Mountain Life Rebuilt After Glacier Collapse

A wooden hotel, finished in just 105 days, now stands in the Loetschen Valley as a sign that people are trying to move forward after their village was swallowed by ice and rock. The building, called Hotel Momentum, was opened a year after the Birch glacier slid down and buried most of Blatten. The sign at its entrance says, “The past is gone, the future is not yet here, life is now, ” a phrase that many survivors have adopted. From the windows of Momentum guests can see where Blatten once was. The village is now a gray pile of rubble and a blue pool of water, with the tips of buried houses still visible. The disaster happened after officials had warned that the glacier above was unstable, and they evacuated more than 300 residents. When a huge avalanche of rock, soil and ice hit on May 28, 2025, it left little trace of the former community. Scientists say that melting permafrost in the Alps is making mountains more vulnerable, but experts disagree about how likely another event will happen. Plans are in place to rebuild Blatten by 2030, but for now former residents like hotel owner Lukas Kalbermatten are starting new businesses. He lost his family home and a three‑generation business called Hotel Edelweiss, but he teamed up with another former owner to open Momentum.Kalbermatten compares the loss of Blatten to grief. He says that people remember the first church service, the first holiday without home and the first Christmas after the disaster. “We’ve come a long way, but it’s still hard to welcome people back in a new place, ” he says. Inside Momentum there are small touches that remind guests of Blatten, such as blankets made to look like those from the old village. The building itself is temporary: unfinished walls and a design that can be taken apart after five years. The road to Blatten was rebuilt last month and, if everything goes well, people who could not lose their homes may return this year. By 2029, a larger group should be able to come back. The lead of the reconstruction project says that restoring Blatten will take time and that not everyone may see it finished. The area around Kandersteg is being watched closely because of the risk of more rock falls. One couple, Daniel and Karin Ritler, had to change their lives after the avalanche. They used to farm sheep, run a glamping site and do catering. A month after the disaster they began planning a new hotel in the valley, called Zeitlos, or “timeless. ” They now live in an apartment that will be part of the hotel opening later this year. About 80 % of former Blatten residents still live in the valley and their children go to school in Wiler. While the plans for rebuilding continue, people can no longer assume that the mountains will stay stable. The future of Blatten remains uncertain, but many say they are determined to return.