Photo: © Matias Puebla
Pascal Egli, Cimalp team athlete, Swiss mountaineer, and glaciologist, is preparing to launch PEAK—an unprecedented citizen science project aimed at documenting the state of Himalayan glaciers with the help of local mountain guides. A field commitment combining his twin passions for high mountains and environmental research.
PEAK: bridging mountaineering and scientific research
The Himalayan ranges contain over 15,000 glaciers, yet fewer than 50 are regularly monitored by scientists. In the Ladakh region, only 4 out of 1,400 glaciers are currently tracked, leaving a vast knowledge gap regarding the evolution of these water reservoirs vital to local communities.
It is this gap that Pascal Egli aims to bridge with PEAK, a project led alongside Karuna Sah, a climate change practitioner from Uttarakhand, a mountainous region of India, now based in Ladakh and herself from a family of mountain guides. The concept: rely on the guides and mountaineers who already travel these routes year-round to collect straightforward field data, such as photos of measurement stakes, producing reliable indicators on snow accumulation and melt.
A method validated in the Alps before deployment in the Himalayas
Photo: © Matias Puebla
Before being tested at high altitude in the Himalayas, the method will first be calibrated in the Swiss Alps in partnership with GLAMOS, the benchmark network for Swiss glacier monitoring. Field measurements collected by guides will be compared with data from professional glaciologists to ensure the protocol's reliability prior to its rollout in Ladakh.
Once validated, the method will be deployed on heavily frequented mountain routes in Ladakh, including glaciers already monitored by Indian research institutes as well as previously undocumented ones. Local guides will be trained directly in the field alongside scientists, with the goal of sustaining this data collection well beyond the pilot project.
Pascal Egli: a life between summits and scientific research
Associate Professor of Geography at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway, Pascal Egli has also been a mountain athlete for over 26 years—competing in mountain running, mountaineering, and skiing above 7,000 metres, alongside working as an instructor for the Swiss Alpine Club. This dual background in field experience and scientific expertise is precisely what makes PEAK possible: designing a measurement protocol simple enough to be carried out by non-scientists without compromising data rigour.
A project that resonates deeply with Cimalp's values as an outdoor brand committed to supporting athletes who do not just climb mountains, but dedicate themselves to understanding and protecting them.
In the field: speed record on Kang Yatse 2
Photo: © Karuna Sah
On site in Ladakh for the acclimatisation phase of the PEAK project, Pascal Egli used his time at the base of Kang Yatse to set a fast time on its secondary peak, Kang Yatse 2 (6,250 m), a flagship route for trekkers in the region. The main summit remains closed year-round due to excessive snow cover.
Setting off at 5:15 am, he reached the summit in exactly two hours, including a five-minute break, taking an hour off the previous record set on this route. A performance achieved with a minimalist setup (crampon-compatible mountain boots, running pack, harness, and a single safety ice screw), made possible by ideal conditions and a summit reconnaissance carried out two days earlier.
Another opportunity to demonstrate that intimate terrain knowledge gained from such outings is precisely what enables Pascal, a trained glaciologist, to design reliable measurement protocols that guides can carry out themselves in the field for PEAK.
A supported project built for the future
PEAK already receives support from the Sustainable Mountain Alliance (Switzerland) and the Kilian Jornet Foundation, and could eventually serve as a blueprint for citizen glacier science across other ranges in Central Asia or the Andes. A concrete first step towards a better understanding of the state of the glaciers on the roof of the world, driven by those who traverse them every day.
This hands-on commitment reflects Cimalp's approach, putting respect for the mountains at the heart of its choices for over 60 years. We will follow Pascal Egli throughout his expedition and update this article as his field findings develop.
