diff --git a/spack-environment/Makefile b/spack-environment/Makefile
index a69c3a038b65ffddf4a5ac094fa758318418f181..0ce2ee2c35e0745aa8f70f6aafb8e95ab10ab44c 100644
--- a/spack-environment/Makefile
+++ b/spack-environment/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 MAKEFLAGS += -Orecurse
 
-SPACK ?= spack
+SPACK ?= spack --backtrace
 SPACK_INSTALL_FLAGS += --no-check-signature --show-log-on-error
 
 export SPACK_COLOR = always