May 15, Zermatt

Having th chance to visit Zermatt after a convention in Switzerland, I jumped at the opportunity. My small group of conventioneers was scheduled to also ski on the 14th, but winds of over 70 mph closed the slopes. However, on the non-ski day, Ullr also sent us a nice gift of 12" of fresh pow! The slopes were gentle, our host-guide was timid to allow out-of-towners off the piste, and the weather was socked-in until after lunch, but I issued in month 115 with a rare treat: European freshies in mid-May!! Even caught a glimpse of the Matterhorn, hiding for the 3 previous days, on my way to catching the 5:30 AM train to Zurich for my flight home.

Next month...

I was in the vicinity June 7 and 8. It had snowed a foot down to 1800 meters a week before, so there was confusing fresh snow covering the boulderfields etc. that added spice to hiking. They were running lift skiing on only one lift on the "Theod..." glacier; this is a wide-open ski field that did not look terribly exciting although the chair seems to have at least ~1500 vertical feet. I took the lift up to 3850 meters (highest possible) and saw a few people ski touring up to the Briethorn (sic) at ~ 4150 meters. This looked like about 1.5 hours up, half and hour down, good clean fun, from the top of the highest lift, with an option to ski down to mid station at 3000 meters. The full price ticket includes a free glass of wine at the in-glacier ice cave museum up top. The alpine environment is unlike anything I have ever seen at a US or Canadian ski area, with lift-sertved pistes far above monstrous valley glaciers and WAY above town. Even in mid-winter, skiing with a guide would be a good idea!

Ah the ignorance of youth. When I was in my early twenties a friend and I went to Cervinia, on the Italian side of the Matterhorn, and skied wildly on every non-piste we could access with the lifts. It was early April and spring had sprung and we were skiing wild corn couloirs we spotted from Trams and lifts, with no thought whatsoever about buying a guide. We bought fantastic topo maps of the area and just went for it.

One day, we skied the Thuedelglacier (sp?) across the frontier and into switzerland, skiing down to Zermatt (illegally I guess as we didn't have our passports), enjoying a day of skiing the 6k vert then back across the forntier to Italy at days end. Perhaps the most amazing skiing experience I've ever had.

Hmmm. What would I do differently? You know, I still wouldn't get a guide, maybe it's not youth, just stubborn NE pride. But next time, I'd climb mt Rosa or Breithorn instead of just "side country"!

If you are going to Zermatt, do check out the ski across the frontier down to Cervinia - it is awesome.