Zermatt hiking | Tales from the Hutt

Sunday, 21-July-2024

After a long and amazing hike the previous day, I decided to take Sunday as a rest day.

That fits pretty well, in my mind. Some kind of historic significance to that…

This is me, we’re talking about, though. In one of the most beautiful mountain towns in the world. I wasn’t about to sit on the couch eating bon-bons and watching TV… no matter whether or not they were available in large supply in the various chocolate shops around town.

Instead, I did a few hikes. Or… attempted to, I should say.

You see, it was rainy out, which adds a bit of challenge to the trail… and risk of injury from slipping… and limits the views available on said hikes. I still wanted to get onto the mountainside, but I made sure to do so safely and cautiously – which means that I went slowly, and did a nicely simple hike to start out.

My target was the Edelweiss Hut – a restaurant / lodge high up on the steep slopes to the West of town. It… well, frankly it was a bit too ambitious, in terms of elevation gain over distance, but still. It seemed like a fun idea, to hike and then have lunch and then hike down.

It wasn’t to be, though, as the trail that I was aiming for was one of the victims of the recent flash floods, and was closed down with quite a bit of caution tape barring my way. I could have gone around, of course, via a similar (but much longer) trail… but that would have been pushing a bit too far in terms of milage for my “rest” day.

On top of that, I was sticking to the rule of 3. Three things go wrong, you cancel the trip. End statement. Prior to the trail being out, I’d forgotten my hiking poles, and… something else went wrong too, that I frankly can’t quite recall at this time. Suffice to say, I simply took it in stride, and headed around a shorter loop… consoling myself by finding an absolutely LOVELY fondue restaurant when I made it back to town.

And, to be clear – I was rewarded for that discretion. The new trail I took was stunning, and granted me some amazing rainy views that I simply adore. I hope you do, as well:

Saturday, 20-July-2024

My first big hike in Zermatt was freaking awesome.

11miles, 3,000ft elevation gain, two restaurants, and countless views. Good hiking, constant yet mild elevation gain, and I was even graced with a railway ride to descend… which my knees definitely appreciated.

I can’t believe I just wrote that. I feel old.

As old as I feel writing that out… I didn’t feel old while hiking. I felt strong, I felt good, and I was frankly a little bit awestruck at how beautiful the views I was getting were… even as I passed restaurant after hotel after restaurant. I stopped at two – one for some cold drinks, and one for a late lunch.

My friend Daniel and I have joked that, should we ever become infinitely rich and famous, we’d hire a helicopter to meet us at the top of various long rock climbs with babyback ribs and other BBQ accoutrements… I didn’t notice ribs on the menu in Zermatt, but they had pretty much everything else. So… yeah. Welcome to Swiss Heaven!