Day 2 (Skiing Zermatt)

My first morning in Zermatt started at 6 am when the first alarm of the six others staying in my room at the hostel started going off. After attempting to catch up with my jet lag after a 36 hours of the travel the day before with very little sleep, I decided it would be best to just wake up and head downstairs to eat breakfast. A large buffet of fresh bread, meat, cheese, fruit salad, cereal, yogurt, and either coffee or orange juice awaited. Certainly not a traditional american breakfast, but some great food and lots of it.

At 8 am I got my ski gear on, grabbed my skis and poles from the dedicated ski room the Swiss Youth Hostel offered, and walked about a half mile down to the base of the Zermatt ski resort where a gondola opened at 8:30 at an elevation of about 5,300 feet in elevation. I purchased my lift tickets for the following two days, which cost approximately $90/day if you want the international ski ticket which gives you access to both the Swiss and Italy side of the ski resorts.

After getting on my first ski gondola in Europe, we rode up the gondola with an amazing view of the Swiss Alps and of course, the infamous Matterhorn Mountain. The gondola took a total of 4 stops at mid mountain stations and took approximately 30 minutes to get to an elevation of 9,642 feet where I then changed to another gondola to bring me to Klein Matterhorn, also the location of Glacier National Paradise. This gondola, brand new for this ski year, holds 27 people and brought you up to the highest mountain station in all of Europe, at an elevation of 12,700 feet elevation, where the oxygen level is 40% less than that at sea level.

Skiing Zermatt is incredible, surrounded by magical European alps that make you feel so small. The views are something I will not forget, something just as good as the skiing. If your visiting Zermatt and want to see the alps, I definitely recommend skiing, as it is the best way to view and explore the alps and all the views it has to offer. I spent most of my time skiing down from the Klein Matterhorn but also got to explore other sections of the mountain including a few trips skiing over the Swiss border to Italy. I skied over to Cervinia, the Italian city on the other side of the ridge that creates the border between the two countries. I ate lunch at a mid mountain lodge in Italy, definitely recommend as food in Italy is significantly cheaper than Switzerland, where I got a very large panini and a drink for just 8-9 Euros.

After lunch, I took the lifts back to the top and skied into Switzerland. After a few more runs, I took a break at the mid mountain station and got a drink at the Ice Bar, an outdoor bar that offers drinks at an elevation of 9,642 feet where you can sit outside on lounge chairs and enjoy the view of the Matterhorn as well as the rest of the alps. After I was done I skied back down to Zermatt where I changed out of my ski gear and headed downtown to find dinner at a local Italian restaurant where I had some expensive spaghetti and then called it a night.

To view more of my photos of Zermatt click here.