What if a widely underused Swiss resource could help temporarily protect certain glacier areas? This question lies at the heart of the project Keep It Wool, developed by Summit Foundation together with the University of Lausanne (UNIL).
Over the past two decades, 40% of the total mass of Swiss glaciers has disappeared, and around 1’000 small glaciers have already disappeared entirely. In response to this retreat, certain glacier areas are covered with geotextiles during the summer to slow local melting. By reflecting part of the solar radiation and limiting heat exchange, these covers help preserve more snow and ice.
However, their composition, mainly based on polyester or polypropylene, raises environmental concerns. Under the effects of wind, precipitation and wear, fibres can gradually detach. Meltwater may then carry them downstream, where these particles can enter the water cycle and potentially the food chain.
A local resource that remains largely underused
Against this backdrop, Summit Foundation chose to explore the potential of sheep wool as a biodegradable alternative to synthetic geotextiles.
In Switzerland, a large share of the wool produced currently has no market. As sheep are mainly raised for meat, milk or landscape maintenance, wool is often a low-value by-product: according to available estimates, up to 70% may therefore end up being incinerated or composted.
Yet wool is natural, renewable, biodegradable and insulating, making it an interesting local resource for new applications. The project therefore aims to determine whether it can help reduce the use of synthetic materials for certain temporary protection measures in high-mountain environments.
“We wanted to explore an alternative to the synthetic sheets used to temporarily protect certain glacier areas. Wool seemed particularly interesting to us: it is a local, natural resource that is currently largely undervalued, and we may be able to give it a new use while reducing reliance on synthetic materials.” – Laurent Thurnheer, Director and Founder of Summit Foundation
From idea to glacier
The project took shape in 2025 as part of the partnership between Summit Foundation and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research (CIRM) at the University of Lausanne. The topic was proposed as a supervised project to four students from the Master’s in Tourism and the Master’s in Geography – Mountain Territories and Environments: Maxime Galley, Elliot Gaffiot, Jose Bastidas and Léonard Duloube.
For several months, they worked with the foundation to turn the idea into an experiment: identifying a source of local wool, finding a partner able to manufacture the prototypes, selecting a test site, and bringing together the necessary scientific and technical expertise. This approach made it possible from the outset to confront academic research with environmental issues and field realities.
“ Keep It Wool enabled us to apply the knowledge acquired during our Master’s studies to a very concrete mountain challenge. Working with local stakeholders and moving from the idea to
experimentation, while discovering the potential of a local resource such as Swiss wool, gives our
training a particularly practical and interdisciplinary dimension.” – José Bastidas, Master’s
student in Geography – Mountain Territories and Environments at UNIL
200 m² of wool tested at Glacier 3000
On June 22, 2026, two prototypes manufactured by Fisolan AG were installed at Glacier 3000. With respective densities of 400 g/m² and 750 g/m², each covers an area of 100 m², for a total of 200 m² of material tested under real high-mountain conditions, compared with a conventional geotextile cover.
Studies conducted on geotextiles have shown that they can reduce melting by 50 to 70% beneath the cover1. Measurements are taken every two weeks to assess both the material’s durability and its ability to limit summer melting of snow and ice.
Initial observations show only limited differences between the two solutions tested. These preliminary results suggest that wool could represent an interesting alternative to synthetic geotextiles for certain applications related to glacier protection and snow farming.
A collective project rooted in the field
The experiment relies on a network of complementary partners. The Association Filature de l’Avançon (AFA) helped anchor the project in the wool sector, Fisolan AG manufactured the prototypes, and Glacier 3000 installed them on site. Mathias Huss and Mauro Fischer, from GLAMOS, contributed their scientific expertise to define the experimental setup and the measurements to be carried out in the field. The project also received support from Innosuisse’s Innovation Cheque.
The same resource-reuse approach extends to the installation itself: the prototypes are held in place using repurposed malt bags, modified in Vevey by a tailor, then filled with gravel to serve as ballast on the glacier.
Exploring an alternative, not a miracle solution
Keep It Wool is not intended, on its own, to provide an answer to glacier loss. The objective is more targeted: when temporary protection of snow or ice is necessary, can its environmental impact be reduced by favouring natural materials from local supply chains?
Today, geotextiles cover only around 0.02% of the surface area of Swiss glaciers and preserve roughly 300,000 m³ of snow per year, a very limited amount compared with nearly one billion m³ of ice lost each year. Extending this type of protection on a scale large enough to significantly influence glacier retreat would also entail estimated costs of more than USD 1.5 billion. Even on a large scale, this approach would not halt the gradual disappearance of glaciers due to global warming. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions therefore remains the main lever for limiting their long-term retreat.
By taking an idea born in an academic setting through to a full-scale field experiment, Summit Foundation and UNIL are opening up a practical avenue for rethinking certain materials used in mountain environments, with the ambition of combining innovation, scientific rigour and adaptation to field realities.