Chapter 15 Ice Loss and Slope Stability in High-Mountain Regions Philip Deline 1 , Stephan Gruber 2 , Reynald Delaloye 3 , Luzia Fischer 4 , Marten Geertsema 5 , Marco Giardino 6 , Andreas Hasler 7 , Martin Kirkbride 8 , Michael Krautblatter 9 , Florence Magnin 1 , Samuel McColl 10 , Ludovic Ravanel 1 and Philippe Schoeneich 11 1 EDYTEM Lab, Universite´de Savoie, CNRS, Le Bourget-du-Lac Cedex, France, 2 Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, 3 Department of Geosciences, Geography, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland, 4 Norwegian Geological Survey, Trondheim, Norway, 5 Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, Prince George, BC, Canada, 6 GeoSitLab, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita`di Torino, Italy, 7 Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 8 Geography, School of the Environment, University of Dundee, United Kingdom, 9 Technische Universita¨t Mu¨nchen, Germany, 10 Physical Geography Group, Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, Australia, 11 Institut de Ge´ographie Alpine, Universite´de Grenoble, CNRS, Grenoble, France ABSTRACT The present time is one significant stage in the adjustment of mountain slopes to climate change, and specifically atmospheric warming. This review examines the state of un- derstanding of the responses of mid-latitude alpine landscapes to recent cryospheric change, and summarizes the variety and complexity of documented landscape re- sponses involving glaciers, moraines, rock and debris slopes, and rock glaciers. These indicate how a common general forcing translates into varied site-specific slope re- sponses according to material structures and properties, thermal and hydrological environments, process rates, and prior slope histories. Warming of permafrost in rock and debris slopes has demonstrably increased instability, manifest as rock glacier acceleration, rock falls, debris flows, and related phenomena. Changes in glacier geometry influence stress fields in rock and debris slopes, and some failures appear to be accelerating toward catastrophic failure. Several sites now require expensive monitoring and modeling to design effective risk-reduction strategies, especially where new lakes as multipliers of hazard potential form, and new activities and infrastructure are developed. Snow and Ice-Related Hazards, Risks, and Disasters. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394849-6.00015-9 Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 521