Scientific Opportunities and Environmental Impacts Related to Ski Run Construction, Zermatt, Swiss Alps

• Main Authors: Oliver Wild, Isabelle Roer, Stephan Gruber, Barbara May, Dietmar Wagenbach
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.580.9579; http://www.geo.unizh.ch/~stgruber/pubs/wild_2008-nicopex.pdf

The building of ski runs and their associated installations are likely to influence the alpine environment and the permafrost present at many of those sites. Therefore, it is important to have a good understanding of the impacts of this construction. As it is impossible to restore the normal environment once the work is finished, the present state should be documented, and information about how the formation of the area and its periglacial landforms took place in the past (e.g., with ice samples) should be gained. During the years after the construction, further research must be conducted to evaluate the degree of change. The research within this article contributes to this knowledge, and preliminary results are presented. Study Site During construction for a new ski run at the Gornergrat (Zermatt, Swiss Alps), diverse exposures of ground-ice were created. The site (3135 m a.s.l) is located in the southern Swiss Alps and is part of the Matter Valley. The Zermatt region has a continental climate with 610 mm annual precipitation (MeteoSwiss 30-year average 1961–1990) and strong direct solar radiation. Located on the northern slopes of the east–west running crest between Gornergrat and Hohtälli (3286 m a.s.l.) is the area called “Kelle ” (Fig. 1). Here, the ski run is constructed within the discontinous permafrost zone, which can be expected between 2600 and 3500 m a.s.l., according to King (1996). Regarding permafrost distribution, measurements of the ground surface temperature (GST) and the basal temperature of the snow (BTS), as well as permafrost models have contributed to knowledge about this area (Gruber 2000