Rockfalls are common in the Alps, but this one is threatening to bury the entire village of Blatten, Switzerland. Residents and animals have been evacuated as massive amounts of rock have fallen from the Kleiner Nesthorn, a nearby peak.
The entire upper Kleiner Nesthorn is unstable, and the instability has increased in the last few days. There is a risk that the entire upper part of the mountain will collapse in a single, massive event, destroying the village. This forced local authorities to evacuate the village’s 300 inhabitants yesterday, as well as the animals grazing in the area. The last of the municipality’s 52 cows was airlifted today.
Luckily, the peak seems to be crumbling piece by piece. Several partial slides have occurred in the last 24 hours and hit the Birch Glacier below, still well away from the houses. However, the danger remains high: two to five million cubic meters of rock is unstable, according to geologists. Even a minor fall could affect the Lötschen Valley, where the village is located.
File image of Blatten, Lötschental. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko
Mountain in motion
Thermal cameras show that the rock at the summit of Kleiner Nesthorm was moving at one meter per hour today — it moved at an alarming three meters per hour on Monday. At the same time, the glacier below has somehow accelerated to 0.5 to 0.8 meters per day, Alban Brigger from the Natural Hazards Department said at a press conference today.
To make things worse, thick fog has made it difficult to see what is happening on the upper slopes.
