[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 1 June 2015]
2 November 2014, Sunday
It’s Sunday, and the agenda for today is a trip up to the mountains. We woke up at 7am, grabbed some breakfast and headed for the cable car station at the far end of the town. It was a very cool 1 degrees Celcius outside, and we had armed ourselves with our warmest clothings available – down jacket, scarves, gloves and caps.
We had wanted to take the cable car all the way to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at 3,883m, but because it was the shoulder season, it was closed so the highest we could go was to Trockener Steg at 2,939m. The Matterhorn stands at 4,478m tall but you can’t go to the Matterhorn. Nevertheless, we purchased our tickets at CHF 65 each (approx. S$93), and hopped on the Matterhorn-Express cable car. The ride from Zermatt to Trockener Steg took less than 30 minutes.
Soon enough, we abandoned the village of Zermatt and headed towards the heavens, with the triangular face of the Matterhorn looming larger with each passing minute. It was a mighty fine day, the clear blue sky streaked by wisps of clouds. Along the way, the cable car made brief stops at Furgg (2,432m) and Schwarzsee (2,583m) before reaching Trockener Steg.
After alighting, it was immediately clear that we were quite possibly the only ones who were not there to ski. Everyone else was decked in ski gear and they looked super pro. For us, we just wanted to experience the cool air up in the mountains and to play with the snow. It wasn’t as cold as we expected, mainly due to the strong sun that was bearing down. We walked around, taking in the fresh air and scenery before heading to the restaurant for a bite.
Not surprisingly, I ordered rosti with bacon and it was as yummy as ever. It was such a beautiful morning that we chose a seat outdoors, where we could admire the Matterhorn upfront. Here at Trockener Steg, the Matterhorn appears very close, like it was within walking distance. After we had our fill of the food and the view, we took the cable car back down, but we stopped at Schwarzsee to check it out.
It was a good decision to stop at Schwarzsee because there were actually more paths and trails to walk about, and even more beautiful photo opportunities with the Matterhorn as the backdrop. We spent a good 40 minutes there taking photos. We also saw many others who were there to hike, and I think it would have been a very enjoyable hike. Perhaps I’ll do that next time.
Back at Zermatt, we couldn’t get enough of the mountain scenery and took even more shots of the Matterhorn with the beautiful autumn trees and river. In fact, we didn’t have anything left to do for the rest of the day and we just strolled around town, popping into shops (but not buying anything cos it was pricey) and grabbing a bite when we felt like it. It was really nice to enjoy life at a leisurely pace without a care in the world. We felt recharged and relaxed, and that’s the way vacations should be. End of day 9, five more days to go!
