The very start of the route from near the hut. The debris from the recent rockfall (July 2003) can be seen as the smear of gray on the snow to the left.
...Researchers from the University of Zurich, (click here) who have been studying the mountain closely since 2007, say melting water is permeating exposed cracks and crevices on the 4,478m (14,690ft) mountain, which straddles the Swiss-Italian boarder. Subsequent cycles of freezing and thawing in these gaps are creating subtle movements under the rock surface, causing ever-widening fissures with the result that lumps of rock are falling off, the researchers say.
Their investigation, which relies on sophisticated monitoring devices situated on 17 key parts of the mountain, was prompted by a huge rock fall from the Hörnligrat part of the mountain in July 2003, when more than 50 climbers had to be airlifted off the mountain in the one of the big- gest rescue operations ever mounted in the Alps.
The disintegration of the Matterhorn, which the researchers warn is symbolic of the problems affecting the rest of the Alps, appears to have continued since, the Swiss research team's report in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
"There has been a big increase in the number of rock falls in the past decade that can't be explained simply by the fact that we're looking out for them more now," the lead researcher, Stephan Gruber, told The Independent.
His team's discovery of the key role that icy crevices play in the Matterhorn's decay suggests that global warming's deleterious effect on mountain ranges is greater than previously thought....
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH
VOL. 117
F01016
17 PP.
2012
doi:10.1029/2011JF001981
Kinematics of steep bedrock permafrost (click title to entry - thank you)
The mechanisms that control climate-dependent rockfall from permafrost mountain slopes are currently poorly understood. In this study, we present the results of an extensive rock slope monitoring campaign at the Matterhorn (Switzerland) with a wireless sensor network. A negative dependency of cleft expansion relative to temperature was observed at all clefts for the dominant part of the year....
