Colorado, with its dramatic mountain landscapes, deep winter snow and thriving ski industry, has been referred to as the 鈥淪witzerland of America.鈥� Gov. Jared Polis even once .
This week, the similarities were in more than just a name. A delegation of experts from Switzerland visited Boulder this week for a summit on melting snow and ice. Mountain guides, climate scientists, artists and policymakers shared notes on the impacts of climate change on high-mountain landscapes.
Those experts painted a fairly bleak picture as they described the role of warming trends in reshaping the snow and ice that define the Rockies and Alps.
Perhaps the most striking accounts of those changes came from mountain guides, who lead groups of climbers and adventurers on trips through the peaks. Angela Hawse, a Ridgway-based guide and vice president of the International Federation of Mountain Guides Association, shared videos of icefalls and rockfalls from around the world, showing how large pieces of mountains are falling apart as the ice and snow that holds them together disappears.
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Hawse and Switzerland-based Urs Wellauer, the association鈥檚 president, both expressed optimism in finding fixes to climate problems through collaboration. Hawse reflected on a trip the binational group took to Boulder County鈥檚 Brainard Lake as part of the conference.
鈥淚t really brought us together as a bunch of individuals that have different perspectives on life,鈥� she said, 鈥淭hat have different professions, that have different ways of looking at the mountains and ways of understanding how we can work together to communicate our experiences for that shared experience of moving forward.鈥�
Climate scientists from both countries presented data about a number of climate factors that are rapidly changing the behavior of high-altitude snow and ice. Temperature and precipitation patterns in the Rockies and Alps are changing, and the two regions share even more granular similarities.
Researchers explained how wind-blown dust in Colorado is landing on top of snow, making it darker, absorbing more radiation from the sun and melting faster. That phenomenon makes it harder to capture and share water from the Colorado River, which is used by 40 million people across the Southwest.
In Switzerland, Saharan dust blown across the Mediterranean is in the quickening melting of glaciers. The nation鈥檚 glaciers lost 10% of their total volume in 2022 and 2023, the same amount that melted in the three decades between 1960 and 1990.
Emily Zmak, a deputy chief at the Colorado Water Conservation Board who focuses on interstate water policies, remarked at the many similarities between the challenges facing both Colorado and Switzerland, and the potential solutions.
鈥淭here's also a sense of optimism,鈥� Zmak said. 鈥淲e haven't lost all of our snowpack, we still have time to adapt and be smart, to build community resilience to build resilience at a state or federal government level.鈥�
Ambassador Balz Abplanalp, the Swiss representative for the Western U.S., organized the conference and said international collaboration will be a key part of global climate change solutions going forward.
鈥淲e can learn from experts from another domain,鈥� he said, 鈥淗ow they tackle the issue in order to be inspired. This is 360 degree inspiration that we can generate.鈥�
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
