Why is climate change triggering the collapse of Mont Blanc? The permafrost is melting! This “eternal” ice acts as a binder, a superglue, between the blocks of rock. When it melts, it no longer holds the blocks together: the mountains collapse. As the Alps warm twice as fast as the rest of the globe, its glaciers are melting. Consequence: a third of the mountaineering routes around Mont Blanc have become impassable.