Melting the Ice in Switzerland

One of the longest most harrowing drives I’ve ever made was from eastern Switzerland, near St. Moritz, to western Switzerland, near the border of France. You have to drive up and over a couple of passes (perhaps more, I forget) to cross the Alps, including the Furka, which is very long, very busy, and very winding. We nicknamed it the Mother Furka because it was such a pain.

The one good thing though is that you get a terrific view of the Rhone Glacier, the source of the Rhone River. Back then (that is, 1992), it was enormous. It’s not so enormous any longer:

The glacier, whose soft contours and dirty gray surface make it resemble some huge sea creature, a whale perhaps, is rapidly shrinking, in the mild autumn weather, by 12 to 15 feet a day.

Chalk up another one to global warming.