That wish was first granted (clear view of the Matterhorn at 06:00)...
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| View of the Matterhorn from our hotel window, ca. 06:00 to 06:30 |
...then dashed again (low fog over the town of Zermatt at about 08:00, no mountains at all in sight)...
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| Looking out the hotel window at 08:00, the hills are covered in a layer of low-lying fog, and all we could see was the Hotel Edelweiss perched on the cliff. We decided to climb up there, and see how the weather develops |
...and then granted again at 09:30 after our breakfast at a local café, as the sky cleared completely! We hadn't planned any kind of long hike for the day, but the lone hotel perched on a cliff about 350m above the city looked like it would be an interesting goal, and we'd see from there.
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| The skies have cleared up, so we decided to hike up to the Hotel Edelweiss and from there decide what we want to do. The hike up should take about 1 hour. |
First, a little tour of Zermatt, including the oldest part of the village (Hinterdorf) and some other very nice old buildings:
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| Walking down main street Zermatt at about 09:30, to look at the original old part of town |
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| In Hinterdorf, the old part of town, there is a cluster of about 10 old buildings. The stairs to get up to the living quarters are quite extraordinary! Alternating steps cut out of a round log... |
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| Heading up out of town are lots of other neat buildings to admire |
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| Heading up out of Zermatt toward the Edelweiss Hotel, a 350-meter or approx. 1 hour ascent |
The climb took us an hour (we had to take a detour as on the original trail we chose, we saw a sign indicating that a bridge had been removed for the winter) and we treated ourselves to a cold but expensive Panaché (Radler) on the terrace with a superb view over the city and Mount Dom, which is the highest peak located 100% on Swiss soil.
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| Heading up over Zermatt, with a view North down the valley, with the Mischabel Massif in the back. Mount Dom, the highest mountain 100% on Swiss terrain, is in that massif. |
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| As we climb, we get this view of the Matterhorn, as the last bits of fog are dissipating |
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| And another view North along the Matter Valley. Mt. Dom (4545m) is actually the second mountain from the right, but the highest. On the right is Mt. Täschhorn (4491m) |
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| The beautiful peaks of Mt.Dom and Mt.Täschhorn, the highest mountains whose base is fully in Switzerland |
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| There was a similar sign at the lower part of this other trail, which we had wanted to walk, but apparently the bridge gets removed for the winter, and had not yet been replaced. We watched with a bit of envy as a local jogger hopped over the fence and crossed the river no problem! |
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| Below us is the place where the bridge is missing. We made a detour because the trail was "closed", but we could easily have crossed there just the same. |
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| Steep climb to the Edelweiss Hotel |
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| Above us at the top of these cliffs is the Edelweiss Hotel |
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| Arriving at the hotel terrace, the only other guests are just leaving, so we can sit at the railing and enjoy the view into to the valley while drinking our beer |
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| Panorama view from the Hotel Terrace of Zermatt below, and from left the Mischabel Massif (Mt. Dom) to Gornergrat and Mt.Breithorn and the Small Matterhorn on the right. From here we cannot see the Monte Rosa Massif, where the actual highest peak in the Swiss Alps lies |
The trail marker here at the hotel "told us" it was another 1 hour and 10 minutes to reach the next mountain hotel (Hotel Trift) at the back of the Trift Valley, so we decided to continue walking into the valley. So what's another 350m climb after the one we had just done? No big deal. (p.s., the day before, we had walked in the direction of Zmutt, which we had also considered doing again, once we got here).
The steep hike was so worth it. We had to cross some left-over avalanche snow and walk along some cliffs with the "regulation" rope hand-holds, emerging in an upper plateau below the Gabelhorn Glacier.... absolutely fantastic.
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| Hiking along the ravine |
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Left-over
avalanche snow. Someone carved some very large steps into the remaining snow!
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| No problem crossing the snow! |
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| More narrow paths |
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| Bridges to cross |
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| Avid paragliders on this wonderful day! |
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| A look down the ravine to Zermatt and the Edelweiss Hotel on the cliff! |
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| Up ahead a zoomed view of the front part of the Gabelhorn Glacier. At this point the peaks ahead are still covered in clouds, which cleared up later |
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| Waterfalls created by the Triftbach River |
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| In the meantime we are high enough that the Monte Rosa Massif has come into view |
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| And up ahead the sky is clearing and we can see the peaks called Gabelhorn (there are three) |
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| A fun trail to walk and no problem that we just ascended over 700m !! |
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| Arriving at our current destination, the Trift Hotel. They are preparing to open for overnights and dining as of July 1, but for now they are "closed" |
After our picnic lunch near the stream we debated returning the same way, or ascending another 160m before descending 900m to the North of the ravine: The latter option is only another 2 hours 20 minutes according to the trail markers!
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| We picked a good place for our picnic lunch with a view of the Monte Rosa Massif |
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| Zoomed view of the Monte Rosa Massif. The peak on the right is the Dufour Peak, at 4634m the highest point in Switzerland. On the lower ridge to the right, you can just make out the Gornergrat Observatory (the Gornergrat train goes up here from Zermatt) |
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| The trail marker indicates 2 hours 20 minutes if we go to the left, and 1 hour 25 minutes if we return the way we came. We always prefer a different way back, if it is within reason! |
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| We decided on the longer trail, so off we go to add another 160m ascent! |
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| From Zermatt to the Edelweiss Hotel (Alterhaupt) were 350m, then another 400m to the Trift Hotel, then another 160m to the highest point on our tour (2503m) from where we then had to descend 900m back to Zermatt! A long tour, over 5 hours! (pretty sure it took us longer...) |
No regrets that we chose the latter (seems to be something we do a lot lately, adding on extra height and extra kilometers!) because the higher we went, the more we could see of the glacier behind us, and the Monte Rosa Massif ahead of us (with the highest peak in Switzerland, the Dufour Peak) and even some wonderful views of the Matterhorn, which we had hoped to see the day before.
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| Heading up along a waterfall |
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| The rest of the ascent was no longer steep, just a light uphill the whole way. We get a better and better view of the Monte Rosa Massif, the Gornergrat including the railway line, and the Liskamm Ridge |
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| Another view of the Gabelhorn Glacier, from a higher altitude |
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| Absolutely spectacular |
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| Ahead of us the Monte Rosa Massif. The Gornergrat Ridge is pretty visible, with the Observatory on the right, and the Hohtälligrat ridge leading to the left to the chair lift station on Hohtälli. We walked along part of this ridge in 2014 |
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| More lovely gentians |
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| At the highest part of our hike we spent some time watching the clouds move across the Matterhorn (the day before we were actually closer to the mountain, but didn't see any of it). On the ridge at the foot of the mountain is a mountain hotel, the Hörnlihütte. |
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| The Hörnlihütte Hotel at the foot of Mt. Matterhorn can actually be reached by cable car. It is very expensive to stay there. |
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| A final look back into the Trift Valley and the Gabelhorn Glacier, whose three Gabelhorn peaks are now out of the clouds. (The one on the right is also over 4000m).What a fantastic sight! |
After all the wonderful views, we still had a long, 900m descent in front of us. We took our time and probably more than the suggested two hours, and even saw a marmot, who sat so still we thought it was a piece of wood!
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| A zoomed view of the Small Matterhorn (only 3880m high!) and the Small Matterhorn Glacier (Kleinmatterhorngletscher) which we did not see from our lower vantage point the day before |
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| As we started our descent, we saw this amazing rock, which looked exactly like the Matterhorn, as if someone had purposely placed it here! |
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| Attempting a self-timed photo with our own "Small Matterhorn" and the real Matterhorn! |
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| A marmot who stood so still, I thought for sure I had photographed a piece of wood! |
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| A Northern Wheatear (long-distance traveler!) |
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| Descending to Zermatt with the Monte Rosa Massif before us. You can also see where the Gornergrat Railway is built into the hill. |
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| The landscape above us as we descend through the forest toward Zermatt |
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| Another zoomed view of the fabulous cable car going up to the Small Matterhorn! |
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| Train station in Zermatt. From here we headed out of the valley to Brig |
Along the way we decided, instead of returning home, we would spend another night in Canton Valais, returning to the Monastery Guest House in Brig for the night, where I instantly fell asleep as my head hit the pillow, after this fantastic but strenuous 5+ hour hike! (Calculating additional "performance" kilometers for the steep 1000m ascent and descent means we did the equivalent of 28 km!!!)
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| Both hikes we did while in Zermatt: Day 1 the lower loop to Zmutt, and Day 2 the larger loop up the Triftbach ravine. Our hotel was ideally located for us, next to the train station. |
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| Two hikes on the West side of Zermatt, where we had never yet walked before |
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