Kandersteg is a village of around 1,300 people in the Swiss Alps, surrounded by steep valleys, glaciers and towering peaks. Above it sits Spitze Stei, an unstable rock formation large enough to trigger a landslide potentially twice the size of the one that buried parts of Blatten in May 2025.
Residents live with the risk rather than in fear of it. Leaflets set out evacuation routes and map the areas that could be affected, and the mountain is under constant monitoring — authorities say there would be at least 24 hours' warning before a major collapse.
