Workshop I

This workshop of the IPA Action Group: Rock Glacier Inventories and Kinematics (RGIK) took place from 23 to 27 September 2019 in Evolène, Switzerland. The main focus of this workshop was the definition of standard guidelines for inventorying rock glaciers. Within this workshop, there was a combination of excursions to various types of rock glaciers and discussion sessions.

The workshop was sponsored by the International Permafrost Association (IPA), the Department of Geosciences at the University of Fribourg (UniFR), the Interdisciplinary Mountain Research Center (CIRM), the University of Lausanne (UniL), the Association Française du Périglaciaire (AFdP), the EDYTEM Lab, and CNRS/University of Savoie Mont-Blanc (through the POIA PermaRisk project co-funded by FEDER).

Archive

Program

Sunday 22 September

First arrivals since 12h00

19h30 Dinner

20h30 Welcome and introduction to Excursion I

Monday 23 September

07h30 – 14h30 Excursion I – Tsarmine rock glacier

16h30 – 19h00 Workshop opening session (at the Cinema room, Evolène main street)

Tuesday-Wednesday 24-25 September (main alternative 25-26 September)

07h15 (Tuesday) -> 17h00 (Wednesday) – Excursion II – Réchy/Becs-de-Bosson and Lona – Starting/arrival point (parking A Vieille) – (1^st group at 8h00 – 2^nd group at 9h00)

18h30 (Wednesday) Feedback on excursions I and II

19h30 (Wednesday) Dinner

Thursday 26 September (main alternative 24 September)

08h15 – 18h00 Discussion sessions (alternating common and working sessions in smaller groups)

Friday 27 September

08h15 – 12h00 Discussion session (alternating common and working sessions in smaller groups)

13h30 – 15h00 Workshop closing session (at the Cinema room, Evolène main street)

Excursions

The excursions aim to visit rock glaciers of various types.

Excursion I is a steep ascent of 800 m height difference (about 2.5 hours for the way up) to the front of the very active Tsarmine rock glacier and the coalescent Perroc landslide.

Excursion II will lead the participant towards a collection of relict to very active rock glaciers, for some of them having been in interaction with local glaciers during the Little Ice Age. We will visit in particular the Becs-de-Bosson, Tsavolire and Lona rock glaciers. Overnight at the Becs-de-Bosson alpine hut at 2985 m asl. Effective walking time of about 5-6 hours per day is to be expected.

Venue

Evolène is a small village in the heart of the Swiss Alps, which is accessible (Evolène, village) by public transportation (cff.ch) in about 3-4 hours from the airports of Zurich (Zürich Flughafen), Geneva (Genève-Aéroport), Basel (Basel EuroAirport) or Milano (Malpensa aeroporto).

Organisation Committee

Local Organization Team

Reynald Delaloye, University of Fribourg, Switzerland (chair of the Action Group)

Maria Winterberger, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Christophe Lambiel, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Thomas Echelard, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and University of Grenoble, France

Chloé Barboux, University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Scientific Committee

Reynald Delaloye, University of Fribourg, Switzerland (chair of the Action Group)

Xavier Bodin, University of Savoie Mont-Blanc, France

Francesco Brardinoni, University of Bologna, Italy

Christophe Lambiel, University of Lausanne, Switzerland