Skiing the Matterhorn
This weekend trip involved one of the most famous ski resort towns in the world: Zermatt, Switzerland. At a ripe 4:05 am, we walked to the train station to catch the 4:37 am train to Zermatt, which involved 2 station changes. We got into town by 9 am, dropped our bags off at our accommodation, strapped on our skis, and were skiing down the Swiss alps by 10 am. It was maybe one of the most tiring trips but by far the most rewarding.
In Zermatt, you have access to dozens of ski lifts. From the highest mountain station in Europe, at a whopping 13,000 ft, you have the opportunity to ski down into Italy. On one of our days, we tried this out, especially enticed hearing that the food on the Italian side was much cheaper than the Swiss side. As we were skiing, we passed numerous ski lifts, and just kept going further and further away from Switzerland. Before we knew it, we had skied 2 hours into Italy without having to take a gondola back up a single time, going from 13,000 ft to 4,000 ft. It was the most unreal ski run I’ve ever experienced. Quite a change in pace from skiing in the US, where ski runs hardly exceed more than 20 minutes top to bottom at a steady pace.
The views were breathtaking. When skiing on the Swiss side, the entire run was in view of the Matterhorn, poking up between the clouds and making the entire ski experience feel like skiing in a complete arctic tundra, with beautiful mountains going on forever into the distance. The ski lifts were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced as well, with some of the Gondolas being big enough to fit 50 people, and taking about 10 minutes to get to the top of the next mountain. On the runs, there were countless little restaurants in cute stone and wood houses, creating the most magical ambiance.
There is a term here, aprés, which means time spent socializing and participating in other activities throughout the ski day. It’s huge in Europe, and let me tell you, aprés takes skiing to the next level. The culture of socialization and leisure on the mountains is unmatched. Across the expanse of ski lifts, at the restaurants along the runs there are even reclined chairs for people to lay out on as they eat and enjoy the beautiful scenery and positive energy. On our first day, we aprés-ed to the fullest extent, stopping at a hidden gem called Paradise in one of the small villages on the Swiss side, and eating some of the most amazing cheeses, meats, and bread with a pot of fondue outside in perfect view of the Matterhorn on a gorgeous, sunny day. With reclined chairs and blankets, we took a short afternoon nap before continuing skiing as much as we could, not even making a dent on the number of runs accessible.
I don’t have the words to describe how amazing the trip to charming Zermatt was. It was a natural beauty I’ve never seen before with a social and leisure scene like no other. To say the least, this will not be my last trip to the Alps, and most definitely not my last aprés.
Bis zum nächsten mal!
Kara