Photographs of Triglav document a loss that is cultural as well as physical for Slovenia: the glacier’s last patch of ice is gone.
Here’s what to know
Images taken before and after snowfall show no ice remaining, according to The Guardian. By the end of summer 2026, the last surviving piece of the glacier’s main body spanned just several feet (a few meters).
Between 1983 and 2003, Triglav lost 93% of its surface area, leaving less than 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of ice.
During its final five years, the glacier broke into isolated pockets. That period included Europe’s three hottest years on record.
For Matija Zorn, who heads the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Mount Triglav’s importance is tied to how Slovenia sees itself: it “holds a central place in Slovenian national identity,” he said, per The Guardian.
For scientists, the ice was both a climate indicator and a data source, Zorn said.
More background
According to The Guardian, old photographs and historical records indicate that the glacier covered about 99 acres (40 hectares) in the mid-1800s. By the time scientists formally measured it in 1946, it occupied just 35 acres (14 hectares).
Its disappearance marks the loss of a landscape familiar to generations of Slovenians.
Triglav is Slovenia’s highest peak, and climbing it at least once is a cultural expectation in this country of skiers and mountaineers.
Glacier researchers in Switzerland found that almost 20% of Switzerland’s ice disappeared over five years, including a 5.5% loss in volume in 2026.
Western Europe’s hottest summer on record brought an estimated heat-related death toll of at least 50,000, along with failed harvests and power plant shutdowns.
In the Alps, carbon pollution has amplified the heat of the region’s devastating heatwaves.
What’s being done?
Scientists have tracked Triglav’s decline through measurements and ice analysis, documenting the changes as exposed rock replaced the glacier, according to The Guardian.
Zorn said he began measuring the ice in 2001. Over time, he watched the point where he needed crampons to climb recede farther back.
“The melting is incredible,” Zorn said. “In 2002 … we took a core of ice out for some geochemical analysis and it was like 5 metres [deep]. The next year, I was standing on the same spot … not on ice, but on rock.”
Researchers have also discovered ice in caves beneath Triglav, where the retreating glacier exposed new shafts.
Slovenia’s second glacier, on Skuta mountain, has become smaller and thinner. Its remaining ice benefits from better shade and is likely to last several more years.
Miha Pavšek, a mountain guide who also works as a glaciologist, has a family connection to Triglav’s glacier: His parents were photographed there in 1957.
“With the melting of the glacier, a part of me is also going away,” Pavšek said, according to The Guardian. “There are some things that humans thought were eternal. Glaciers are obviously not.”
Where can I learn more?
Triglav is far from the only glacier disappearing or becoming unstable, as these stories examine.
• Switzerland’s glaciers shrank 5.5% in 2026, leaving rock deserts where ice once stood.
• In Norway’s Svalbard, retreating glaciers are releasing ancient methane, opening a hidden feedback loop.
• Scientists say warming destabilized a Nepal glacier before a collapse that killed 1,300.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
