The Swiss Rhône Glacier is getting dressed up in white blankets and for a good cause: to protect it from further melting as a result of global warming. /VCG Photo

Every spring for the past eight years, residents from the neighboring Obergoms area have trekked up the Swiss mountain to wrap thermal blankets around parts of the glacier and the ice grotto carved inside it. /VCG Photo

The protective method prevents some of the snow and ice from thawing in the summer sun that has already wreaked damage to the Rhône and other glaciers. /VCG Photo