Overview

• On July 17, authorities closed the only road leading to the Grande Dixence dam to all pedestrian and vehicular traffic in response to fresh rockfalls.
• The municipality of Hérémence ordered a hotel below the dam to halt operations as a temporary safety precaution.
• Grande Dixence SA has affirmed that the dam’s integrity is uncompromised despite an earlier 5,000-cubic-meter slide and subsequent minor detachments.
• At 285 meters high, the 75-year-old gravity dam holds 400 million cubic meters of water and typically draws guided tours via footpath and cable car.
• Continuous surveillance of unstable slopes follows May’s glacier-related landslide at Blatten, which foreshadowed increased rockfall hazards in Valais.