Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-401-2018
Research article
 | 
31 Jan 2018
Research article |  | 31 Jan 2018

Investigating cold based summit glaciers through direct access to the glacier base: a case study constraining the maximum age of Chli Titlis glacier, Switzerland

Pascal Bohleber, Helene Hoffmann, Johanna Kerch, Leo Sold, and Andrea Fischer

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Short summary
In this study we use an existing ice cave at Chli Titlis (3030 m, central Switzerland) to obtain direct access to ice at the glacier base. Using standard glaciological tools as well as the analysis of the isotopic and physical properties we demonstrate that stagnant cold ice conditions still exist fairly unchanged more than 25 years after a pioneering exploration. Our radiocarbon dating of the basal ice indicates that Chli Titlis has likely been ice-covered for about the last 5000 years.