29 - Right around the Gorner

Saturday, March 22

I snagged the 8:20 train leaving Sion and was surprised to see that the train marked the transition from French speaking Switzerland to German Suisse: the order of station announcements swapped (French, German, English to German, French, English).

Back to more orchards, but this time with direct sunlight!

In Visp, I swapped platforms for the train to Zermatt and found myself in the midst of a Chinese tour group. It must've been a mixed language group because the tour guide did all his explaining in English, lucky me 😆 I eavesdropped while he explained about their day plan in Zermatt (including a 30 minute ride to the Gornergrat observatory and a 30 minute stay up there), how the current Toblerone packages are forbidden from using the actual likeness of le Cervin / Matterhorn and was able to catch pieces of his recounting of the Quartz Crisis in Switzerland which resulted in the founding of the SWATCH brand.

The little train had huge windows to observe the surroundings as we climbed our way through the valley, but it was very hard to see the tops due to how steep and tall most of the mountains were.

Hmm, the mountain seems to be leaking...

Spotted my first glacier of the trip! It's an imposing few meters of ice sitting all the way atop the pass.

We eventually reached a flatter portion of the valley where the snow started to stick around. I suppose people can rent chalets along the route of the train; it seems like a very isolated experience, but if all you want to do is get away, then I guess it makes perfect sense.

At Zermatt's train station and we went our separate ways: them to the train for Gornergrat and me to the hotel. I could tell that the hotel wouldn't let me check in yet when I saw that checkout wasn't finished until 11AM and I'd arrived at 10:20. I asked if I could leave my luggage at the hotel until the afternoon, to which the guy at the counter said, "sure, put it over there" pointing to the general area of the lobby. I wasn't sure if this was standard protocol but swapped my gear from travel mode to explorer mode (grabbing my passport just in case), used the toilet (located next to the spa and the ski storage room), and left my bags in the lobby. Part of me was worried about leaving the luggage out in the open like that without a tag or being in a locked room, but I'd made my choice and worrying about it wouldn't do anything but spoil my day.

First stop was a bakery to pick up more coffee and some foodstuff, I had an apricot pastry with the coffee and saved my hearty mountain breads for later in the afternoon. Then I made my way to the Office of Tourism; when my number was called, I was surprised at how laidback the guy at the desk was. My questions were related to whether it'd be better to sight see today and ski tomorrow, where to ski, how to buy lift tickets, and options for hiking. I feel like my stop was worthwhile but also very much 🤷‍♂️. He showed me the weather forecast and webcams of the surrounding peaks, recommended a lift area for beginners, and mentioned the possibility of some hikes; though I feel he went out of his way to explicitly recommend something for me. I suppose that's just how it goes.

In French, the Matterhorn is le Cervin but in Italian it's il Cervino. I don't see any coffee plantations around here but my coffee this morning was pretty good.

Hmm, I might've taken a wrong turn somewhere over the Atlantic...

Here's Zermatt's mascot for the kids: Wolli. I hadn't realized that the Valais / Wallis canton had a special variety of sheep.

I decided the pull the trigger on going to Gornergrat, there's a scenic train that climbs up the valley to this observatory and is supposed to offer great views of the Matterhorn. Before going, I stopped by the train station's WC and discovered that there was a huge area with rental lockers that I could have stashed my stuff in. I pushed down the urge to rush to the hotel to bring the luggage to the train station and began the climb to Gornergrat.

Hmm, looks like the Matterhorn is a little shy this afternoon; let's hope things clear up later.

The ride up via the train was very picturesque; many of the lower stops didn't have any action going on, I suppose there's only so many people snowshoeing because I don't think any of the ski slopes stop at these lower train stops either. But the train also runs in the summer so perhaps there's a bunch of hiking trails currently buried.

This turn between Riffelberg and Riffelalp was impressive on the train, but more impressive is that one of the ski pistes ran right alongside the train tracks: the runs around here can be very, very long!

And once we made the turn, suddenly there were ski lifts spanning the face of the mountain. People with skis were riding the train too, so I guess on the Gornergrat slopes you have a few pistes available via lift but if you want the longer runs, you'll need to take the train (which runs on a less frequent schedule).

At the top, there's only a few things to do: you can view the area, you can eat at the restaurant, you can examine the ZoooM experience, or you can ski. The observatory itself was closed but I was content with seeing a few surrounding glaciers. The Cervin remained elusive during my time up at the top, a cloud front coming North from Italy created an eerie effect on the Klein Matterhorn and threw up a smokescreen over most of the Cervin.

Alas, the Matterhorn is still partially covered with a blanket of clouds. But that didn't stop tons of people from getting off the train and skiing back down from the top of Gornergrat.

There was plaques with details about the Gornergrat train, I thought it pretty neat to also have the plaques equipped with QR codes for further reading!

Snapping a pic now in case the mountain gets even more obscured!

There were telescopes equipped with internal peak markers scattered around the top of Gornergrat. I couldn't quite get things to line up exactly, but it's a near concept to have available for free.

The panoramic view was spectacular, even if the Matterhorn was playing peek-a-boo. There's plenty of other glaciers and peaks to admire

I took a small lunch break to try out some mountaineer bread I'd picked up in town.

Turns out it was stuffed to the gills with dried fruit! Very tasty but also a very dense item, I could see its value for Alpiniste.

Aha! Just the tip!

I wasn't the only enjoying lunch at the summit, these little birds were building up the courage to get closer to picnicking people. Seeing them negotiate the shifting winds around the peak was impressive.

I was struck by the endless cloud trying to make it over the mountains. I could see the crest of the wave endlessly dissipating as it worked it's way clear.

I'm not quite sure how to describe the cloud front's motion. It was like the edge of the cloud was coming down over the mountain in a swirling fashion but also evaporating so that I couldn't tell if it was actually progressing or not.

It was pretty chilly atop Gornergrat, everyone can use a good coat up here.

Having gotten my views in, I opted to try out the Zooom experience, which involves a VR parachuting session. It was a near setup for a 1:30 flying tour of the Matterhorn's summit. Apparently there's a wiry cross mounted stop the Cervin.

The rest of the ZoooM experience was a bit like a museum, talking about the alpine biome, mountaineering, and featuring a periscope. It wasn't until I'd gotten outside did I realize that there was an actual periscope attached to that thing inside. The mountaineering plaques spoke about clothing, crampons, and nylon rope; apparently foregoing crampons and some shoddy rope are a signature part of the Matterhorn's history. And Ed Whymper's ill-fated climb would go on to inspire writers all over the world to write cliché climbing scenes

Waiting for the train to descend, I figured it was a good time to move on with the day considering I was unlikely to see the clouds clear in the afternoon. It's a pretty sweet deal to have a ski pass here, you get access to the panoramic views and ski slopes to boot! Well, bungling around in ski boots may not have been fun on Gornergrat; but to each, their own.

After getting my fill at the top of Gornergrat, I took the train down one stop before realizing that there was a winter hike open to the public between two of the train's stops. So I hopped out with a bunch of others and started the hike from Rotenboden to Riffleberg; online notes mentioned a reflective lake (der Rifflesee) that I had completely missed thanks to it being covered in snow 😂 The hike wasn't particularly long but I could see why some people had opted to wear snowshoes. Still, I survived and took the train the rest of the way down.

Hmm, a sledding slope, you say? 🤔 It's been ages since I've sledded, if I had snow proof leggings and boots, this could've been a decent option!

The trail here goes over a well compacted piste for snowshoers and ski hikers (x-country skiers). It was nice and quiet aside from my other fellow hikers. Once I'd gotten some distance, it was a very peaceful walk about.

Why take the train when I can walk down? Skiing's for chumps, real men use water resistant hiking boots!

Aw, that sledding does seem pretty fun but they're also moving very, very fast. My leg's would've been soaked from kicked up snow by the time I finished the sled run, so walking was the right choice.

Maybe I need to give ski hiking and snowshoeing a try my next winter in the US. This was a very enjoyable ambiance but I don't trust myself for such a new activity in the Alps. Seems like starting in the deep end.

Finally, a bit of peace and quiet. Just me, my crunching, and the wind. 🌬️

Hmm, I can't get a complete shot of Zermatt from this angle but it does help to illustrate the depth and steepness of the valley. The perspective helps me to appreciate the feat that the modern lifts, télécabine, and trains are.

One last mountain bite for the road. Thus one's mostly apple spice bread with sliced almonds. 😋

Same shift as before but as someone coming back down the mountain. You can't even tell there's supposed to be a Swiss icon back there.

Arriving back in Zermatt a little after 3PM, I made my way to the hotel to check in. I suppose I shouldn't be all that shocked (given it being Switzerland) that my luggage was in the exact spot I'd left it in the lobby; nestled between two comfy chairs. I took a moment to recharge my batteries & phone but ultimately decided against trying an outdoor activity again given that the light would begin to wane soon.

Oh, looks like I'll have to contend with a sloped roof, but at least there's much more height to work with than that loft I rented in Bayonne.

Actually, with the skylight, this is pretty snazzy! Maybe I'll get to sleep under the stars tonight?

I did a bit of walking around town before sunset; I wouldn't say that Zermatt is the cutest town ever but it certainly does have its charm. I think it might be the electric trucks that seals the deal for me. And before I knew it, the church bells were ringing seven PM and the town was dark. I knew I wanted to eat raclette tonight, so I'd asked the front desk who mentioned a place other guests had gone to the previous night; but she also mentioned that if I wanted a lot, I should order raclette à discrétion (all you can eat). The place she'd told me of didn't show raclette à discrétion on their menu but a quick google search revealed a place that did. 😋

These little electric trucks were zipping around the pedestrian streets of Zermatt. Yes, cars aren't allowed but that doesn't mean people still don't need things hauled around town. You can hire taxis, use a hotel shuttle, heck, I even saw one as a fuel tanker (probably for snow mobiles and helicopters).