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Zermatt, ValaisThoughtaccess

The valley

A dead end at 1,608 metres with no road in, three lift systems out of it, and skiing that reaches 3,883 metres.

The valley head above the village The village sits at 1,608 metres in a valley that closes at its south end. Three lift systems leave it: one east, one west and one south. Steinmattstrasse runs parallel to the main street, one block up the slope. valley floor, 1,608 m the chalet west lift east lift south lift, to the glacier no cars anywhere in the village
The village on the floor, with the three systems leaving it.

Getting here

There is no road into the village. You drive or take the train to Täsch, five kilometres down the valley, leave the car in the covered car park there, and take the shuttle train, which runs every twenty minutes and takes twelve. From Zürich airport it is about three and a half hours door to door, all of it on rails if you want it to be.

In the village

Electric vehicles only, limited to twenty kilometres an hour, and most of them belong to hotels. Everything in the old village is within ten minutes on foot. Steinmattstrasse runs one block above the main street, which means you hear the main street and are not standing in it.

The three systems

  • South, to the glacier – year-round skiing on the Theodul at up to 3,883 metres. Cold, high, and the only reliable snow in October.
  • East – the long sunny side, which is where to be in December and January and where not to be in April after eleven in the morning.
  • West – steeper, shadier, and holds its snow latest in the spring.

Seasons

Snow is reliable from the middle of December to the middle of April and at altitude for far longer. February is the coldest and the busiest. March is the best compromise. The village closes down to a quiet hum from the end of April until the middle of June, and again through November, and those two gaps are when the hotels are shut and the builders are in.

Summer

Four hundred kilometres of marked path from the valley floor to 3,100 metres. The high ones open as the snow goes, which is between the middle of June and the middle of July depending on the year. The desk has the current state of every path on a board and updates it each morning.

Weather

Dry for the Alps, because the big peaks to the south take most of what comes up from Italy. Clear mornings and cloud after two in the afternoon is the summer pattern. In winter, a storm comes in from the west, drops for a day or two, and then it is bright and very cold.

The snow field under the face
The snow field under the face, on the west side, in the first week of February.
First tracks across the north slope
First tracks across the north slope, which holds its snow latest in the spring.

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