Eisgrotte Belvédère | 4k | Eisgrotte, Rhone Gletscher | Switzerland 2021 | exploring adventure

THE RHONE GLACIER AND ITS ICE GROTTO"
For more than 160 years the grottos in the Rhone-Glacier have allowed everybody to walk effortlessly into the glacier. There was already a natural grotto at the mouth of the glacier, at least by around 1830. Later, in order to provide the tourists with an attraction, grottos were dug into the glacier by the "Alpgeteilen" (coproprietor) of the "Gletschalpe", who regarded the glacier as their own property (still today it belongs to a public company, which was only taken over from private hands in 1984, by the Canton of Wallis). The running of these grottos was sold by auction amongst the Alpgeteilen every five years and the auction returns distributed by "Kuhrechten" (title to bring a certain number of cattle to the alp during summer time). Until approximately 1885 the grottos were dug on the right hand side of the creek of the glacier and from then onwards they were dug into the left hand side of the glacier front.
Before the turning of the century the lower grotto ceased to exist, as the glacier retreated. Since at least 1894 the grotto at Belvedere has been repeatedly cut into the glacier, an operation which requires a great deal of effort. In 1906, F. A. Forel (1841 - 1912, renowned naturalist and glaciologist, professor at the University of Lausanne) reported that the artificial grottos pass through the clearest ice and that he had hardly come across a piece of rock anywhere. "No other glacier I know of has got such a gorgeous, deep and strong blue as is to be found in the "Azur-grottos of the Rhone-Glacier or in the melted out caves under the glacier, in which I was able to crawl in perfect safety." Nowadays, the ice grotto is dug and operated by the Carlen family, as it has been for four generations.
Near the ice grotto the glacier moves by 30 - 40 m annually, that is about 10 cm a day. There can be 10 metres or more of snow in the car park and behind the hotel in spring.
Because of snowfalls the Furka pass is usually closed again towards the end of October. By this time the glacier has moved downhill by almost 20 m but has at the same time melted a great deal due to the heat of the summer months. If at the beginning of the season the ice-grotto was 100 m long, it is only 60 - 80 m long by October. The path to the glacier is particularly charming. A unique light shines and shimmers in a thousand ways through the transparent ice. After the first few steps into the glacier, the light changes and shines on the visitor with a blue hue. Small streams tumble out of distant cracks and the ice crunches under foot. The walls are cut into the smooth ice, which resembles crystal glass.
In its ablation zone the Rhone-Glacier is a temperate glacier, and so the ice there is at about 0° C. This is also the temperature in the ice-grotto in the early morning. On hot summer days, when many visitors admire the grotto and warm air has flowed into the grotto through various cracks and holes, this temperature can rise to 4 - 5° C.
The ice of the grotto is 200 - 300 years old, which can be estimated from the annual movement of the glacier. Thus, even the "eternal ice" of one of the biggest alpine glaciers in fact has only a relatively short life.
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[@user-tm9od8if8y]

A truly marvelous video which has helped me greatly in the planning of our 2025 holiday. Thanks very much. 👍

[@MK_Documentary]

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[@WanderTeam20]

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