A Very Special Day

Yesterday was a very special day for me because I got to visit a place I’ve been dreaming about seeing for a decade now:

Yes, it’s the Matterhorn!

Goodness, how to describe this iconic hell of a mountain in words...

Only 2.5 hours from Bern by train, the Matterhorn sits above the town of Zermatt.  Starting at the base village, I made my way up, up, and up through changing forests, chalets nestled into the mountain side, and eventually onto exposed rock- and snow! From the edge of the trail, you could see Zermatt sitting way down below, and peaks and glaciers all around. It felt like the top of the world.

Snow. I don’t know if it’s the nordie in me, or the comfort in knowing that climate change hasn’t yet caused one massive melt, but there’s something spectacular about finding snow in summer. On my first train ride into the Valais mountains a few days ago, an economics student from the University of Bern chatted me up about my project. At one point, I saw some white stuff on a mountain peak off in the distance and exclaimed “Schnee!” “Yep, Schnee” he responded with far less enthusiasm.

I had a similar reaction when hiking towards the Matterhorn yesterday. At my first snow sighting, I stopped for a moment, examined it, touched it, to detect whether it was leftover from the past winter’s snowmaking or whether it had fallen naturally (of course naturally occurring snow would cause me much more satisfaction). It was difficult to tell the origin of this white mass, however. So onward I went, eager to keep moving and left at peace by the fact that much snow lay ahead, in places where snowmaking surely could not reach.

While climbing, climbing up many a switchback, enjoying digging deep, completely out of breath and bordering on lightheaded, I knew that at one point I would turn a bend and the Big Beauty would come into view. There were some smaller Matterhorn-looking peaks within view, and I kept asking myself if maybe one of them was it. But no. When I did round that corner, the real one was SO BIG and hit me so suddenly that I nearly teared up. It was a dream come true to be here. I was still caught in the dream part and less able to believe the trueness.

 

So you’re probably thinking, “Okay you hiked near the Matterhorn, but not up it, right?”

Yes, that would be correct. My goal was to make it to Hörnlihutte, the hut where mountaineers stay the night before heading out to climb the Matterhorn the following morning. The hiking signs said it takes about 5 hours to get there from town, so I figured with my 2L of water, gel, chips leftover from the US, and some sort of way too healthy organic Swiss mango bar thing, I could somehow manage to do a roundtrip 10h hike starting at 1:30 in the afternoon.

As it turned out, time was not the issue- the trail was. The photo of me in front of the Matterhorn was the closest I got to hit. Vertigo had begun to set in on those black walkways, which are essentially nailed to the mountain side on one side, and have a railing separating you from the cliff below on the other. When an old German guy offered to take my photo, I asked him if the trail got any less scary, and he replied, “This is the easiest part!” He asked if I had avalanche gear on me and whether I knew how to cross-check snow. Sooo, back down the mountain I went.

At this point, I allowed myself to stop and take pictures (on the way up I had been a bit too worried about time- and got into that out-of-breath-this-hurts-but-feels-so-good-don’t-stop mode). Here are some photos from along the way:

The trail goes through snow! 

It’s a bit hard to tell from the picture, but this is a sketchy narrow

rock crossing between snow and a drop-off

When I got back into the town of Zermatt, I succeeded in eating the BEST gelato ever, even if it cost 5CH (boy was I ravenous…), in losing my phone, finding it again thanks to a super nice postcard salesman who remembered me as his “American customer” and saw only US contacts in it, and in finding humor in these electric cars—the only cars allowed in town:

Gosh do they look weird 

Well that’s all for now; thanks for reading! Off to Andermatt tomorrow for my last day using my 4-day train pass, and for what should be a good rest day from the past few days of running and hiking in the all-too-addicting Alps.