REMOTE WATER

AN explorATION OF the effects of climate change on the natural environment

MOUNTAIN REGIONS are experiencing the impacts of climate change more intensely. Landscapes and ecosystems that had previously adapted to colder conditions are now particularly vulnerable to the temperature rises and seasonal shifts we are now experiencing.

Each film depicts a journey that has been affected by climate change. Compared to the past, both journey’s are now markedly contrasting, but for very different reasons.

REMOTE WATER CONTENT

Waterline

Not since 1971 has the fisherman returned home to cook his catch.

Unprecedented drought conditions have lowered the level of Embalse de Búbalin to reveal the lost and forgotten hamlet of Pardina de l'Artosa.

Waterline was filmed on the shores of the Embalse de Búbalin in the Spanish Pyrenees.

Music by Alex Smalley.

Watershed

A mountaineer ascends a mountain in Switzerland, first climbed in 1858.

In the face of global warming and climate change, conditions in the mountains are becoming increasingly unstable and unpredictable.

Watershed was filmed on the Eiger in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland.

Music by Nick Franglen.

As if our lives depended on it

A group of fell runners play out a thrilling game that brings centuries-old manhunting adventures into the climate crisis era.

As if our lives depended on it was filmed on High Cup Nick in the Northern Pennines in the UK.

Music by Nick Franglen.

BACKGROUND TO Watershed

Hope on top of the World

In 1991 I climbed the Eiger as part of Edmund Drummond’s Climb for the World. We raised the United Nations flag on the summit promoting the environment and human rights. We even received Blue Peter badges for our efforts. At the time we observed the lack of snow and ice on the mountain. We put this down to local seasonal variations for that year.

I recently returned to the Alps and to the Eiger. The effects of global warming are now all too clear to see. Due to increasing glacier instability there is now a infrasound array at the Eigergletscher train station to monitor the hanging Eiger glacier high above. In May 2017 the infrasound array recorded a significant serac collapse. Approximately 8,800 - 10,100 m3 of ice detached and fell almost 600m vertically. This ice avalanche descended the Eiger’s West Flank following the same line of the original ascent route of the mountain in 1858. The powder cloud from the avalanche reached the buildings of the Eigergletscher train station next to the infrasound antenna and partly covered the infrasound array.

Of 100 classic listed mountaineering routes in the Mont Blanc massif: 36% have become more dangerous and difficult; 27% are no longer climbable in summer and 3% have already disappeared. The study was based on Gaston Rébuffat’s 1971 book The Mont Blanc Massif | The 100 Finest Routes.* This classic book offers a progression of increasingly difficult climbs within the Mont Blanc Massif. The book became my instruction manual on how to become an alpinist and enabled a retrospective evaluation of performance.

Of the 100 Finest Routes the most notable mountaineering route to date that has disappeared is the Bonatti Pillar on the West Face of the Petit Dru. In 2005 a 700m pillar of rock collapsed taking with it much of the classic route. A further significant rock fall occurred in 2011. The face has remained unstable since. Such events are increasingly common in the hottest months of the year, as the permafrost gluing the rock together melts, making the surface unstable. But unusually during January 2025 a massive rockfall occurred on the West Face of the Dru again.

*Article | Effects of climate change on high Alpine mountain environments

Article | 1991 BBC Blue Peter Climb for the World film