Blatten
Blatten. Deeply Rooted – Reimagined.
What are the excavators doing there? Why is there a temporary road? What will the new village look like? When will the residents be able to return?
Blatten. Deeply Rooted—Reimagined. Under this title, the residents of Blatten have articulated their thoughts, wishes, and expectations to the planners of the new village. The resulting white paper helps us work toward our goal together, in a focused manner, and with combined efforts: a new Blatten that meets the needs of its people.
But what has already been implemented? What changes are currently underway? And where do we stand today?
To help you understand the journey the residents of Blatten have taken on their way back to their hometown, you’ll find brief, up-to-date information here on various aspects of life that have changed fundamentally since the landslide on May 28, 2025.
The information focuses on the essentials and is updated regularly. It does not claim to be exhaustive, but is intended to help you better understand the many challenges and developments.
We invite you to join us on this long and challenging journey. Thank you very much for your interest and support.
Blatten: Home and a Place of Longing
Blatten, with its three hamlets—Ried, Weissenried, and Eisten—offered its residents and visitors an exceptional variety of housing options, a high quality of life, and recreational opportunities.
Blatten was considered one of the most authentic and typical Valais villages of all. The historic village center—comprising the hamlets of Spielfluh, Gisentellin, Bodmen, and Tirbl...
The Four-Star Constellation will be shattered, and the crystal buried!
Millions of cubic meters of rock crash down onto the Birch Glacier within a few days. Under the immense additional weight, the glacier loses its stability and eventually collapses.
On May 28, 2025, at 3:24 p.m., massive rock and glacial masses crashed down from the Kleiner Birch Glacier onto Blatten at speeds of up to 280 km/h. The debris and ice masses rolled...
The Road to Blatten
Blatten – Deeply Rooted, Reimagined. Guided by this central theme, the residents of Blatten have launched the White Paper, which contains their thoughts, wishes, and suggestions for the new village.
How do you rebuild a village? That question could be left entirely to architects and engineers. But how do you rebuild a sense of home? Only the residents themselves can answer tha...
The Roadmap
The path to Blatten was laid out by the municipality, the canton, and the federal government in a joint roadmap. It serves as the foundation for the reconstruction and outlines how the vision of a new village will become a reality, step by step.
On the very day of the landslide, Mayor Matthias Bellwald said, “We have lost our village, but not our hearts.” With these words, he called on the residents to believe in Blatten’s...
Emergency Road and Slope Clearance
Access to the affected area is a critical factor for rapid and sustainable reconstruction.
The landslide destroyed most of both the valley road to Blatten and the connection between Blatten, Eisten, and Weissenried. Just two days after the event, the municipality determi...
The wounds will heal, but the scars will remain …
A deep scar runs through the valley. It will take generations for it to heal. But just as with a wound, the first steps taken after the event have a decisive impact on the healing process that follows.
For centuries, the cultural landscape of the Lötschental Valley has been shaped by the interplay of human activity and natural processes. Arable plains, gently sloping terraces, an...
Wiler-Weissenried Cable Car
Why a small cable car is playing an important role in the revitalization of the village of Blatten.
Shortly after the landslide, the canton explored the construction of a cable car as a possible solution. Its main purpose is to provide year-round access to the residential areas l...
The Landslide and the Game
The Blatten landslide drastically altered wildlife habitats. Chamois and red deer were particularly affected, as key habitats were lost or became inaccessible.
The landslide had far-reaching consequences for the wildlife in the Blatten area. The event destroyed important breeding and summer grazing grounds. The chamois in the upper part o...
Tourism
Tourism is the economic engine of the Lötschental Valley. Numerous jobs are directly or indirectly linked to tourism and contribute significantly to the region’s economic output and quality of life. The landslide in Blatten has therefore hit this important economic sector particularly hard.
Tourism is the economic engine of the Lötschental Valley. Numerous jobs are directly or indirectly linked to tourism and contribute significantly to the region’s economic output an...
Restoration of the Weissenried Hamlet
According to the ISOS registry, the hamlet of Weissenried is a historic building of national significance. But how do you clean a historic building?
The hamlet of Weissenried, which had been inhabited until the landslide, was severely affected by the shock wave from the event. Fine dust, clay, and small rock fragments were hurl...