In mid-May, at about ten thousand feet above sea level, a rocky mountainside in the Swiss Alps gave way and tumbled onto the Birch Glacier. Half a mile below lay Blatten, a village of centuries-old wooden houses. That night the mayor heard crashing noises and flew with a local hazards official to inspect newly formed cracks on the mountain. Since the nineties the Birch Glacier had advanced unusually, likely after periodic rockfalls, and the area remained under constant surveillance. On May 17 sensors detected increased instability and officials ordered evacuation of the village's shadow side; some residents moved into a local hotel. A large crack suggested the peak itself was unstable, and experts estimated up to three million cubic metres of debris could rush down, over a nearby dam, and into the village.
In mid-May, at about ten thousand feet above sea level, a rocky mountainside in the Swiss Alps gave way and tumbled onto a field of ice called the Birch Glacier. Half a mile below, in the Lötschen Valley, lay Blatten, a picturesque village of centuries-old wooden houses. The following night, Blatten's mayor, Matthias Bellwald, heard crashing noises from the mountain. He quickly arranged for a helicopter to fly him and a local official who monitored natural hazards up to the site.
Since the nineties, the Birch Glacier, which covered an area of about fourteen city blocks, had been behaving strangely. Unlike many Alpine glaciers, which have receded as the planet warms, it had advanced down the slope, probably because of periodic rockfalls that weighed it down. As a result, Swiss authorities kept the section under constant surveillance. On Saturday, May 17th, after sensors detected more instability, the village government ordered the evacuation of what is known as the shadow side of the village,
Soon, a crack, which was perhaps several feet wide and a hundred feet deep, was spotted between the Kleine Nesthorn and the mountain range it was a part of-suggesting that the peak itself was unstable. "The whole mountain was moving," Kalbermatten told me. By Monday morning, experts from the canton of Valais, which encompasses Blatten, estimated that up to three million cubic metres of debris could rush down the mountain, over a nearby dam, and into the village.
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