Tourists walk along the edge of the Rhone Glacier in Switzerland. To the left of them can be seen huge sheets of fleece blankets used to cover an ice tunnel. The Rhone Glacier now melts more than 70 centimeters in thickness every week in the summer months. Between 1996 and 2006, an estimated 0.9 billion cubic metres of water melted yearly from the Swiss glaciers. That number is likely much higher today. Switzerland just had the hottest July since 1864, it has the lowest rainfall since 1921, and the rivers are running at record low levels. The covering of the glacier is the idea of Philipp Carlen, who owns and operates an ice cave at the mouth of the glacier. The glacier is still melting, but by covering it with blankets, he is able to attract tourists who are coming to see the dying glacier.