Lötschental
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lötschental is the largest northern side valley of Rhône valley in the Valais of Switzerland. It lies south of the peaks of the Bernese Alps, with the river Lonza flowing through the middle. The deep and picturesque valley leads east from Goppenstein with the langgletscher sweeping up to the lötschenlüke (3,173 m) at the far end. Because it is more or less a dead-end, it doesn't attract as many crowds as others.
The glacially rounded, 20 km-long valley is surrounded by 3,000 m-high mountains, including the Bietschhorn (3,934 m), the Hockenhorn (3,293 m), the Wilerhorn (3,307 m) and the Petersgrat glacier (3,205 m). The Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn area is the most glaciated area in the Swiss Alps, and was declared a Natural World Heritage Site by decision of UNESCO on December 13, 2001, including southern and eastern parts of the Lötschental.
The Lötschental is known as the garden of Switzerland with its carpet of wild flowers that stretch from one end of the valley to the other. Largely forgotten until the 1960's due to avalanches that cut off the inhabitants each winter from the outside world, Lotchental's main industry has changed from farming to tourism as the galleries protecting the only road into the valley were built. The Alp land between 1600m and 2000m has many hamlets or villages originally built to support the farming on the Alp. These villages are gradually being converted into holiday homes many of which are available for rent during the summer and winter season.
The main villages of the Lötschental are KippelandWilereach with some 500 inhabitants. The Kippelold parish church, dating from the 1800s, holds a beautiful high altar. Other villages in the valley include Ferden,Ried and Blatten. The history in these villages can be seen in the buildings some of which date back hundreds of years.
The development of the Lötschental included the building of the Lötschbergbahn (BLS) (1907-1913)and the Basis tunnel currently under construction, the railway being the main line through the Alps from Germany in the north to Italy in the south, is of great importance to the area. The most major industry of the Swiss Alps is tourism, and numerous visitors come to the valley for hiking and skiing. The economic center of the valley is Wiler, with a cablecar from Wiler to Lauchernalp which is the heart of the ski area. In November 2003, the new cabin gondola of the Hockenhorngrat was opened. Lauchernalp and Fischbiel have expanded substantially in recent years and contain 1500 beds for rent, five restaurants and one hotel. The lift system supports a varied ski terrain which has a vertical drop of 1000m or more in a good winter and over 10kms of ski runs. Day visitors from Bern make up the majority of skiers and boarders who frequent the resort mainly at week ends.
