RHÔNE GLACIER, Switzerland — On a hotel veranda overlooking Lake Lucerne, Barbara Achrainer sips a latte and, with a sigh, peers at sightseers boarding a tour boat. It's a warm summer afternoon and the hot air over the turquoise water forms a haze that silhouettes the Alps in the distance.

Achrainer has moved from hotel to hotel like this one since late May, when she was forced out of her home. She had just begun a new job as manager of the storied Hotel Fafleralp perched along a mountainside above the village of Blatten. She and her crew were preparing for their first guests of the season when suddenly the workers started running for the exits.

"They yelled, 'We need to leave right now!' And I'm like, 'Why? What, how?' And they literally jumped into their cars and left. And I was like,

See Full Page