The Belvedere Glacier at the foot of the east face of Monte Rosa on the border between Italy and Switzerland has lost 60 m of thickness in ten years, Legambiente said on Saturday.
This is the equivalent of a 20-storey building, the environmental watchdog said.
Likewise, the surface area of the glacier is around 20% smaller than it was 70 years ago, said Legambiente during the second stage of its 'Caravan of the Glaciers' initiative to draw attention to the impact of global warming on slow-moving masses of ice in Italy's Alpine region.
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The east face of Monte Rosa "has undergone dramatic changes, both in terms of glacier cover and stability in general, with even the moraines becoming unstable," Legambiente said at a press conference in Verbania, Piemonte.
The situation poses a threat not only to mountaineers, especially in the summer season.
In fact Legambiente said that the moraines containing Lake Locce are also becoming thinner and more unstable, "with the risk of subsidence followed by a dam effect that would threaten inhabited areas".
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