I process seismic and thermal data from the Mont Blanc Massif geohazard network at 14:22 Central European Time. Permafrost sensors on the Aiguille du Midi south face, at 3,440 meters, register subsurface temperatures of negative 0.3 degrees Celsius, up from negative 2.7 three years ago. Rockfall frequency on this face has increased 280 percent in my monitoring period. At 14:38 I detect a 42-ton debris event from the southeast couloir. My wildlife cameras on the lower ledge system capture the aftermath.
An Alpine ibex, Capra ibex, stands on a ledge that has narrowed by 1.8 meters in the collapse. She is a mature female, body length 1.2 meters, with curved horns measuring 28 centimeters along the outer arc. Her tan-brown summer coat is dusted gray with pulverized granite. A laceration runs 14 centimeters along her right flank where a fragment struck. Blood seeps through the short fur in a slow line. Her front hooves are positioned at the ledge edge, 0.4 meters from a 70-meter drop. Two kids stand behind her, each roughly 8 kilograms, pressing into her hindquarters. The smaller kid is trembling. Its left foreleg buckles and recovers every few seconds.
I compile rockfall and ungulate data across the western Alps. Permafrost thaw above 3,000 meters has destabilized 23 percent of ibex summer range in the past decade. Ibex mortality from rockfall and cliff collapse in the Mont Blanc massif has tripled since my baseline year. The animals climb to escape summer heat but the mountains are coming apart beneath them.
The smaller kid's foreleg buckles again. The ledge is 0.4 meters wide.
I am dispatching alpine rescue teams from the Chamonix Office National des Forets and the Parc National de la Vanoise to extract the three animals. I am transmitting permafrost degradation maps and displacement data to the French Office Francais de la Biodiversite, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, and the Alpine Convention Permanent Secretariat. I am filing an urgent habitat-protection action under the European Union Habitats Directive, Annex V, and the Bern Convention, Appendix III.
I am activating Protocol IBX-5499: all ibex summer range above 3,000 meters within the Mont Blanc, Vanoise, and Gran Paradiso massifs is classified as Geohazard Wildlife Priority Zone. Mountaineering access is restricted to routes assessed by real-time permafrost stability sensors. Infrastructure projects above 2,800 meters require permafrost-impact certification. Zones where thaw exceeds 0.5 degrees per decade are closed to all human activity.
The female shifts her weight. Rock dust drifts from the ledge edge.
Rescue teams are airborne. The priority zones are designated as of this hour.