Zermatt, Mar. 24, 2026

[Tony Crocker]

As noted here we hired Robin from Zermatters guide service and met him 9AM at Sunnega. We skid down to Findeln, stopping here by Robin’s family historic house at right.

It was built in 1344! I knew that was during the medieval warming and inquired. Robin said grapes were grown in the valley then. It’s not quite that warm now but he expects it will be in another 20 years. Then I asked how people managed living there during the Little Ice Age. He said the Stockhorn/Hohtalli glacier advanced by 1890 to the valley floor at Gant, less than a mile from the houses in Findeln.

Robin's dad is a mountain guide, has climbed the Matterhorn 220 times. Robin has climbed Kilimanjaro too. Because of where he lives he thought the pace was way too slow.

We took lots of pictures at the top of Hohtalli, where we arrived at 9:50. The Rote Nase tram only runs on the hour. View to the top of the Monte Rosa massif at upper left.

Those twin peaks are just over 15,000 feet, second highest in the Alps to Mont Blanc. You can get a heli ski drop in the saddle just to the right of them, close up view:

The Breithorn is in the large rock formation top center of this pic.

The notch just left of those rocks is the top of the Schwarz Glacier, which flows diagonally to the lower center of the pic. That’s what Liz and I skied with a guide in 2014.

Zoom of top of Schwarz Glacier:

Naked eye we thought we saw ski tracks but this zoom pic shows they are wind waves.

View down Hohtalli pistes with Matterhorn backdrop:

Some views as we were skiing down from Rote Nase, old Triftje T-bar towers in this one:

Here you can see the south side of Rothorn mostly melted out.

In both pics you can see the gray line of moraine gravel, which was the height of the glacier in 1890.

Rote Nase skiing pics are in the other thread. But lower down Robin knew of a tight line in the trees, steep and sheltered enough that the 10 day old powder was still deep.

He sent me first, so I could see from below how many exposed boulders there were. Robin aired the lowest one.

We rode the chair from Gant to Blauherd, with final views of the ski terrain.

Hohtalli tram towers are at right, Rote Nase station is on the ridge left of center and the trees we skied at the end are at lower center.

Zoom farther left on that ridgeline:

The Stockhorn T-bar ascended that snowfield at far left, reaching 11,580 feet, 900 feet higher than Hohtalli and Rote Nase. The Triftje and Stockhorn T-Bars closed in 2017. Robin said the entire ridge up there was encased in glacial ice when those surface lifts were built in the 1960s. Most of that ice is gone and the underlying rock is unstable with lots of air pockets. Back in the day, the Triftje T-bar was the site of a late season mogul competition.

Robin left us at Sunnega about noon, where we took a short break. We then returned to Hohtalli, skiing Piste 28. Here’s the view where we dropped in skier’s right of the tram tower in 2014 and skied 2,000+ vertical of soft chalk.

We were not tempted by current conditions. Farther down here’s a view up yellow skiroute 30, skier’s left of the tram towers.

We again exited from Gant to Blauherd, this time skiing piste #9 to the Kumme gondola, which did not exist in 2014. The Rothorn pistes 13 and 14 were very pleasant afternoon skiing, very few people with winter snow on the upper half and good supportable spring snow lower down. We stopped just above town at the Champagne bar.

We skied 19,400 vertical.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Wow, lots to digest here: a house from the 1300s, Matterhorn and Kilimanjaro (and he bitched about the pace, hah), grapes in the valley, t-bars that were built in the 1960s no longer in use due to disappearing ice.

I knew that was during the medieval warming and inquired. Robin said grapes were grown in the valley then. It’s not quite that warm now but he expects it will be in another 20 years.

I forgot about all that. I still remember my memorable first visit to Valais in 2017 (note the @Worldskitraveller-esque skiing more than one area on the same day ) and thinking "huh?" when I saw grapes on both sides of the valley.

I asked AI for a primer about the period:
What you’re referring to is the Medieval Warm Period (roughly 950–1250 AD), when parts of Europe—including alpine valleys near Zermatt—were warm enough to support vineyards at higher elevations than today. There wasn’t a single cause. It was a combination of overlapping factors that nudged the climate warmer, especially in the North Atlantic/European region:

1) Higher solar activity
There’s strong evidence the sun was slightly more active during this period (fewer volcanic aerosols + more solar output), which modestly increased temperatures.

2) Fewer major volcanic eruptions
Big eruptions inject sulfur into the atmosphere and cool the planet. The Medieval period had a relative lull, so you didn’t get that cooling effect as often.

3) Ocean circulation shifts (North Atlantic focus)
Changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) likely pushed more warm water toward Europe. That would have amplified regional warming—especially in places like the Alps.

4) Persistent atmospheric patterns
Climate modes similar to today’s North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) may have favored milder winters and warmer growing seasons in central and western Europe.

5) Regional—not global—warming
This is important. The warming was not uniform worldwide. Europe (and parts of the North Atlantic) warmed more than other regions, which is why you see specific effects like:

• vineyards at higher elevations in Switzerland
• Norse farming in Greenland
• longer growing seasons in northern Europe

Why grapes near Zermatt specifically?​

The upper Rhône Valley in Valais is already one of the driest, sunniest parts of Switzerland. Add a slightly warmer baseline climate, and suddenly:

• the growing season lengthens
• frost risk drops
• marginal slopes become viable for viticulture

So vineyards could creep higher up valley walls than they can today.

Don’t over-interpret it​

This wasn’t a uniformly “hot” period like modern warming. Today’s climate change is:

• global, not just regional
• faster
• strongly tied to greenhouse gases rather than natural variability

Medieval vs. modern Alpine vineyards (quick comparison)​

Elevation limits (Europe-wide proxy)​

• Medieval (~1100–1300 AD): vines up to ~780 m
• Today (same regions): typically ~560 m
  That ~200+ meter shift implies about +1.0–1.4°C warmer conditions during the medieval period

That’s the key number. In mountain environments, that difference is huge.

Switzerland / Valais (near Zermatt)​

Modern vineyards in the Valais region already push extremes:

• Typical vineyards: 460–760 m
• High outliers (e.g., Visperterminen): ~1,100 m
• Some of the highest vineyards in Europe today

During the Medieval Warm Period:

• Marginal slopes higher up the valley would have been more reliably viable
• Areas that today are “edge cases” were likely mainstream growing zones

What actually expanded (conceptually)​

Think in three dimensions:

1) Upward (elevation)​

• Warmer temps = longer frost-free season
• Vineyards climb higher up valley walls

2) Northward (latitude)​

• Grapes grown:
  
  • In England
  • Hundreds of km farther north in France/Germany

3) Into marginal alpine valleys​

• Inner Alpine zones (like upper Rhône near Zermatt) became:
  
  • warmer
  • drier (already rain-shadowed)
  • more agriculturally viable

Why Valais was (and still is) special​

Even today, Valais cheats the system a bit:

• South-facing slopes (maximum sun exposure)
• Dry climate (rain shadow of the Alps)
• Foehn winds (warm, drying downslope winds that help ripen grapes)

During a warmer baseline climate, that combination becomes powerful:

• Grapes ripen more consistently
• Higher terraces become viable
• Risk of early frost drops

What happened after ~1300​

As the climate shifted into the Little Ice Age:

• Vineyards retreated downhill
• Marginal alpine plots were abandoned
• Northern vineyards (like England) largely disappeared

At the same time:

• Alpine settlement patterns also contracted
• Some high-elevation farming zones were abandoned (same climate signal)

 

[jasoncapecod]

i'm looking at this post on a large monitor...Stunning!!!

 

[Tony Crocker]

On prior trips we noticed vineyards all over the place around Sion, Sierre, etc. We even stayed at one in 2022.

Evidence seems abundant that the Alps amplify climate change effects, both the in medieval and current warm periods and during the Little Ice Age.

The warming was not uniform worldwide.

I'm not sure what level of detail evidence there is from that far back. But there would be much more record keeping of it in Europe in terms of agriculture, glacial advance/retreat, etc. The medieval warming period coincides with the demise of the Anasazi civilization in the American Southwest. That was due to drought; I don't know about temperatures.