Lötschental

The Lötschental is considered one of the most unspoilt high valleys in the Alps. Long reachable only by mule tracks, it preserved old customs such as the fearsome Tschäggättä masks of carnival. Today trails and the Lötschberg open up the valley before the backdrop of the Bietschhorn and glaciers.

Highlights

• Unspoilt valley landscape and customs
• Tschäggättä carnival masks
• High trail with glacier views
• Pilgrimage site Kühmatt

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Practical info

Background & History

The Lötschental is regarded as one of the most unspoiled high valleys of the Valais, long separated from the outside world by its secluded position and thereby a stronghold of living tradition. Only the construction of the Lötschberg railway tunnel at the beginning of the 20th century broke through this isolation, yet the old customs survived. Famous are the Tschäggättä, those fearsome carnival figures in shaggy furs and roughly carved wooden masks, who roam through the villages during the carnival season, a custom of presumably ancient, pre-Christian origin.

Above the valley towers the mighty Bietschhorn, a boldly soaring rock pyramid that is among the most striking peaks of the Valais Alps, while at the head of the valley the Langgletscher rests as a remnant of the former glaciation and feeds the valley with meltwater. The dark, weathered wooden houses of the villages of Ferden, Kippel and Blatten tell of a spare, God-fearing mountain-farming culture in which Catholic faith and heathen-seeming mask customs exist closely side by side, and to this day splendid processions move through the lanes on the high feast days. Famous too are the Herrgottsgrenadiere, a company of marksmen dressed in historic uniforms who accompany the Corpus Christi festival. So the Lötschental preserves a depth of tradition and a scenic force such as have become rare in the densely developed Alps.