Stability screening of shelters and bivouacs above 2,800 meters begins

The Cai-Cnr study to mitigate the effects of climate change on high-altitude structures

MILAN - It is called 'Resalp - Resilience of Alpine structures' and it is a project that aims to carry out a survey never carried out before at an Alpine level:the study of the stability conditions of 18 refuges and 40 bivouacs at over 2,800 meters above sea level.It was started by the Research Institute for Hydrogeological Protection of the National Research Council and the Italian Alpine Club, supported by the Ministry of Tourism.The project aims to provide useful knowledge for mitigating the effects of climate change on structures located at high altitudes.Over the next two years, a screening work will be carried out, "unique of its kind at an Alpine level", explains the CAI, "an in-depth analysis of all the CAI's high-altitude structures aimed at identifying any evidence of stability problems of the buildings or works connected to them which may be linked to geo-hydrological instability phenomena“.

The surveys will be carried out by a team of expert professionals - geologists and mountain guides for activities involving high altitude bivouacs which require particular attention and technique in the reaching phase - who will make use of a model developed by the Cnr-Irpi to analyzes and to obtain uniform reporting by the various operators. Particular attention will be paid to processes attributable to the effects of climate change on the stability of permafrost:Resalp was born, in fact, from CAI's desire to map the territory in which there are structures whose stability could be at risk due to the reduction of permafrost (the perpetually frozen ground) caused by the increase in temperatures.

The screening, adds the CAI, will also have "an important return in methodological and scientific terms", because it will allow the collection of data "never acquired before" and can be used as a reference model for similar activities in other sectors of the Alps or in areas potentially affected by permafrost degradation processes.Furthermore, Resalp adds "an important piece to the historic scientific collaboration that links the National Research Council and the Italian Alpine Club aimed at improving knowledge of high altitude environments and ecosystems and the impact of climate change, a collaboration that was recently renewed thanks to an agreement signed between the CAI and the Mountain Working Group established within the Department of Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies of the CNR", concludes the CAI.