Dolomites Ice Retreat: 250 WWI Bombs Recovered

Hikers in eastern Trentino face a new hazard this year as retreating glaciers expose unexploded munitions from the First World War. The Italian army announced the recovery of 250 devices from high-altitude sites in the Dolomites, a direct result of accelerating ice loss in the region.

The Julia Alpine brigade reported that the sweep took place primarily in the Canal San Bovo area of the Primiero Valley. Soldiers defused 18 Italian 75mm artillery shells and 37 Thevetot mortar shells. The French-made Thevetot devices were supplied to the Italian royal army during the conflict, which historians refer to as the White War.

The conflict occurred between 1915 and 1918 in treacherous, cold terrain. For over a century, the ice preserved the weapons, but the heat of the 2026 summer caused them to emerge. Hikers reported several sightings before the military conducted its extensive sweep across the Trentino Alto Adige region.

Stefano Morosini, a professor at the University of Bergamo and coordinator of heritage projects at Stelvio National Park, linked the discovery to global heating. He stated that these dangerous artefacts have been conserved by ice for more than 100 years. According to Morosini, some had already exploded, but many had not, making them highly volatile upon re-emergence.

The military advises hikers and mountaineers to never touch any explosive device found at high altitude. They should report discoveries to police immediately. The rapid retreat of glaciers has made summer access to these peaks more dangerous, a trend visible to anyone visiting the area.

This event follows a pattern of discoveries since the 1990s, when global heating began revealing preserved relics. In 2015, a wooden barracks dug into a cave on Mount Scorluzzo reappeared after the ice sealed for almost a century completely melted. Soldiers had locked the shelter in November 1918, leaving behind straw beds, clothes, lanterns, newspapers, postcards, coins, and tinned food.

Dozens of corpses, some still in uniform, have emerged from melting ice over the past 15 years. In 2017, relatives of an Italian soldier buried him after documents revealing his identity were found on Presena glacier. The White War is thought to have claimed more than a million lives, with many deaths caused by avalanches, falls, or hypothermia.

Morosini noted that intense summer heat is making glacier access increasingly impossible due to long heatwaves at high altitude. A museum dedicated to the White War is scheduled to open in Bormio in June 2027 to house such relics. Eleven people died in 2022 when a large mass of the Marmolada glacier broke off.