Bad news for all you ski bums out there. Summer glacier skiing has been called off [1] at the French resort of Alpe d'Huez - which, coincidentally, is French for "ratify Kyoto." The Alpe's Sarenne [2] glacier has become unstable due to melting - a particularly worrying development, since the glacier sits at a relatively "safe" altitude of 9,000 feet. (A 2003 United Nations report [3] on global warming [3] warned that rising snow lines would make most low-lying European resorts disappear in the coming decades.)

The glacier was open to summer snow enthusiasts - including the French national cross country team - for four weeks in 2005.

A team of environmental scientists is apparently on the case, trying to "help" the glacier. No word yet on what that help might consist of, but caretakers of some European glaciers have been experimenting with novel ways of inhibiting the mass melt: layering giant tarps [4] and fleece-lined blankets [5] over glaciers to block out the sun.