Editorial project · Inventory no. 1 · St. Moritz

Global Boiling

How long will we have the festival at the pace of global boiling?

A climate, historical and cultural inventory of the rituals that depend on the cold. We begin with a lake that has been recorded for 195 years.

Each stripe is one year, from 1832 to 2026. Blue: the ice stayed longer than average. Red: it left earlier.

The lake is the archive.

Since 1832, people have recorded the day Lake St. Moritz becomes free of ice.¹² In the first 30 years of the series, this happened on average on May 19. In the last 30, on April 30: 19 days earlier.

Each dot is one year. The line is the average of the previous 30 years. ICONS calculation, from dates published by the Engadiner Post.¹

The ice lasted into June three times, the last in 1879. Since 1980, it has never again lasted until May 20.

A caveat: the April melt does not measure the January ice, and the tournament depends on January. One year alone also proves nothing: after the 2017 record, 2019 went back to May 11. Part of the trend comes from shifts around 1857 and 1932, and the series also responds to volcanic activity.²

Inventory.

1832
Climate
The record begins.
Someone starts writing down the day the lake loses its ice. The series runs to this day without a break.¹²
1836
Climate
The ice stays until June 8.
In 1836 and in 1837. These are the latest dates in the whole series.¹
1864
Culture
A bet invents winter.
A hotelier’s bet starts winter tourism in St. Moritz. Cold becomes a commodity.³
1899
Tournament
English soldiers open a field.
They play polo and build the Polowiese, one of the first grounds on the continent. They leave, and polo stops for decades.⁴
1907
Culture
Horses on the lake.
On January 27, the first race on the ice. The lake becomes a stage.⁴
1928
Climate
The Games and the heat.
At the Winter Olympics, most events take place in unseasonably high temperatures.⁵ The 10,000 metres in speed skating is abandoned: the ice melted.⁶
Spectators waiting for the skiers, February 1928. Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-05452 / CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Ice stadium, February 1928. Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-05457 / CC-BY-SA 3.0.
1984
Tournament
The lake for sale, by the square metre.
To pay for the premiere, Cartier signs the first sponsorship and friends sell shares at 100 francs per square metre of frozen lake. The share expires when the snow melts.⁴
1985
Tournament
A metre of snow at the premiere.
On January 25 and 26, snow from the night before almost cancels the tournament. Eighteen snowblowers clear a field of 80 by 40 metres. A thousand spectators on Saturday. That year, the ice lasted until May 18.¹⁴
2012
Climate
No ice to hold it.
The 28th edition is cancelled: the mild winter prevents a thick, stable layer.⁷
2016
Culture
White Turf stops.
The races are cancelled for the first time since 1986. The ice held. It was the snow that did not pack down.⁸
2017
Climate
April 11.
The earliest melt in 186 years of records.¹
2021
Tournament
An absence the climate did not cause.
The edition is postponed because of the pandemic.⁹ An inventory also records what proves nothing.
2023
Culture
The era changes its name.
“The era of global boiling has arrived,” says the UN Secretary-General.¹⁰
2026
Tournament
25,000 people on the water.
The tournament draws more than 25,000 visitors.¹¹ Three months later, on April 24, the lake is a lake again.¹

How long?

We have no date, and we distrust anyone who does. A simple model applied to this lake estimates that, with about 1.6 °C of warming, it would freeze some 11 days later and have about 30% less ice after 90 days. The authors themselves call this a rough estimate.¹²

“for present and future generations.”

Article 225 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. In 2022, in ADPF 708, the Federal Supreme Court treated the Paris Agreement as a human rights treaty.¹³

Pass it on.

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Global Boiling

The lake is the archive.

Inventory.

The record begins.

The ice stays until June 8.

A bet invents winter.

English soldiers open a field.

Horses on the lake.

The Games and the heat.

The lake for sale, by the square metre.

A metre of snow at the premiere.

No ice to hold it.

White Turf stops.

April 11.

An absence the climate did not cause.

The era changes its name.

25,000 people on the water.

How long?

Pass it on.

Sources