Climate solutions

Plaine Morte glacier – the voyage within

Man stands at snow-free entry to glacier — The entry. The moulin is still free of snow. ©avocado360

Man at bottom of entry, after abseiling — After abseiling for about 50 metres, we hit snowy ground. Now we enter darkness. ©avocado360

Seen from below, a man abseils into the glacier — Abseiling into the moulin. In summertime, a waterfall thunders down here. ©avocado360

Man with headlamp peers into hole in glacier — Farther down, the snow almost prevents us from continuing. We need to do some digging. ©avocado360

Man in narrow icy space, peers down — Through a small hole, we finally reach a horizontal gallery. At the beginning, walking upright is still possible. ©avocado360

In narrow icy space, man with camera crawls on all fours — But soon, we have to revert to crawling on all fours on the ice. ©avocado360

Man in dark surroundings looks beyond, over shoulder of photographer taking picture — It’s pitch dark. It is a comfortable 0 degrees. Cave researcher Frédéric Bétrisey explores the way ahead. ©avocado360

Man crawls through narrow icy tunnel on all fours — The corridors are filled with a snow-water mix, which is still liquid in autumn. We crawl underneath it. ©avocado360

Base camp on the glacier. Photo taken at night with lights in tents. — Base camp on the glacier. It’s significantly colder here than inside the caves. Minus 25 degrees. ©avocado360

Men seen through hole in ice, sitting. — Strategy consulting in the kitchen igloo. Will we be able to find the drain? ©avocado360

Man walks across snow-covered channel in glacier — The gorge in the ice. This is where the lake basin drains and where the water has cut deeply into the ice. We assume the drain to be at the end, however, it is covered in snow. ©avocado360

Seen from below, man stands at edge of large hole in glacier — We find another hole in the gorge. Is this leading anywhere? ©avocado360

Man stands in opening to glacier. — Indeed – the snow that fell at the beginning of winter did not block the hole entirely. ©avocado360

Man climbs up a shaft in the glacier, seen from below — A dark shaft leads into darkness. ©avocado360

Daylight highlights a passage in the glacier — Suddenly, we see light coming in from above. We assume that we are inside a covered moulin. ©avocado360

A man in the background of the image shines his headlamp on water rushing through the passage — We have reached the water. We carefully move along the ice. Ice floes are swimming in the corridor. ©avocado360

A man seen from below clings to the ice wall, looking up at the icy ceiling — The faint source of light is above us. The ceiling does not seem to be solid. The corridors disappear in the water. ©avocado360

The four members of the team standing atop the glacier — The team. ©avocado360

This content was published on May 9, 2017 - 14:09

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