Zermatt, CH & Cervinia, IT: June 28, 2005

[ChrisC]

I thought it would be useful to have a Summer Skiing Report where the main focus wasn't skiing (it was quite low on the activity list). Also, I've finally digitized all my photos and organized them in Google Photos, so they are easy to access.

Visited Zermatt for 2 nights and 3 days in late June 2005 during an overall European trip (Paris->Amsterdam->many stops->Rome) via train.

Zermatt Trail Map (2004)

Matterhorn ski maps

Explore 69 ski trail maps from 1942-2025 for Matterhorn (Zermatt/Breuil-Cervinia/Valtournenche) in West Switzerland and Valais, Italy / Switzerland.

skimap.org

Zermatt Summer Ski Area.
A lot of these surface lifts are now gone (redundant with the newer high-speed S3 Gondola) and/or only operate in the summer. (V1, V3, and R still exist).

Cervinia
I did not know Cervinia offered summer skiing upon visiting, but it is the superior experience! The Plateau Rosa Cable Car (Lift F below) offers nearly 2300 vertical ft of advanced/expert pistes and couloirs. (Essentially the vertical of Alta, UT. Again, Zermatt/Cervinia's vertical is ~2,359 m / 7,739 ft). This sector (Lift F), and Lift P are typically open until July?

After a semi-cloudy/rainy partial travel day (3 hours) from Interlaken, the Matterhorn was visible from Zermatt in the morning.

Note: Rick Steves visited Zermatt and wrote about the Matterhorn 2x before finally seeing in person in 2019! Note his change in attitude.

I joined Rick’s Monday night travel show last Monday, which showed and discussed his new Swiss Alps show, filmed in 2019. It was interesting to see that he now includes Zermatt in the show. He has previously dismissed Zermatt in his guidebooks as “touristy” and a “one-mountain town.” And his travel-planning page in Explore Europe here on the website calls Zermatt a “ho-hum tourist town.”​

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https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/switzerland/zermatt​

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His new addition in the Travel Articles section, entitled “Falling in Love with the Matterhorn”, explains the change in the show: after two previous visits to Zermatt where the Matterhorn remained shrouded in clouds, he finally saw the iconic mountain on the 2019 filming visit. And came under its spell.​

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https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/zermatt-switzerland​

In town, the weather looked questionable but we expected clearing, so we rented ski equipment and headed up to the Klein Matterhorn.

Finally saw the Matterhorn up high before Trockener Steg station.

Klein Matterhorn summit
View North to Matterhorn and Theodul Glacier

View East to Gornergrat/Hohtalli and Rothorn

Exit of Klein Matterhorn station.
View South/West to the Glacier ski zone

Matterhorn. The less familiar, less iconic vantage.

My full Summer Ski Gear
Gore-tex jacket from Arcteryx Outlet - Vancouver, WA (pre-China manufacturing). Gloves. Did have a hat.
Again, all resuable for other activites (biking, beach, hiking, etc.)

Best skiing on the Zermatt Glacier

Multiple runs on

Trockener Steg / Klein Matterhorn Cable Car base (2939 m/9640 ft)
Looking south to the Klein Matterhorn

Looking SW - Plateau Rosa summit in the middle

Skied over to Cervinia / Italy next

Base of Cervinia's Plateau Rosa cable car

Plateau Rosa
Looking west/down into Cervinia

Return to Zermatt
Still corn snow on the way to Trockener Steg to catch cable cars back down to Zermatt

Again, you cannot plan the weather in the Alps too far in advance, so be flexible.

All of this "ski" gear was utilized in Interlaken and Cinque Terre.

 

[ChrisC]

Again, same gear in Interlaken (3 night/4 days) and used for:

• Hiking Lauterbrunnen-Mürren-Gimmelwald round trip loop
• Bungee jumping over the nearby lake
• Mountain biking First-Grindelwald

Lauterbrunnen Valley

View of Wengen from Grütschalp - the opposite/east side.

Murren

Looking up to Birg. This is the winter ski area.

Our only lift for the day - cable car down from Murren to Gimmelwald

Back in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Compares favorably with Yosemite, but less crowded.

PM/Evening Cable Car Bungee Jumping about 30 Minutes outside of Interlaken. Need to look up where this was....

The Stockhorn Bungy Jump is a world-renowned adventure located near Interlaken, where participants leap from a cable car gondola suspended 134 meters (440 feet) above the pristine Stockensee mountain lake. The experience involves a scenic ascent via the Stockhornbahn to the middle station, followed by a smaller cable car ride out over the lake to the jump point.​

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Key Adventure Details​

• Jump Height: 134 meters (439 feet) above Lake Stockensee.
• Location: Erlenbach im Simmental, approximately a 40-minute drive or shuttle ride from Interlaken.
• Operation: Seasonal from April to October, with jumps typically occurring in the evening after regular cable car operating hours.
• Requirements: Jumpers must be at least 14 years old and weigh between 45kg and 115kg (100–253 lbs).
• Duration: Expect the total trip from Interlaken to take approximately 4 to 5 hours

Bungee Jump

134 meters of free fall from a gondola. The Bungy Jump Stockhorn is pure intensity – right over a mountain lake.

www.outdoor.ch

 

[ChrisC]

First/Grindelwald - Hiking AM & Mountain Biking PM

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I said goddamn! Fantastic pix.

Locals have been telling me chapter and verse how I need to come there during the warm months.

 

[jasoncapecod]

I’ve been to zermatt
Summer and winter
Summer was better imo
Skiing was fun and the hiking too

Thread 'France and Zermatt'
https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/france-and-zermatt.9004/

 

[ChrisC]

Locals have been telling me chapter and verse how I need to come there during the warm months.

Yes, the Alps are great in the summer, especially Switzerland, as you are visiting authentic mountain towns (like Zermatt, and the Jungfrau region (Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen/Murren/Wengen/Grindelwald)). Saas Fee is also beautiful, with glacier skiing like Zermatt, and of course Chamonix. I cannot comment on Austria. The industrial ski complexes of France do not shine quite as brightly in the summer.

I recently visited Salzburg and Hallstatt in Austria, in late August/early September. I should have stayed one more day and added glacier skiing at Hintertux, which is just over two hours from Salzburg.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I recently visited Salzburg and Hallstatt in Austria, in late August/early September

That was my first trip to the Alps, August 1999 right after my first total solar eclipse in Hungary. It rained the entire two days in Hallstadt. I was strangely unaware of the Austrian glacier skiing then. I did visit the Dachstein Ice Cave though. Later we took a scenic tram up the Zugspitze from the Austrian side. There was a surface lift up there and still partial snow cover (1999 was a big year in the Alps) but it was not running.