How long will these giants of the Alps be around?
The festive season is over, and 2025 has begun. With the turn of the year often comes a look back at defining past moments. That’s precisely what I did: while browsing through our past projects, I came across an impressive piece of work from 2016—one of our first major 360° video productions about the majestic Aletsch Glacier.
This video was a technical gamble and a creative masterpiece at the time. We built a special camera rig with six GoPro4 cameras for SWISS to create breathtaking 360° panorama images. We climbed into a helicopter and flew over the eternal ice from the beginning of the glacier to the world-famous Jungfraujoch and beyond. At the end of the video, we even see the Eiger North Wand; just look back!
The Aletsch Glacier is melting: historical VR images in focus
Looking back, one could say that these photos already represent a documentary treasure, as the glacier has dramatically lost mass since then. Since 1877, the Aletsch Glacier has lost over 200 metres in thickness—and the trend is still falling. From 2016 to 2024, this worrying trend is exacerbated by successive heat records.
When you watch the video, you will be surrounded by nature’s majesty. You can also discover details about history: In the centre of the video, on the right of a rocky outcrop, lies the famous Konkordia Hut.
When the hut was built in 1877, the Aletsch Glacier was still right on the doorstep. Today, visitors have to climb over 200 metres in altitude to get from the glacier to the hut. The retreat of the ice is impressively visible here – and a warning symbol of the rapid global climate change.
The pioneering spirit of avocado360
The technical realisation of this recording was a great success. Despite challenging conditions, we prioritised the highest quality in 2016. The result: one of the first 360° videos in razor-sharp 6K resolution that is still inspiring today—almost a decade later.
👉 Watch the (historic) VR video from 2016 and fly virtually over the largest glacier in the Alps.
Immerse yourself in a journey through time and experience what we must preserve
before it’s too late.
