Thursday, Jun 18, 2015
Today’s key adventure was to visit the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. Using three different gondolas, we ascended ever higher to reach Europe’s highest summit station, at an altitude of 12,740 feet. We walked up another 200 feet, to reach the platform that afforded us a 360 degree view. If you haven’t guessed…..it was cold and windy. Just ask Mitchell!
On our way up to the Paradise viewing platform
Gondola reaching the top
The panoramic view was breathtaking. On a clear day, you can see 38 peaks towering over 13,000 feet. Today’s weather conditions prevented us from seeing many of them. However, we did luck out and had a glimpse of Mont Blanc in France, as well as many of the peaks in the Italian range. The Matterhorn was hidden by clouds as were the other three, notable Swiss mountains – Monch, Eiger, and Jungfrau. If you recall from a prior blog, we were to see these three from Murren. The weather did not cooperate. I guess we’ll have to come back and see them on some future trip. While we could see the Matterhorn, the viewing angle from here did not afford the up-close-and-personal grandeur we experience from Gornergrat. It is just amazing and overwhelming to be surrounded so many high mountains. The Swiss and Italian border runs thru the range. Unfortunately there wasn’t a nice, red, dotted line to show us exactly where. It is hard to distinguish which peaks are in which country. A skier really doesn’t care. It’s all about slopes and the thrill. The two countries have done a great job of melding the ski areas seamlessly. As an example, the base of one lift is in Italy, while the top of the same lift is in Switzerland.
View from the top. Weisshorn in the center.
Close by glaciers.
Matterhorn barely visible
Several of the ski lifts were running today. The ski areas have been so well designed that it’s possible to ski all day, never using the same lift twice, while moving from the Swiss to the Italian side – no passports required. Mitchell and Gregory plan to come back in the winter and ski the whole range.
Roselie is ready to hit the slopes.
Next we took an elevator down about 100 feet into the glacier. The Swiss carved a walkway/tunnel to descend yet further and deeper. At the end of the tunnel, they carved out several large ice chambers to display ice sculptures and have some fun. They even had a life-size ice sculpture of an Audi A6. The ice was at least a hundred years old. So, Mitchell had to taste it. Fortunately, he didn’t immediately become old – but then, there could be a delayed reaction.
Ice sculpture in the glacier chamber.
Ok. It’s his birthday week, so we appointed him king.
Is this Disneyland in a glacier?
The ice walls also contained what looked like black flakes. These flakes are in fact small, ‘dead’ insects. Should it ever warm up, they would come to life. Several years ago we visited the Antarctic and heard a talk by one of the scientists stationed there. He was studying this type of life form to understand the mechanism of how an organism can be clinically ‘dead’, yet come to life when exposed warmth. The ultimate goal was to see how this phenomenon might apply to humans.
Returning to Zermatt
Swiss lunch at the mid-mountain Stubli.
Returning to Zermatt, we stopped midway down the mountain and enjoyed a genuine Swiss lunch at a small, mountain Stubli. Gregory and Mitchell were finally able to taste their first Wienerschnitzel.
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