Swiss glacier collapse exposes growing risk to mountain regions

The dramatic collapse of a glacier onto the Swiss village of Blatten last week underscores how Europe, as the world’s fastest-warming continent, is becoming an increasingly hazardous place.

On 28 May, the Birch Glacier gave way under the weight of rock and debris from avalanches on the Kleines Nesthorn mountain, burying the village of Blatten in Switzerland’s Valais region. Around 300 residents had been evacuated days earlier, narrowly avoiding disaster.

While the scale of destruction is unprecedented for the Swiss Alps, it is part of a worrying trend. In April 2024, a similar collapse at Piz Scerscen near the Italian border unleashed comparable volumes of debris, though with less damage. In 2022, the collapse of the Marmolada glacier in Italy claimed 11 lives. “Several sites in the Eu