SNOWS OF YESTERDAY

IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE our globe is warming, you might want to visit a retreating glacier or two.  Here's a view of the beautiful Zmutt valley, shown below in a classic panoramic photo from September 1997.

Earlier this week we were invited to a mountain picnic in the village of Stafelalp, high in the left wide of the Zmutt valley on the back side of the Matterhorn. 

Here's a view of the mountain taken from the small group of huts at Stafelalp on 31 July. As you can see, mountain huts tend to cluster together on the flat spots, and you'd better be on good terms with your neighbors!

A closer look at the mountain shows the lack of snow cover -- with bare rocks showing on the former ice climbing diagonals at both the left and right sides of the photo. Compare with the heavy snow cover in the September 1997 view. 

Looking to the glacier across the valley, we could watch the snow retreat, with multiple streams of water running merrily down across the rocks. As you can see, the ample snows of yesterday are vanishing.