This was a consequence of the progressive climate change, said the Berchtesgaden National Park. The ice chapel was a cavity inside the Firneisfeld at a height of around 900 meters. Since the end of 2019, the formation has lost more than 575,000 cubic meters of Firneis, the statement said.
According to the national park administration, researchers had therefore predicted the disappearance of the ice chapel, but the experts were also surprised about the early date of the collapse. Acute, the collapse of the ice chapel means additional dangers for mountaineers: “We urge hikers to enter the remnants of the ice chapel, there is an acute risk of rockfall in the entire area of the ice chapel. The last, still standing ice sheet and the ice walls on the edge can collapse at any time,” said National Parkleiter Roland Baier. The approaches to the Watzmann-East wall are also affected by the collapse of the ice chapel.
It is open whether the ice chapel could form again at some point. At the end of the ice dug at the foot of the Watzmann east wall, winter precipitation masses would also collect in the form of avalanche snow and form a firneis field with a cave system, said Andreas Wolf, chairman of the association of German cave and karst researchers. “The future will show to what size and extent.”
