Hong Kong Explorer Finds Glacier Melt Making Swiss Alps Fieldwork Riskier

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: explorer inspires youth through glacial field trips

When Wilson Cheung took Hong Kong secondary school students into the Swiss Alps this summer, parts of the terrain he had once been able to reach had become inaccessible. Glacier melt and thawing ground had destabilised parts of the mountain, while rockfall made the fieldwork more hazardous.

The changing landscape placed Cheung’s hands-on approach to field science in a more difficult setting. His unconventional path into glaciology has helped him mentor young people through direct experience in the field. The students’ trip exposed them to conditions that were not only scientifically significant but also physically altered by environmental change.

From the Swiss Alps to Greenland

Only weeks earlier, Cheung had completed a roughly 1,700km (1,056-mile) scientific snowkite traverse across Greenland in 2026. The journey took him across the ice sheet as he continued collecting data in one of the world’s most extreme environments.

His work connects measurements gathered during an expedition with changes visible on the ground. “We can see it in the measurements, but when we are actually there, we see the physical changes in front of you,” he said.

Source: South China Morning Post