Monthly Archives: August 2024

Aug25

Riding the Gondolas of Zermatt

Posted on by
Standard

Tuesday, 23-July-2024


I’m tired, man. I’ve got a sunburn, I hiked just about a billion miles straight up yesterday, and I’ve still got to pack up for Germany. I’m going to let something else do the work of ascending the mountains of Zermatt today.

I’m going to take the Gondolas.



Zermatt has tons of gondolas. Like… most everywhere you look, there’s a gondola going up to a mountain peak. Or are they ski lifts? I frankly don’t know the difference, so I’m going with Gondolas for the time being, since they sound more interesting.

Zermatt is a mountain / ski town, so it makes a lot of sense, when you think about it, and I was excited to take full advantage of this fact. I’d booked a ticket the evening before, grabbed some breakfast, and set out to let human ingenuity carry me up to the heights surrounding Zermatt.

My first stop was Trockener Steg, up at 9,642ft elevation. It was surprisingly easy to get there, too… Google had told me I’d have to take a couple of different gondola rides up, but in the end it turns out that all those “separate” rides are actually just one continuous chain… Sure, my car switched cables, but it was all automated. I had the difficult job of sitting still, enjoying the views, and taking pictures out the windows:


At Trockener Steg, I disembarked and wandered a bit… quickly realizing just how high of an elevation I was at. I usually deal with elevation fairly well, but this time… Well, I’ll blame the quick ascent for my vertigo, but dear lord it kicked my butt. I’d planned on quickly continuing my ascent, but frankly I was simply unable to – I was woozy and disoriented, to a rather concerning extreme if I’m being honest.

I walked slowly and carefully, in light of the light oxygen count. I found a restaurant (with Schnitzel!), drank a ton of water, and took some time to let my brain get used to the decreased oxygen count. As an interesting note – a humans “SpO2 count” is a measure of blood oxygenation. At sea level this is usually 98% for people – this drops to 95% at 5,00ft (Zermatt), and further drops to 90% at 10,000ft.

Anyways, I never really regained full sanity, and so pushed onward to my highest destination – Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, at 12,840ft elevation.

I arrived on one of the last cars… unfortunately, my attempt to acclimatize to the elevation up at Trockener had taken a bit too long, and Glacier Paradise was closing up – I had just enough time to appreciate the views (and the lovely cold!) before being shepherded back to the final gondola descending back to Zermatt.



The descent was lovely, with slightly different views from the ascent to keep me company. I had fun, I enjoyed, and I appreciated the views… as the blood in my poor abused body and brain slowly re-saturated with oxygen, and my mind started working a little more effectively again. I watched a snow cat grade one of the still-open ski slops, I enjoyed a bit of early sunset on the peaks, and I thanked the town for one last adventure before I dove into packing up for the next day’s adventure…

Aug24

A Big Hike #2 – My hike to Arbenbach Falls

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 22-July-2024


The day started off rainy, or at least foggy and cloudy, but that’s absolutely no obstacle for excellent adventures… as the views I found at Arbenbach falls prove.

It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts to my second long hike, I’ll admit. I got going a bit late, was feeling tired, and it was cloudy and foggy when I went into town to pick up some breakfast and lunch snacks.

I persevered, though, quickly diving into the trail and picking my way through the minor horde of tourists that was going between the start of my trail and the first of the interesting stops along the way. It was absolutely lovely, as most trails in Zermatt are, and I took full advantage of this first stop. It was a small hamlet of four or five houses called Z’mutt, with two little restaurants in between the clusters of houses. I had a quick cup of coffee… and took the chance to apply a whole slathering of sunscreen in preparation for my ascent.



The sun was strong, the trail steep, and my legs strong.

I forged upward, sweating enough that I ended up cooling down by hiking without my shirt for a bit… a smart decision at the time, it seemed, but one that would bite me in the butt (shoulder, technically) later on… but for the time being, it was a lovely ascent.

I hiked, my poles pounded on the trail, and the sun slowly burned off the clouds and fog surrounding the nearby peaks. The Matterhorn never quite escaped its blanket of cloying mist, but it came close on quite a few occasions – always standing proud and giving simply stunning views to yours truly.

By and by, I made it to Arbenbach falls. They were, unsurprisingly, beautiful and photogenic – absolutely perfect for an afternoon stop for water, electrolytes, and lunch. I sat, I supped, I rested and I appreciated the views. Hikers passed me in both directions, never once noticing the recharging American sitting in the shade of the waterfalls with his book, his sausage roll, and a quickly-emptying pile of waterbottles.

It was… I just can’t even describe. It was glorious, even recounting it now so many weeks later.


The descent was, somehow, equally beautiful as the ascent. More-so, in some cases, as the sunlight stretched toward the horizon and the mountains around me lit up with the glow of golden hour.

I trekked downward, having put on my knee braces as a preventative measure, making good time on my return to Zermatt. I armored up with my shirt, now that the day was cooling off and the sun wasn’t burning down on me quite as intensely, and found myself cruising down the mountain alone… all the previous tourists having headed into town for Fondue or something of the like.

It was quiet, it was lovely, and it was serene. I was serene.


Aug23

Views of the Edelweiss Hut through the fog

Posted on by
Standard

Monday, 22-July-2024


The previous day, I embarked upon a hike up to the Edelweiss Hut, in a quest to gain elevation and lunch.

I failed in that quest, due to the trail being out, my hiking poles not reminding me to bring them, and another issue that I still can’t quite recall. However, on Monday morning while starting onto my walk toward one of the waterfalls up the valley near the Matterhorn, I was gifted with an absolutely gorgeous view of said Edelweiss Hut – from a distance, and through the morning fog.

See… Zermatt had a lot of cool cafes / restaurants / hotels / buildings that’re perched up on cliffs.

In the mornings, there’s fog throughout the valley.

In this instance, those two combined to form a magical building, floating in a cloud, with birds wheeling about in the empty void between it and the ground.




At least, that’s what it looked like to me.