MORTERATSCH, Switzerland — Almost 7,000 feet above sea level, the trail leading up to Morteratsch Glacier gets a little longer every year.

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Leo Hösli has made the climb many times. Each step sends shards of stone clattering downhill, debris once sealed beneath glacial ice.

Leo Hösli. Sara Monetta / NBC News

Several months ago, Hösli, who is doing doctoral research on Morteratsch, drilled seven stakes into the ice caves at the base of the glacier. By early August, he couldn’t get close enough to take measurements. The summer melt was so fierce that the caves had become too unstable to enter. Setting up a zoom lens, he found only one stake still in place.

“They’ve melted out or collapsed under these parts of the ice

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