In Search of the Lost Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland
Adventures in Zermatt and the Quest for the World Famous Symbol of Switzerland (Canton: Wallis/Valais)
Ah, Zermatt!
There I was, hoping to behold the famous Matterhorn! Because surely a condition to continue living in Switzerland is that you pay your respects to the iconic mountain. After all, it’s as much a symbol of Switzerland as chocolate, cheese, cows, watches, and punctual trains (mostly—more on that below).
(Unless, of course, you’re one of those people who don’t know the difference between Switzerland and Sweden. Trust me, there is a huge difference!!)
Little did I know, as I boarded the train on that early June morning two years ago, that I was embarking not on a trip, but on a quest, full of danger and mystery and surprise.
What follows is the tale of this quest.
And So it Begins
The famous mountain resort town of Zermatt is located in the municipality of Visp, in the bilingual canton of Wallis/Valais. I say bilingual because the western part, the one closer to the French border, is French-speaking (wonder why?), while the eastern part, which includes Zermatt, is German-speaking.
Or rather, they speak a dialect called Walliserdeutsche. The local dialect is older than most of the others, and is not easily understood by those from other cantons!
Like any good, self-respecting quest, it is a long and treacherous path to this magical place. From Zurich, it took over 3 hours to arrive, and depending on the time you leave, you may have to change trains twice. That is not a problem, if the trains are punctual. However, once the train reached Bern, there was a delay, leaving me worried that I would miss my connection in Visp.
So no, trains in Switzerland are not always punctual!
Of course, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if I had missed the next train. I’d have to wait for the next one. But still, it was, like I said, a long trip, and I wanted to make sure I’d have enough time to explore!
Thankfully the train fairies stepped in, and I found the Matterhorn train waiting for me in Visp!
From there, the ride was mostly uphill. The train fairies once again helped me, guiding me towards a seat on the opposite side of the various precipices. Those things terrify me just as much as chair lifts!
Unfortunately, the weather fairies were either not as kind as the train ones, or they were asleep after a whole night of drinking and dancing and frolicking in the woods because it was rainy and dark the entire trip.
The bad weather, despite jumping up and down and waving its arms at me, wasn’t enough for me to realize that the trip would turn into a quest. I was still innocent at this point, blithely believing that I’d get to Zermatt, and the clouds would magically part, the sun would smile at me, and the Matterhorn would wave me a hello.
Arrival in Zermatt
As I should’ve expected if I weren’t thinking about fairies (in my defense, I was reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell during the trip), when I got to Zermatt I found rain. And clouds, lots of clouds. As in evil, ominous clouds that shielded the mountains from my eager eyes. This when I had just travelled over 3 hours to see a freaking mountain Well, the town too, but let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone goes to Zermatt and turns their nose up at the Matterhorn…..
But it could be worse. During the storms that hit that part of Switzerland at the end of June and early July (see my July Recap), the river Vispa flooded, causing access to Zermatt to be closed. As if that wasn’t enough, more than one heatwave hit the region afterwards, as it did a big chunk of the country, including where I am.
So yeah, there are worse things than nefarious clouds obscuring the mountains. That didn’t mean that I wouldn’t fight to pull them away so that I could finally catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn! And so my quest began.
Zermatt, You Little Overachiever
Many superlatives are associated with Zermatt. It’s Europe’s highest ski resort (how I wished I was there instead of roasting under the current heatwave), and has Europe’s highest cable car station, at 3883 meters, from which you can see the mountains in Italy, France, and Switzerland.
The area also includes the highest peak (Dufourspitze), as well as the highest hotel (the 3100 Kulmhotel Gornergrat, at, you guessed it, 3100m).
And, of course, the town lies at the foot of the world’s most photographed mountain, the object of my new-found quest, the Matterhorn, at an altitude of 1620m.
But wait, there’s more! Zermatt is surrounded by 38 of the 76 four-thousand-meter peaks in Europe!
Close to 6000 people live there permanently, including, or at least from 1999 to 2019, Anni-Frid Synni Lynstad, also known as Frida, from ABBA. This number can swell up to 35000 during peak season, as tourists come to either ski or hike in the area.
One interesting fact about Zermatt is that it’s a car-free zone. If you travel there by car, you need to park it in Täsch (which is 5km away), then take a taxi or a shuttle train to Zermatt. To get around town, you can do it by foot, like I did, or horse-drawn carriage (really), or an eTaxi, a free eBus, or by bike.
All Roads Lead to the Matterhorn
As I walked through Zermatt, I found evidence of the central role played by the Matterhorn everywhere. For instance, together with the Mountain Climber Cemetery, a number of monuments and memorial sites are spread around the town to remember the mountain climbers and guides who risked their lives to scale the Matterhorn.
Among these is the Walk of Climb. These are bronze plaques located in the center of town, along the Bahnhofstrasse, which serve as a memorial for the first 7 climbers of to reach the summit on July 14th, 1865. Four of those sadly died on the descent.
This first ascent put the Matterhorn, and hence Zermatt, on the map, turning the region into the world-famous resort bursting with tourists that it is today.
Additional plaques honor the first 2 to ascend from the Italian side on July 17th, 1865, as well as a plaque to celebrate Lucy Walker, the first woman to reach the summit in 1871, and and another for Meta Brevoort, the first woman to traverse the Matterhorn from Zermatt to the Italian resort of Breuil-Cervinia.
One thing to note is that there is no cable car, so the only way up is to climb. And there’s a reason it was considered too challenging to scale, so much so that the summit was only reached after several unsuccessful attempts, from both the Zermatt and the Italian side. It’s hard! It’s all rock and ice, so unless you’re a very, very experienced climber, leave it alone, and admire it from afar.
If the clouds don’t conspire against you and you get the nice weather I didn’t….
The Quest for the Infamous and Iconic Matterhorn
The Matterhorn is known as the "jewel of the Swiss Alps,” the most famous mountain in Europe, the symbol of Switzerland…. Who knew it would be so hard to find it??
For my first attempt, I went up along the Matterhorn Trail, but saw nothing but clouds shutting me off, so I went down again to regroup, and explored the area some more.
At one point, I had the questionable idea to follow the cable cars, hoping that somehow the Matterhorn would take a peak behind the cloud curtains and wink at me. To no avail. But I did get to see cute chalets, and make a new friend!
I did not see any Matterhorn from there, so I gave up and turned around. But, as you can see on the pictures above, there’s an incline, and not an insignificant one. That meant that to return, I’d have to walk downhill, in a trail covered with little stones smirking at you, daring you not to slip.
Somehow, me and my Doc Martens made it down safe and sound (or I wouldn’t be here writing this!) without once slipping, and without having anything to hold on to. How I managed it I don’t know, but I did ask myself again and again why I did that to myself as I slowly made my way down.
The fact that I reached the bottom unscathed infused me with determination. I wasn’t going to give up my quest, and let those mustache-twirling clouds defeat me. I was ready to fight! So I went up the Matterhorn Trail again, and kept walking until I reached a point where the path narrowed, with one side mountain, and the other side… you guessed it! The stuff of my nightmares.
And no, I did not dare go further. The whole thing about facing your fears definitely does not apply in this case. I’ve already done the chair lifts, twice; that’s more than enough for a lifetime!
But I did linger in the area, safely away from the scary part, eyeing the clouds with my best implacable gaze, and lo and behold, the clouds began to disperse, and the sun came out! For a moment it seemed that the Matterhorn was trying to shake off the clouds, that I would win after all and complete my quest. Could it be???
The Search Continues
I stood on that spot, taking picture after picture, as though my phone camera could zap away the clouds, but they never fully left, instead mocking me with tiny glimpses of the object of my quest. Eventually, I got tired of the stalemate, and decided to return to town, from where I could still attempt to magically pull off the cloud cover.
But as you can see above, I couldn’t defeat the clouds. In the end, I never once got a good full view of the famous mountain, and so even though I did find the Matterhorn, my quest failed.
Zermatt Beyond the Matterhorn
It may come as a surprise, but I’m not the first to go to Zermatt on a quest. The writer Vladimir Nabokov, for example, who was also an avid lepidopterist, travelled there more than once to hunt for butterflies. I assume he was a lot more successful than I was in my own quest!
Zermatt also marked the end of the trail followed by J.R.R. Tolkien in his own Switzerland adventure in 1911, when he was 19 years old. And although nowadays, we tend to associate New Zealand with Middle Earth because of the movies, it was actually Switzerland, and in particular this trip that inspired the landscape of Middle Earth. Tolkien himself admitted as much in a letter to his son Michael:
The hobbit’s journey from Rivendell to the other side of the Misty Mountains, including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods, is based on my adventures in 1911
As a diehard Tolkien fan, currently writing my own fantasy book, it was an immense joy and a dream come true for me to walk on his footsteps, and experience the wondrous views that had such an effect on him. I will, of course, be mentioning Tolken a lot more as I write about other places he visited in upcoming posts!
Exploring Zermatt in the Rain
To conclude, here are some views of the town when I arrived in the rain. I still liked it very much, which compensated for the missing Matterhorn! I highly recommend visiting it, and not just for the mountain. Don’t give the evil clouds power!
Exploring Zermatt in the Sun
Of course, the town looked even prettier and more adorable with the sun!
And so after my failed quest, I thought, I need an ice cream. Because of course, only ice cream could bring back my strength after my intense fight against the clouds for a view of the Matterhorn.
As I walked back into town, I noticed tourists going to this Italian Gelato place, but when I looked at the prices, I was horrified. Yes, Switzerland is expensive, but there’s no need to pay 4.50 CHF (CHF means Swiss franc, Switzerland’s currency. The abbreviation CH stands for Confœderatio Helvetica, or Helvetic Confederation), which is a bit over $5 at current exchange rate, for a tiny speck of ice cream.
So I kept walking, and found this tiny little stand next to a restaurant advertising a proper ice cream, one big scoop in a good-sized waffle cone for 3.50 CHF (about $4). There was no one there, only a bell that you had to ring to get service. I did just that and got my ice cream for a lot less than what the tourists were paying—and a better looking and probably more delicious ice cream at that!
(And yes, even though I’m not Swiss, and live in Zurich rather than Zermatt, I still didn’t see myself as a tourist there!)
So the lesson is, do shop around! There are ways to spend less money in Switzerland.
With that, I bid you farewell until we meet again next week ! I’ll be sure to report back when I do finally get to see the Matterhorn in all its glory. I shall defeat the clouds!!!
*cue the training montage*
