Zermatt, Matterhorn and the Aletsch Glacier

The Matterhorn's distinctive peak from Zermatt (photo taken by Somil)

Located in the Canton of Valais close to the Italian border, Zermatt is the southernmost German-speaking town in Switzerland. It is surrounded by mountains, the most famous of which is undoubtedly the Matterhorn, with its distinctive peak rising at 4,478 m and which has been dubbed the most photographed mountain in the world. However, it is perhaps most well-known as being the mountain found on the wrapper of the Toblerone chocolate (Yum!). 

Given that Zermatt is around 4.5 hours away from Zurich by train, we traveled on Friday evening and spent an extra night there, either way it was going to be the last weekend for some of my friends so we wanted to celebrate it to the full! After a few drinks we made our way to the town centre to look for a bar and randomly ended up sitting down on the pavement stroking a couple of dogs and chatting with their owners the whole night (don't ask how that happened). They were really friendly and even offered us a beer which we gladly took (9 CHF for a beer was too much to ask for from a bunch of students, even though my conscience was kicking me to politely refuse). There was going to be a marathon the next day and we did get shouted at a bit because we were making too much noise in the streets and people wanted to sleep for the big day.

Early next morning after grabbing a quick snack from a nearby Migros, we made our way towards the cable car which would take us up the Matterhorn's little brother, the mountain known as Klein Matterhorn. One cannot actually go up the Matterhorn unless one is an expert climber/mountaineer, and must ideally also have a guide, since it has cost the lives of some 500 people who have tried to reach its peak (including 4 of first 7 people to conquer it) ever since the first ascent in 1865. Luckily for us tourists, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise situated on Klein Matterhorn offers fantastic views of the mountain practically all throughout the year and sits at an elevation of 3,883 m making it the highest vantage point in Europe. The cable car took us up to Furi station, where we then went into another Gondola and climbed further up.

The Gornerschlucht (Gorner Gorge)
taken by my friend Maebh

Unfortunately we were rather unlucky with the weather and it was all cloudy and our view was obstructed. Thankfully for me, I have plenty of time to visit once again and I definitely intend too! I just loved standing outside taking in the fresh alpine air and feeling the icy wind lash on my face, it's rejuvenating. You mustn't exert yourself too much though, at that altitude I found myself quickly losing my breath as the air is very thin. Inside the complex we also visited the Glacier Palace which was interesting and I had what was perhaps the most delicious Goulash soup of my life.

On our descent it began to rain, but that did not put some of us off from hiking back down from Furi station to Zermatt. Here we passed through the beautiful Gornerschlucht (Gorge), which somehow seemed even more spectacular in the rain! A tasty dinner concluded our programme for the day and made way for the party to begin (which incidentally involved all sorts of outrageous games but more importantly involved copious amounts of alcohol).

The next day, we checked out of our hostel and made our way to the train station where we caught a train to Betten from where we would catch the gondola up to Bettmerhorn. Here we would begin a 4 hour panoramic hike along the Aletsch Glacier, a massive 23 km long glacier covering 120 square km and one of Switzerland's UNESCO World Heritage sites (http://goo.gl/dbnjtt). At one point we even managed to get down close to  the glacier itself and we were immediately dwarfed by its gigantic size. From high above the Glacier does not look that high but down there we were amazed to look up at it. As we were running late we had to take a shortcut through a tunnel in the mountains and finally arrived to Fiescheralp, where we caught the cable car down to Fiesch to conclude our trip and catch the train back home.

Rough estimate of the hike along the Aletsch Glacier (seen on the left)

The Aletsch Glacier captured beautifully by my friend Dong

A small alpine lake (photo taken by Dong)

More stunning photos by Dong of the Aletsch Glacier Park

Dwarfed by the Aletsch Glacier! Thumbs up to Diego for the photo

We decided to catch the longer but more panoramic train back home to Zurich (via Andermatt) and I don't think I could handle any more beautiful scenery. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and I definitely recommend checking this area out if you happen to be in Switzerland, the alpine views are breathtaking! 

Taking it all in (Cheers Diego)