Taking glacier drilling to it's limits

This video was taken during our hot water drilling campaign on a small glacier in the South face of Alphubel (Switzerland). Parts of the terrain are as steep as 30-40 degree, requiring us to build a platform in the snow and ice to secure the almost half a ton of drilling equipment.

Drilling at this location was certainly at the limit, not only regarding our own capabilities but also those of the Air Zermatt pilots who needed several attempts to place the material precisely inside the small step in the terrain which we've prepared, all of this at almost 4000 m above sea level.

The drilling campaign aims on investigating the englacial tempearture of selected very small glaciers across the Swiss Alps to identify potential polythermal type glaciers. Polythermal glaciers are often more prone to develop hazardous preconditions due to meltwater accumulation, which can trigger water pocket outbursts or glacier avalanches.