Italian Olympic champion skier Federica Brignone released a video showing that the Plateau Rosa glacier on the Matterhorn has largely melted [1, 2].

The footage highlights the immediate impact of climate change on winter sports infrastructure. As glaciers disappear, traditional high-altitude training grounds and summer ski resorts are becoming unsustainable, threatening the preparation cycles of professional athletes and the viability of mountain tourism.

Brignone posted the video in August 2026 alongside her brother and coach, Davide Brignone [1, 2]. The footage follows her first seasonal training session on the glacier, where she found the ski runs nearly bare [1, 2]. The degradation of the ice has reached a point where summer skiing on the glacier has been halted due to safety and sustainability concerns [1, 2].

The situation at Plateau Rosa is part of a broader trend across the Italian Alps. Data from the Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA) confirms a cumulative mass loss across Italy's major glaciers [1, 2]. This accelerated melt has rendered the specific ski area on the Matterhorn, also known as Cervino, unsafe for use [1, 2].

The video serves as a visual alarm for the skiing community. While professional skiers often rely on these glaciers to maintain their form during the off-season, the lack of snow and ice creates a gap in training that cannot be easily filled by artificial means. The imagery captured by the Brignone siblings shows a landscape that no longer supports the sport it once hosted.

Reporting on the footage, OASport said that no comments are needed when the images themselves tell the scale of what is happening [2].

“Summer skiing on the glacier has been halted.”

The cessation of summer skiing on the Plateau Rosa glacier signifies a transition from long-term climate projections to immediate operational failure for Alpine resorts. Because professional skiers like Brignone utilize these glaciers for essential pre-season conditioning, the loss of reliable ice forces a shift in how elite athletes train and suggests that high-altitude summer skiing may soon become an impossibility in the Italian Alps.