（ＣＮＮ） One evening in the summer of 2019, Alaska tourist guide Zach Sheldon saw a section of Valdez Glacier give way, sending a huge chunk of ice cascading into the lake below. The next morning, Mr. Sheldon led a group of tourists to the top of the glacier to see the site. However, the moment I looked down at the water, something caught my eye. Tourists were instructed not to move from their spots.
The bodies of the first two men were clinging to the canoe. A third body was found about 50 meters away. The three men were so close to the glacier’s edge that they became entangled in ice, snowmelt and debris as they tried to escape to safety.
The victims were identified as two Germans and one Austrian. Apparently, he was riding a boat on Lake Valdez when he approached the glacier because he was attracted by the blue color of the ice. Little did I know that the striking color was a sign that the glacier was about to collapse.
The three people who died are just a few of the many tourists who have died while visiting Alaska’s rapidly disappearing glaciers. The death toll may be relatively small, but each tragedy illustrates the dangers that lurk in a changing landscape.
Clouds floating over Byron Glacier in Chugach National Forest, Alaska, USA/Colin D. Young/Alamy
Glacier tours have been booming in recent years. For various reasons, an increasing number of people want to see glaciers before they disappear.
The market known as “last chance tourism” is growing, said Jackie Dawson, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa who studies the phenomenon.
The glacier has become the quintessential last-chance tourist destination. Many of the world’s glaciers are shrinking as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and warm the planet. Even with the best efforts to combat climate change, half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by 2100.
As glaciers melt, they become more accessible and more dangerous.
When ice melts, it moves more. Glaciers are becoming increasingly unstable, falling more rocks and sediment, and crevasses are accelerating.
In August, an American tourist was killed when an ice cave collapsed on the Breidamerkurjökul glacier in Iceland. The accident shook the country, which relies heavily on tourism. Summer ice cave tours have been canceled and the government is considering new safety regulations.
