Summer 2011 Switzerland 2

It is now 18 months since we were in Switzerland and the first blog has long since been posted. I promised then to complete an account of the rest of our trip to this marvellous mountain country.

The first blog in Switzerland saw us going up to Gornegrat from Zermatt to catch some magnificent views of The Alps and The Matterhorn of course on 9 August 2011. We now pick up from the next day when went all the way to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. Several express cable cars with convenient stop offs on the way back made for a memorable day to say the least.

The Matterhorn from Zermatt

This is an early morning shot taken in Zermatt. We were to get much closer to this iconic mountain and also see it from different angles which most people would not recognise. Several cable cars to you up to the permanent snowfields higher than the top of Mount Cook in New Zealand.

Farmhouse from the cable car just out of Zermatt.

The buildings where you step out onto the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.

Stepping out of the cable car you go into the terminal building and then climb the stairs up to the top on Klein Matterhorn for the most amazing views and the obligatory photo!

As high as you can go without climbing! The Matterhorn is to the right.

There was quite a stiff breeze blowing so the hoods on the parkas were a necessity. Gloves would have been useful too.

There is an all year round ski field up the top here where several international ski teams were in summer training.

Off to the right in the above photo were ski runs leading down to Italy.

In the winter you can ski down to a village in Italy here.

As well as summer skiing, ice climbing over the glaciers and up the mountains is popular. Straight out of the car car and a few metres later it's time to put on the crampons. The Breithorn has some well worn trails for a day's climbing.

The Breithorn

There would have been around 200 climbers roped up and digging their crampons in and swinging their ice axes here.

The Breithorn

Many more climbers were out on the ice fields below as we passed over in the cable car. Lots of snow caves were seen too. Not sure how many would walk form Zermatt though.

The Matterhorn

Seen from Klein Matterhorn, the Matterhorn itself presents a different angle to the one traditionally seen like the first one in this blog.

Away in the distance is another very distinctive peak. Lugging my long lens with me yielded this shot of Mont Blanc which we had got up closer to earlier in this trip.

Mont Blanc

Having spent a few hours as far as we could go, it was down to where we could stop off for a while and take in some more scenery. First stop on the way back was Trockener Steg.

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The Matterhorn from Trockener Steg

This cable car station caters for a winter ski field. It is around 1,200m lower than Klein Matterhorn and shows evidence of recently retreating glaciers in that there is just bare rock exposed here. There is a rough road all the way up here which brings in building supplies. The helicopter here was taking buckets of concrete further up into the mountains way past Klein Matterhorn and The Breithorn.

Next stop down was Furgg at the base of The Matterhorn. This is below the glacier line and so we were able to enjoy several hours here in the high alpine meadows.

The Matterhorn Express gondola at Furgg

We stopped here for around 3 hours for lunch and to explore the base of the Matterhorn.

Alpine tarn

The track here leads to one hut which can be clearly seen. Beyond and just visible on a rocky knob is another hut which climbers use for their climb up the centre ridge of the Matterhorn.

Further down we alighted at Furi to join a path leading back to Zermatt.

Furi



Furi



Hay making between Furi and Zermatt

I couldn't resist one last look at The Matterhorn on the way back to Zermatt after a fantastic day out!

All good things come to and end so it was with some regret that we packed up the next day and headed off to the station for the train down the valley to Visp then another around to Montreux on the shores of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva).

Alphorn players to entertain us whilst waiting the for the train to Visp

Next stop was Montreux and then onto Geneva. I have too many photos and much to write about to include this here so will write another blog soon called Switzerland 3.