg, mountaineers and hikers are affected by climate change in the mountains. Hikes become more difficult because of the detached stones. the melting of the glaciers: “We note that everything becomes extremely unstable,” adds the refuge manager. “Today, you have to be more careful if you want to hang on to a stone.”

The Piz Scerscen also continues to move. We regularly hear stones riding on the glacier, explains the cable goalkeeper. The WSL Institute for the study of snow. avalanches also writes that “so far, most of them, but not all of the potentially unstable rock mass, has collapsed”. There could be some again refuge guardian indulges: “when i at any time.

The hut itself is certainly outside this area of danger, but it is not safe from climate change. Behind the cabin, the ground moves and the water is more in motion. “In case of strong showers, the cellar is underwater,” explains Caroline Zimmermann.

Refuge guardian indulges: &quot. when i – Refuge guardian indulges: "when i

One in three cases hut is affected by climate change

Last year, the Swiss Alpine Club Case studied the impact of climate change on mountain huts. The conclusion: out of 152 huts of the case. more than a third could become unstable in the future due to the thaw of permafrost.

42 huts are also potentially threatened by landslides. The water supply will also become more difficult. hiking trails as well as the environment of the huts will be modified. In 2050. we will only see a glacier for 10% of 152 shelters, and for none refuge guardian indulges: “when i of them by the end of the century.

To meet these challenges. the case estimates that 5 million francs should be invested each year in climate change adaptation measures until 2040, or more than 100 million francs in total. “One day or another, the case will have to wonder which huts are still worth visited,” says Zimmermann.

Until then, one thing is certain for the cable guard: it continues. And try to adapt with the Tschiervahütte. It has set up double rooms in the hut to refuge guardian indulges: “when i attract customers who appreciate comfort -. thus find new sources of income. Behind the hut, it diverts water.

“The cabin is like my child,” she says, “I couldn’t imagine another”. She will not plan to stop until she will no longer want to. So far, this is not the case – discussions, meetings, proximity to people in the cabin contribute. “Here, people are open, it is much easier to start conversation.”

His favorite moment of the day is between 10. 11 hours, when breakfast is prepared, that the cabin is cleaned and everything is calm. She then settled on the terrace with her team and has a coffee.

“Life continues,” says Caroline Zimmermann. “And we have to see if we can get the most out of it.”

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