Glacier that was once a beloved skiing spot will disappear 'within days'

One of Slovenia's last glaciers is about to vanish for good. The Triglav Glacier, which once drew summer skiers and stood as a proud symbol of Slovenia's mountain heritage, has melted down to small scraps of ice. Scientists say those final pieces could disappear completely within days.

The glacier sits on the northeastern side of Mount Triglav, the tallest mountain in Slovenia at about 9,395 feet (2,864 meters). Mount Triglav is so important to Slovenia that it even appears on the country's flag. For many Slovenians, losing the glacier feels like losing a piece of their national identity.

At the end of the 1800s, the glacier covered more than 40 hectares — roughly the size of 56 football fields. By 1946, it had already shrunk to just 14 hectares. In recent years, it stopped working like a true glacier because no new ice was forming to replace what melted.

Researcher Miha Pavšek has been watching this glacier disappear for three decades. He works at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute in Slovenia. 'Everything indicates that the very last remnants of ice will literally disappear within these coming days,' he said. 'I've been monitoring it myself for 30 years,' Pavšek added. 'It seems that this major task, at least regarding the one under Triglav, is coming to an end this year.'

Climate change is the main reason the glacier is dying. Last winter brought less snow than usual, and that snow melted earlier than normal in the spring. This left the ice exposed to summer heat for a longer stretch of time than it could survive. Even the glacier's sheltered, shady location wasn't enough to save it.

The loss of glaciers doesn't just affect scenery — it can change water supplies too. Pavšek warned that shrinking glaciers in nearby Austria could reduce water flowing into the Drava and Mura rivers. These rivers are important sources of water for farming in parts of Slovenia. 'This will impact areas they irrigate, such as the Drava and Ptuj fields and parts of the Mura region,' he said.

Europe is warming faster than any other continent, and glaciers across the region are feeling the effects. In Switzerland, glaciers in the Alps lost 5.5 percent of their total ice volume this year alone. That is the second-biggest yearly drop ever recorded, caused by heat waves and low winter snowfall. Over the past five years, Switzerland's glaciers have lost nearly one-fifth of all their ice.

Scientists who track Swiss glaciers are alarmed by the pace of change. 'Alpine glaciers have no chance of surviving in the long term under such conditions,' said the GLAMOS Swiss glacier monitoring service and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Experts say that unless greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced, many more glaciers across Europe will follow the same path as Triglav.