A year after glacier collapse, Blatten residents rebuild lives in Swiss Alps

WILER, Switzerland — Hotel Momentum stands above Switzerland’s Loetschen Valley as a symbol of recovery, nearly a year after a collapsing glacier destroyed the village of Blatten.

Built in just 105 days near the neighboring town of Wiler, the wooden hotel has become one of the clearest signs of how displaced residents are rebuilding their lives after the disaster.

“The past is no longer, the future is not here yet, life is here and now,” reads a wooden sign at the reception in German — a message that has come to define the outlook of many who lost their homes.

From the hotel’s windows, guests can look across jagged ridges to where Blatten once stood — now a gray expanse of debris and a turquoise pool of meltwater, with the outlines of submerged houses still faintly visible beneath the surface.

A village lost to the mountain

The destruction followed days of warnings. Authorities evacuated more than 300 residents after rockfall destabilized the Birch glacier above the village. On May 28, 2025, a massive cascade of rock, soil, and ice tore down the mountainside in a cloud of dust, burying much of Blatten.

Experts have linked the collapse to climate change in the Alps. Thawing permafrost weakens rock that was once permanently frozen, raising difficult questions about how mountain communities can be safely rebuilt in increasingly unstable environments.

Despite the devastation, local authorities still plan to reconstruct Blatten by around 2030. In the meantime, residents have been forced to begin again elsewhere in the Lötschen Valley.

Starting over in Wiler

For hotel owner Lukas Kalbermatten, the disaster marked the end of a family legacy and the beginning of an uncertain future.

Kalbermatten lost the Hotel Edelweiss, which served both as his home and a business run by his family for three generations. After evacuating safely, he joined another displaced hotel owner to open Hotel Momentum as a temporary replacement.

Nearly a year later, Kalbermatten describes the experience as a process of grief.

“In the grieving process, there’s always that first time, isn’t there? For us, it was the first church service, then the kids’ first St. Nicholas Day that wasn’t spent at home, then the first Christmas,” Kalbermatten said. “And now this anniversary is coming up, and I think then we’ve made it once around, right?”

Welcoming guests again has brought mixed emotions.

“Now you’re welcoming them back in a different place and it’s difficult,” Kalbermatten said. “Some of them are very sad themselves, still almost in shock.”

Inside Hotel Momentum, subtle details reference Blatten — including throw blankets designed to resemble those from the lost village. The structure itself, however, is intentionally temporary. Stairwells remain partially unfinished, and the building is designed to stand for about five years before it can be dismantled and reused elsewhere.

Reconstruction will take time

Officials overseeing the rebuilding effort say progress is underway. A road to the former village site began reconstruction last month. If plans remain on schedule, residents whose homes were not destroyed could begin returning as early as this year. Broader milestones are expected to allow wider resettlement by 2029.

Manfred Ebener, construction project lead for the Blatten 2030 coordination group, said the goal is not only to rebuild, but to ensure the village can endure for future generations.

“Rebuilding Blatten will take time before the village can return to a size similar or the same as what it was before. We realize that some of us may not live to see that happen,” Ebener said.

Across the region, authorities are also monitoring other vulnerable alpine areas, including peaks near Kandersteg. Earlier this month, isolated rock break-offs from the Oeschinen glacier prompted precautionary road closures.

However, scientists caution that the Blatten disaster was highly unusual. Matthias Huss, head of the Swiss glacier monitoring network, told Swiss media outlet Swissinfo that the Birch glacier collapse was driven by an exceptional buildup of rock, and should not be viewed as a typical case for all alpine glaciers.

Living between past and future

For many residents, life remains suspended between what was lost and what may come next.

Daniel and Karin Ritler, who previously worked in sheep farming, glamping, and catering, were among those forced to rethink their future immediately after the evacuation. One month after the disaster, they began planning new business ventures in the valley.

They are now opening a new hotel in the Lötschen Valley, saying additional accommodation is needed not only for tourists, but also for displaced residents. Until April, the couple had still been living in temporary housing.

They have since moved into an apartment inside their new hotel, which is set to open later this year under the name “Zeitlos,” meaning “timeless.”

Although no official figures are available, Kalbermatten estimates that around 80% of Blatten’s former residents are still living in the valley. Children from the village continue to attend the same schools in Wiler.

While reconstruction plans move forward, uncertainty remains over the long-term stability of the mountainside and the future layout of the community.

“We’re not saying we will never go back to Blatten, and we also can’t say we will be back in Blatten at this or that time. That will have to unfold,” Daniel Ritler said.

For others, the decision is more certain.

“Personally, we will certainly go back. That’s not really up for debate for us,” Kalbermatten said.  

 

-Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier, Denis Balibouse and Cecile Mantovani;Editing by Ros Russell/Reuters