On 13 September 1850, the topographer and forest engineer Johann Coaz (1822-1918), together with the brothers Jon and Lorenz Ragut Tscharner, made the first ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest mountain in Graubünden. Four years later, Coaz published a description of the first ascent, in which the Morteratsch glacier takes a prominent role. However, from the current perspective of increasing glacier retreat, the text appears in a different light. This raises the fundamental question of how to read a historical description of glacier ice in times of climate heating.
In this context, my paper is interested in the portrayal of the fascinating “Eistrümmer” (fragmented formations of glacier ice; literally translated as ‘ice debris’) that the pioneers admire and overcome. However, during the descent, which partly takes place at night, these “Eistrümmer” appear to them in a different form: they had taken on “unheimliche, verschwebende Umrisse” (uncanny, floating contours). According to my argument, this reveals a double shift in perception of the glacier: first, the three alpinists are haunted by the idea that they will not make the descent over the crevassed glacier and that they will die. Here, the uncanniness of the “Eistrümmer” functions as the marker of the potential destruction of the human subject. Second, it means a shift in the perception of the contemporary reader itself: against the backdrop of drastic climate change, the reader realizes that the “Eistrümmer” today are not just mutating and taking on different forms due to the lack of daylight, but above all due to rising temperatures. Therefore, from a contemporary point of view, Coaz’ description of the “unheimliche Eistrümmer” announces the death of the glacier itself.
I propose to understand the shift in perception of the “Eistrümmer” with Wittgenstein as a “aspect change”. This means that, unlike the constant seeing of an aspect, according to Wittgenstein, the image could contain a second aspect that reveals itself through a “‘lighting up’ of an aspect”. Through such an aspect change, the “Eistrümmer” appear as “unheimlich” (Freud), premonishing the death of the alpinists anno 1850 resp. the death of the glacier today. Additionally, I rely on Walter Benjamins famous depiction of his ‘Angel of History’, in which “Trümmer” (debris) play a prominent role. For in contrast to humanity, for whom a historical look back into history merely reveals a chain of events, Benjamins ‘Angel of History’ perceives history as a single unfolding of catastrophes, accumulating incessantly “Trümmer auf Trümmer”, “debris on debris”. Therefore, “Trümmer” represents the trail of destruction left behind by Western ‘civilization’. Consequently, and with specific reference to Coaz’ description of the uncanny “Eistrümmer”, I understand those endangered creations of ice in the context of climate heating as “Trümmer von Eistrümmern”, “debris of ice debris”.
My paper analyzes Coaz’ description of the first ascent of Piz Bernina in general and the description of the “Eistrümmer” in particular in the context of climate heating. The conceptual framework of the ‘aspect change’ (Wittgenstein) - in conjunction with Freud’s connotation of the uncanny - invites us to reflect on shifts in perception. Using the concrete example of Coaz’ “Eistrümmer”, and following Benjamins ‘Angel of History’, an attempt will be made to retrieve these “Eistrümmer” from the hidden, concealed or even repressed (Freud) realm of a historical text and make them visible as what they are: ephemeral “Trümmer von Eistrümmern” whose future is that of cultural artefacts. In this sense, this work aims to raise awareness of the current drastic transformation of the Alpine habitat in general and disappearance of Alpine glacier ice in particular.
Quiz question
Welche menschliche Grunderfahrung im Zeitalter des Klimawandels wird in Johann Coaz' historischer Beschreibung des Morteratsch-Gletschers antizipiert?
Das Erhabene
Das Ungeheure
Das Unheimliche