Friday, 23 October 2026
International edition · English
A wall of water more than 100 metres high swept through 60 kilometres of valley in seconds. Two months on, the UN's project services agency calls it one of the most destructive and deadliest climate-related disasters and urges rich countries to keep their promises.
Photo: Sharad Joshi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto were attempting the first ascent of Gangapurna West (7,140 m), next to the Annapurna massif. Their last contact was on 15 October. A helicopter and a drone made it possible to find them on the south face.
In May 2025 a huge flow of ice, rock and mud almost completely destroyed the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental. A preventive evacuation avoided a far greater tragedy. We look at what happened and why it is a warning for the whole of the Alps.
The permit for the south side rose from 11,000 to 15,000 dollars, climbers must carry down their own waste and experience requirements are being discussed. We review the measures trying to bring order to the world's most famous mountain.
International news with context and linked sources.
A journey on foot following a wolf, the life of a black bear, Alaska offline and the most spectacular bivouac huts in the Alps. Banff's book competition, one of the most prestigious in mountain literature, has its category winners.
The baby, a male, was born on 17 October to the female Ruzuzi. It is the Bageni family's fourth birth of the year and the park's seventeenth; Virunga is home to a quarter of the world's mountain gorillas.
The equatorial Pacific is much warmer than normal and forecast centres point to a very strong, perhaps historic, El Niño. We explain what it is, what is expected and what it could mean for the snow season.
Three Russian climbers are attempting one of Everest's hardest and least repeated routes this autumn. After two days of struggle above the Lho La, coughing, fatigue and harder terrain than expected have forced them back down to Base Camp.
At 78° north, Svalbard's main town is living Arctic warming first-hand: tap water unfit to drink, homes made uninhabitable by thawing permafrost, avalanches and tour guides changing their routes.
His best so far is 7,537 metres. This autumn he is acclimatising in the Annapurna region, wants to reach 8,000 m before winter and plans to start on Everest on 22 December. He puts his own chances at 20%.
Wildlife, plants and ecosystems
Freezing and coming back to life, living without haemoglobin in sub-zero water or surviving the vacuum of space. Eight animals that push the limits of what we think is possible, explained with what science really knows.
Marmota marmota
Did you know that marmots spend up to six months asleep underground?
IUCN LC Least concernGorilla beringei beringei
A new mountain gorilla is born in Virunga: 17 births in the park so far in 2026
IUCN EN Endangered
Canis lupus
The wolf loses protection in Europe: what changes, what does not and why it divides rural areas
IUCN LC Least concern
Lynx pardinus
The Iberian lynx passes 2,400 animals: the story of an exceptional recovery
IUCN VU VulnerableSummits, altitude and safety
Today is International Snow Leopard Day, created to protect the great cat of Asia's mountains. We look at how many are left, what threatens them and what works to protect them.
The Sierra Nevada de Mérida once had at least six glaciers. By 2024 the last one —Humboldt— had shrunk into a small ice field. Venezuela thus became the first country in modern times to lose all its glaciers.
Hiking and trekking
Fact sheets with distance, elevation gain, difficulty and precautions. Indicative data: always check before you go.
You do not need to be a mountaineer to walk beside glaciers, peer into a fjord or circle the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Ten routes any hiker with reasonable fitness and common sense can do.
Practical guides
Everything you need to head out safely: planning, packing, navigation, weather, wildlife and emergencies.
Curiosities
Short, surprising facts to learn something new in a few minutes: verified science about mountains and nature.
The word petrichor was coined in 1964 by two Australian scientists in the journal Nature.
The Alpine marmot hibernates for about six months, roughly from October to April.
Every snowflake is made of ice crystals, which are transparent.
Water's boiling point drops by roughly 1 °C for every 300 metres of altitude.
The Indian plate moves north by about 4–5 cm a year and collides with Asia.
The vast majority of land plants form partnerships with fungi in their roots, called mycorrhizae.
Our store · NMshop
Hiking footwear, jackets, backpacks, camping and climbing gear chosen for the mountains. Shipping worldwide.
NMshop is the outdoor gear store run by the publisher of Altavia.
Climbing, mountaineering, trail running
Running on trails is not road running with a different view: technique, pace and training all change. This is how to get into trail running without getting injured and enjoy it from day one.
6a, VII, 5.11d, V5... Every country and every type of climbing has its own difficulty system. We explain how they work, how they compare and why a grade is never an exact science.
A journey on foot following a wolf, the life of a black bear, Alaska offline and the most spectacular bivouac huts in the Alps. Banff's book competition, one of the most prestigious in mountain literature, has its category winners.
Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto were attempting the first ascent of Gangapurna West (7,140 m), next to the Annapurna massif. Their last contact was on 15 October. A helicopter and a drone made it possible to find them on the south face.
Climate, glaciers and biodiversity
We clearly separate news, analysis, explainers and guides.
The European Copernicus service ranked 2024 as the warmest year on record and the first to exceed the 1.5 °C threshold. Have we already broken the Paris Agreement? Not exactly. Here is why.
Buying guides
How to choose gear wisely. No made-up tests.
The mountains do not have to be expensive. We go through the options for kitting yourself out on a budget —big sports chains, online shops, sales, second-hand and rental— and the items where saving money can cost you dearly.
You do not need everything in the shop window to get started. We suggest three kits —minimal, comfortable and complete— with the buying order we recommend and what each item brings.
There is no such thing as the best mountain boot: there is the best one for your foot and the kind of routes you do. We explain what to look for, how to try them on and the most common buying mistakes.
A '-5 °C' bag can leave you shivering at 2 °C if you misread the label. We explain the European temperature standard, down versus synthetic, and why your mat matters as much as your bag.
Low-cut footwear
Light, flexible footwear with a moderate lug sole, designed for well-marked trails and day hikes.
Best for: Low and mid-mountain hiking in good weather
Pros
Cons
Mid-cut footwear
The most versatile middle ground: supports the ankle, keeps out mud and water and stays flexible enough for long days on foot.
Best for: Multi-day treks, varied terrain and medium loads
Pros
Cons
High-cut, stiff-soled footwear
Sturdy boot with a rigid or semi-rigid sole, crampon compatible, for technical terrain, snow and glaciers.
Best for: High mountains, snow, glaciers and alpine routes
Pros
Cons
Regions
Mountains, parks and nature on every continent, including Antarctica.
Some of nature's shows look like special effects, but they really happen and you can see them without scientific equipment. Ten phenomena, explained, with the best times and places to watch them.
More than a third of humanity cannot see the Milky Way from home. These are the places where the sky is still as it was centuries ago, and how to make the most of them even without a telescope.
It lives in twelve countries, roams huge territories above 3,000 metres and is so elusive that many researchers study it for years without seeing it. This is how the snow leopard survives.
Some landscapes that seem eternal today could look very different by the end of the century. We review ten places where scientists are already measuring profound changes, separating what has been observed from what is projected.
In summer, some snowfields in the Alps, the Pyrenees or the Arctic turn pink. It is not dust or pollution: it is microscopic algae with their own 'sunscreen'. And their colour has consequences.
It lives only in the canals of Xochimilco, in Mexico City, never loses its juvenile look and can regrow legs, tail and even parts of organs. While it thrives in labs and aquariums, in the wild it is on the brink of extinction.
Vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered... Behind each label are very specific scientific criteria. We explain how the world's most widely used tool for measuring extinction risk works.
There are only a few dozen of them, they live between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Bay of Biscay and since 2020 they have been interacting with the rudders of sailing boats. We review what is known —and what is not— about this unique population.
Polyester fibres above 8,000 metres, particles raining from the sky in remote Pyrenean valleys, plastic in Antarctic snow. The mountains are not safe from plastic, and part of the problem is what we wear.
Its velvety look is not decorative: it is armour against the radiation, cold and dryness of the high mountains. The natural and cultural history of the most famous flower in the Alps.
That pleasant smell of the first drops after dry days has had a scientific name since 1964. Behind it are plant oils, soil bacteria and a surprisingly sensitive human nose.
When the cold arrives, the Alpine marmot shuts itself in a burrow with its family and spends almost half the year in deep torpor. Its heart almost stops and it lives off the fat it built up in summer.
A snowflake is made of ice, and ice is transparent. So why is snow white and glaciers blue? The answer lies in how light bounces and is absorbed.
At sea level water boils at 100 °C, but not in the mountains. With less pressure, molecules escape sooner and water boils at a lower temperature. That is why pasta takes longer in a mountain hut.
Mountains seem eternal, but they move. India keeps pushing against Asia and the Himalaya gains a few millimetres every year, while ice, water and earthquakes shape it in the opposite direction.
Under your feet, in any forest, there are kilometres of fungal threads joined to tree roots. Thanks to them trees get water and nutrients, and some studies have detected exchanges between neighbouring trees.
A journey on foot following a wolf, the life of a black bear, Alaska offline and the most spectacular bivouac huts in the Alps. Banff's book competition, one of the most prestigious in mountain literature, has its category winners.
Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto were attempting the first ascent of Gangapurna West (7,140 m), next to the Annapurna massif. Their last contact was on 15 October. A helicopter and a drone made it possible to find them on the south face.
The baby, a male, was born on 17 October to the female Ruzuzi. It is the Bageni family's fourth birth of the year and the park's seventeenth; Virunga is home to a quarter of the world's mountain gorillas.
The equatorial Pacific is much warmer than normal and forecast centres point to a very strong, perhaps historic, El Niño. We explain what it is, what is expected and what it could mean for the snow season.
Three Russian climbers are attempting one of Everest's hardest and least repeated routes this autumn. After two days of struggle above the Lho La, coughing, fatigue and harder terrain than expected have forced them back down to Base Camp.
At 78° north, Svalbard's main town is living Arctic warming first-hand: tap water unfit to drink, homes made uninhabitable by thawing permafrost, avalanches and tour guides changing their routes.
His best so far is 7,537 metres. This autumn he is acclimatising in the Annapurna region, wants to reach 8,000 m before winter and plans to start on Everest on 22 December. He puts his own chances at 20%.
A wall of water more than 100 metres high swept through 60 kilometres of valley in seconds. Two months on, the UN's project services agency calls it one of the most destructive and deadliest climate-related disasters and urges rich countries to keep their promises.
Dressing for the mountains is not about fashion, but you do not need to look like you are in costume either. Six practical combinations by type of route and time of year, item by item, with ideas on where to buy them.
Little winter snow, heatwaves from May to September and the 0 °C isotherm above 4,000 metres for 76 days: the result is the second-worst year for Swiss glaciers since measurements began.
The mountains do not have to be expensive. We go through the options for kitting yourself out on a budget —big sports chains, online shops, sales, second-hand and rental— and the items where saving money can cost you dearly.
Today is International Snow Leopard Day, created to protect the great cat of Asia's mountains. We look at how many are left, what threatens them and what works to protect them.
You do not need everything in the shop window to get started. We suggest three kits —minimal, comfortable and complete— with the buying order we recommend and what each item brings.
Measurement campaigns by the Swiss glacier monitoring network document the biggest losses since records began. We explain what the numbers mean and why they matter beyond Switzerland.
In May 2025 a huge flow of ice, rock and mud almost completely destroyed the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental. A preventive evacuation avoided a far greater tragedy. We look at what happened and why it is a warning for the whole of the Alps.
The permit for the south side rose from 11,000 to 15,000 dollars, climbers must carry down their own waste and experience requirements are being discussed. We review the measures trying to bring order to the world's most famous mountain.
