In summer the surface of the Aletsch Glacier melts into fast blue rivers that cut deep channels through the ice. French mountain athlete Claude-Alain Gailland and canyoning specialist Gilles Janin rode one of them on hydrospeed boards, head first, for about seven miles (11 km), and mountain photographer David Carlier followed them down.
Riverboarding down the Aletsch Glacier
Hydrospeed, also called riverboarding, is white-water swimming with a float. The rider lies on a rigid foam board shaped to protect the chest, holds two handles and steers with fins on the feet. On rivers in the French Alps it is a popular summer activity, usually run by commercial guides on well-known stretches of white water.
Gailland and Janin took the idea onto the ice. Wearing thick wetsuits and helmets, they dropped into a meltwater stream high on the glacier and followed it as it snaked across the surface. The descent took around five hours, and the pictures were published at the end of 2014.
Why glacier meltwater is so dangerous
A meltwater channel is close to 0 °C, narrow and smooth-walled, with few places to climb out. Carlier summed up the hazards in two parts. First, the riders had to scout the whole glacial river beforehand to check for big crevasses ahead and to find places where they could stop without being swept away by a current that can be very strong. Second, glacial lakes higher up on the ice can release without warning. That happened during the trip: in Carlier's words, suddenly a few hundred cubic metres of half-melted ice ran down the river at full speed.
Add hypothermia, crevasses and rockfall, and it is clear why this is a job for people with years of guiding and canyoning behind them. Explore the glacier with a certified mountain guide on foot; the meltwater rivers are best admired from the bank.
The Aletsch Glacier: the largest in the Alps
The Great Aletsch Glacier in the canton of Valais is the longest and largest glacier in the Alps, about 23 km long and covering roughly 82 km². Four tributary glaciers flowing off the Jungfrau and Mönch massif meet at Konkordiaplatz, where the ice is about 900 metres thick. Together with the surrounding peaks it forms the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site, listed by UNESCO in 2001.
The glacier is shrinking fast. It has retreated about 3.2 km since 1870 and lost more than 300 m of thickness, with a record retreat of over 100 m in 2006 alone. Glaciologists expect most of its ice to be gone by the end of the century, which makes the summer meltwater rivers seen in these photos a growing feature.
How to see the Aletsch Glacier
- Eggishorn and Bettmerhorn: cable cars from the car-free villages of Bettmeralp and Fiesch climb to viewpoints with a classic view down the length of the glacier.
- Riederalp and the Aletsch forest: trails lead through old stone-pine and larch forest above the glacier tongue, and a suspension bridge over the Massa gorge links the Riederalp side with Belalp.
- Jungfraujoch: the railway from Interlaken through Kleine Scheidegg reaches Europe's highest station at 3,454 m, looking straight down onto the upper glacier.
- Glacier hikes: guided walks onto the ice and the multi-day route to the Konkordia Hut run in summer, roughly June to September.
Related reading
- 15 Swiss Ski Resorts: Compare the Villages, Terrain and Connected Areas
- Oeschinensee: A Mountain-Lake Visit for the Right Season and Route
- Nine Climbers on the Jungfrau: A Mountain Turned into a Tiny Planet
- Solvay Hut on the Matterhorn: A Shelter Reserved for Emergencies
- Sphinx Observatory at Jungfraujoch: The Science Behind the Famous View
- Pilatus Cogwheel Railway: What a 48% Gradient Means and How the Train Climbs It
- The Ruth Glacier in Denali National Park
- Will Gadd’s Ice-Climbing Journey on Kilimanjaro
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