Ferpècle Glacier

Lateral moraines of the glacier decline in Ferpècle

The Ferpècle Glacier (French Glacier de Ferpècle ) is one of the glaciers in the southern end of the valley of the Val d' Hérens, southeast of Evolène in the Valais Alps. It has a length of slightly more than 6 km and covered in 1975 an area of 9.8 km ².

His starting point takes the Ferpècle glacier on the ridge between the Tête Blanche ( 3'710 m above sea level. M. ), through which runs the border between Italy and Switzerland, and the Dent Blanche to around 3,600 m. The relatively flat glacier ice field in the upper part is also called the Plateau d' Hérens. Over the Col d' Hérens ( 3'459 m asl. ) Is the Ferpècle glacier connected with the system of Zmuttgletschers; against the West, he hangs over the fissured hanging ridge north along the Tête Blanche with the parallel Mont- Miné Glacier. The glacier flows to the north, flanked by four-thousand- Dent Blanche in the east and from the Mont Miné ( 3'029 m above sea level. M. ) in the west. The glacier is currently at an altitude of around 2,100 m. Here arises the Borgne de Ferpècle which brings the melt water through the Val d' Hérens the Rhone.

During the high stage in the Little Ice Age in the mid-19th century, the tongues of Ferpècle and Mont- Miné Glacier united north of Mont Miné and flowed together still about one kilometer down the valley. Since then, however, both glaciers have declined sharply. In connection area at times a border lake dammed up, which broke out in the summer of 1952 and d' Hérens caused a flood damage in the Val.

Above the Ferpècle glacier on the slopes of the Dent Blanche led the Roman period often committed mule track from the Val d' Hérens into the Italian Valpelline along. Remains of this high alpine route ( in fissured hanging Col de Valpelline 3'562 m above sea level. M. ), which was expanded by the Romans to the military road, are in parts still remain.