From Chaos to Clarity

Chapter 9Visualising the Climate War

I stood motionless at the summit of Moosfluh, my heart thumping as I gazed down across the pristine ski piste. A decade ago, I would never have imagined myself here – at thirty‐something transplanted into Switzerland by chance and now about to attempt my first venture down this very slope.

‘Ready?’ Hans Peter said grinning in his deeply Swiss‐German accented English. His weathered face creasing into a knowing smile. At sixty‐something, he was a mountain sage who wore his years of experience like a badge of honour. No helmet for him – just a bandana, his silver hair peeking out at the sides.

‘Just … just taking it all in,’ I replied, my breath visible in the cold air.

‘Stop!’ he suddenly commanded, pointing his ski pole behind his head in the opposite direction. ‘Come with me. We go here first. I want to show you something.’

As we walked towards a nearby viewpoint, he spoke, his voice softening with memory. ‘Remember that big house earlier? That's where I grew up. My parents worked there. We were surrounded by all this beauty.’

Below revealed a huge, majestic glacier covered in winter snow, yet clearly visible.

‘The Aletsch,’ he continued, his tone changing. ‘When I was a boy, it reached almost two kilometres further down that valley. See!’ He fell silent for a moment. ‘People can argue about many things, but this …’ he gestured at the retreating ice ‘this I've seen with my own eyes. The world is changing, but we are not.’

The Aletsch Glacier, ...