The Matterhorn – Switzerland
In need of a rest day adventure our climbing crew discussed the options: Shopping, going for a drive, hiking, relaxing, or picnicing. What we decided: All of the above with a trip to the Matterhorn!
Our adventure started with a 4 hour drive, winding through narrow mountain roads, passing through a portion of Italy, and finally a short train ride to the town of Zermatt, at the base of the Matterhorn. In our tour book Zermatt is a town that is described as a place “to see and be seen.” For us climbers it was the obvious place to go. Gucci stores, expensive food and a tram ticket that cost about $100.00 per person to ride up to a vista point. After a few seconds in town we quickly decided on a more affordable way to enjoy the natural beauty of the Matterhorn: Go to the grocery store, get a few snacks and have a picnic in the grass with a perfect view of the mountain. Oh, and if we were crazy enough to have bought the tram tickets we would have arrived at the vista right when clouds blew in, completely blocking any views of the upper portion of the mountain.

Our picnic spot below the Matterhorn
Driving across the border to Italy
3km? More like 300km of winding roads and being car sick
Waiting for the train to Zermatt
Waiting to see the Matterhorn aboard the train
The Matterhorn towering above Zermatt
Heading out of town, getting away from the Gucci stores
The view from our high point along the trail
Window shopping with an appetite (dangerous!)
Driving our car onto a train to ride through a mountain. Wow! The Swiss have it figured out.
Driving over the St. Gotthard pass looking for any signs of the summer time bouldering spot
Posted by pjv
This entry (Permalink) was posted
on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Bouldering, Switzerland.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response
, or trackback
from your own site.
Leave a Reply