France's largest glacier is sliding down due to global warming

A file picture of French president Emmanuel Macron looking at the Mer de Glace from the Montenvers railway station near Chamonix in February this year. The Mer de Glace is France’s biggest glacier. — Reuters

France's largest glacier once looked so mighty sliding down the granite slopes of the Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s tallest peak, that early explorers struggled to find the words to capture it.

“You must imagine your lake put in agitation by a strong wind, all frozen at once, ” wrote British adventurer William Windham, one of the first tourists to explore the glacier in 1741. “Perhaps even that would not produce the same appearance.”