The Morteratsch Glacier Trail

From the small station at Morteratsch a broad gravel path runs up the valley towards the glacier that comes down from Piz Bernina and Piz Palü. It is one of the easiest glacier walks in the Alps, level enough for a pushchair at the start and about an hour to the present snout. What makes it worth the time are the markers set beside the path, each giving the year when the ice front stood on that spot. You pass 1900 long before any ice is in sight, and the last stretch crosses bare rock and moraine that the glacier left within the lifetime of people now living. The walk is a plain physical record of retreat.

What you actually see

• The year markers - posts showing where the ice front stood in past decades.
• The snout - grey, gritty ice with meltwater running out from underneath it.
• Piz Bernina and Piz Palü - the peaks standing at the head of the valley.
• The moraine ground - raw rock and gravel uncovered only recently.

When to go

June to October, once the path is clear of snow. Early morning gives the peaks at the head of the valley before cloud forms, and lower meltwater at the snout. In winter the valley becomes a marked snowshoe and sledging route, though the final section over the moraine to the ice is not maintained then.

Honest expectations

The glacier has pulled back so far that the walk to the ice gets longer every few years, and the front itself is dirty grey rather than blue. The final section over moraine is loose and uneven, quite unlike the easy start. Do not step onto the ice or into meltwater caves, which collapse. The first half is busy with families.

Nearby

Pontresina and the Bernina pass line above, with St Moritz down the valley.