Blaueis

47.57353055555612.865625Koordinaten: 47 ° 34 ' 25 " N, 12 ° 51' 56" E

The blue ice is the northernmost glacier in the Alps and is situated in the area of ​​Ramsau in the Bavarian part of the Berchtesgaden Alps. The glacier is situated on the north side exposed in the upper Blaueiskar, nestled between the walls of Blaueisspitze ( 2480m ), high ( 2607 m) and small Cold ( 2513 m), which stand around the horseshoe-shaped glacier.

Glacier shrinkage

Because of its relatively low altitude the blue ice is particularly affected by the decline of the Alpine glaciers. Since the mid- 1980s rocks are free of snow in the middle of blue ice increasingly have the upper part of the glacier is now completely from the lower Toteisfeld, the former glacier tongue, separated. In this case, the decline in ice mass in the lower box designed especially strong because this is not receiving supplies from the higher glacier area due to the separation. Both ice fields together reasonably 2009, only 7.5 ha, in 1820, the blue ice was still around 25 hectares. The determined with GPR thickness of the ice was in 2007 ( only ) up to 13 meters, the average ice thickness less than four meters; the volume is specified with approximately 400,000 m³. Thus the Resteismenge is smaller than the mass loss in the last decade of the 20th century. [Note 1]

Tour options

Base for ascents of the glacier is the 1680 m high in Blaueiskar located below the glacier Blaueishütte, which can be reached from Ramsau or Hintersee in just over three hours of walking.

About the in its upper part up to 55 ° steep glaciers, an increase of Blaueisscharte ( 2,400 m ), of which one in easy climbing ( UIAA difficulty II) may rise to hochkalter summit. This route was first the Ramsauer mountain guide, Johann Grill ( called Kederbacher ) 1874 committed with E. Richter. Cheapest time of year is usually the second half of June, when there is still snow cover facilitates the rise and often still snow bridges allow an easy crossing the crevasse below the saddle. In late summer and autumn, the gap is wide and often difficult to pass. At this season were in the past by the outcropping of bare ice partly fatal crashes recorded.

A popular climbing route is the so -called " Blaueisumrahmung ". It leads without touching the glacier Blaueishütte about Schärtenspitze, Blaueisspitze, hochkalter, Small Cold and Rotpalfen back to the starting point. The main difficulties lie in overcoming the Blaueisnordgrats, a climb in Class IV of the UIAA scale.

Blaueisgletscher (April 2007)

Blaueisgletscher with Blaueisscharte and Blaueisspitze and watzmann in the background ( April 2007)

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