6. The avalanche bells

"Bachtälla" and "Blötza" are the names of two of the most feared avalanches in the Lötschental. They have a common point of origin on a smooth slab of rock on the Tennbachhorn and split into two arms above the Weissenriedban (Bannwald), thundering down into the valley past the villages of Weissenried and Ried to the right and left. A wedge of wall above the Bannwald, known as the Long Wall, distributes the snow masses. Without this wall protection, both villages would have been lost long ago.

Once, at the height of winter, two hunters from Weissenried came up to the Long Wall on snowshoes. They were shocked to see a "Lauwitier" piling up snow in the avalanche slab. A wild man - it could only be the evil one - was helping him.

Suddenly the avalanche started, the goat was harnessed and the wild man sat on the snow like a carter. The people in the valley must have sensed the danger. Suddenly the bells of Ried and Weissenried began to ring. The hunters could still hear the carter shouting to the buck: "Gschwind rit! Gschwind rit! Leits uf bedi Riädli!" The buck responded gruffly: "Don't like it; don't like it; the hunters sing a different tune". As always, the avalanche parted at the long wall and the villages were spared.

The Goori says: "Sometimes it's worth making a big deal out of something...