Arriving in the darkness of night to Fafleralp Hotel made the 7am wake-up call the next morning an exciting one – we looked out of the windows to see the pink sky lighting up the sheer mountains that surrounded us. From wild swimming in the crystal-clear turquoise lakes (just a few degrees Celsius above freezing) to climbing and sampling barn roofs dating from the 14th century, we knew from the first day that this field trip would be a week to remember.
Having hiked around the glacial moraines and villages in the valley on the first day, we quickly came to appreciate the history of both geological time and human settlements that had passed on the paths we travelled. However, we also began to chat with Professor Ulf Büntgen about the risks he had taken to carry out dendrochronology work across the world; we learnt that he had spent one week in a Siberian prison where police officials simply could not believe he was not a spy and that he actually wanted to collect tree cores. The determination that he, along with Dr. Ian Willis, Dr. Alma Piermattei, Mr. Paul Krusic and the PhD students (Becky and Tom), put across to us in the name of scientific research has certainly made us appreciate the passion that is required to work in such extreme environments.
The next day, we began our two-and-a-half-hour hike to first set foot on the glacier. Immediately, Ian could notice significant retreat and formation of new ice caves along the glacier that he had walked on only a few years previously. Each step was precarious as we hiked over the fragile debris that covered the ice and potential crevasses of Loetschental. Once we found a relatively stable layer of debris on the glacier, we got to work setting up our weather station and drilling stake networks that would be used to take our measurements from for the next week. In certain places, steep ice cliffs and covered moulins led us to alter where we placed out stakes; however, we ensured that we placed them at regular points along our transects as best as possible. On return to the glacier by different groups each day, the stake heights were remeasured and one complete set of data for the roughness, albedo and debris thickness at each stake was taken on the first day. We also took thermistor readings at different levels within the debris, to record diurnal temperature cycles for different debris thicknesses, which could then later be compared to effects on net surface ablation rate at each stake.
Along with glaciology research, we took samples of vegetation along the valley from the glacial margin to our base at Hotel Fafleralp. Measurements included the height, latitude and longitude co-ordinates, date and species of each sample before a root collar or tree core was taken for further analysis in the lab. Following this, tree-core samples were collected from local villages by chain-sawing off felled wood (by Ulf), along with tree-coring from lived-in houses and centuries-old barns in Blatten village. The strength and perseverance it took to collect each core whilst being carefully balanced on old beams metres high inside and outside the barns made each core very precious as an absolute dating source of annually resolved climate patterns in the valley.
Each evening we would finish off the day by collating our data, before often running to the glacial lake at sunset for a quick dip or dive bomb into the beautiful water at the end of a long day of hiking. On the final afternoon, we had clear blue skies, and everyone jumped in together! We quickly warmed up in the sun and the panoramic views of the glacier and mountain peaks made it so worth the trips there! Our field trip experience was even more incredible than we could have imagined, and we cannot thank everyone enough for making it so inspiring and enjoyable.
Megan Cousins – Trinity Hall, 2nd Year Geography Student
DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF COMPASS MAGAZINE AS A WHOLE OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY.