(Photo: Courtesy of Arnaud Tamme)Professor Arnaud Temme studied the link between climate change and rockfalls in the Swiss Alps.
The guidebook Arnaud Temme and his friends used on a 2011 climb in the Swiss Alps didn’t mention any dangers on the route. But the group struggled through loose and falling rock, including one that landed on Temme’s helmet. He wasn’t hurt, but back at his lodging that night, he looked at a newer guidebook that warned of rockfalls on the trail.
After three years of research, Temme concluded that climate change poses increasing dangers for mountain climbers in the area of the Swiss Alps that he studied. Because many of the same climate effects occur in Colorado, he says, it’s likely that rockfalls are increasing here, too.
Temme recently spoke to Outside magazine about his findings. He also spoke with Colorado Matters host Andrea Dukakis.