Trip Report
We woke to rain in Zermatt, Switzerland this morning. The clouds were low and we couldn’t see the mountains.
When we got to the ticket window to use our Ikon Passes we were informed only one lift was running with access to one run. Zermatt offers 365-days of skiing a year (most years), but we decided to explore the town.
Around lunchtime the clouds broke, revealing blue skies and sunshine, and the imposing Matterhorn. I didn’t realize the iconic peak was so ‘close’ to Zermatt, looming over the town.
We quickly had some lunch (cold meats and cheese—very European!) and got into our ski gear, got our tickets, and took the gondola up the mountain.
- Related: Summer Skiing to Resume in Zermatt, Switzerland | Resort Will Reopen on Tuesday After Return of Snow
There was still only one chair running, but there were two runs avaialble—left of the chair and right of the chair.
The snow was surprisingly good. For my first run since April, I quickly found my feet again and was enjoying making turns. My quads were complaining though… it doesn’t matter how much I run throughout summer, the legs are never ready for skiing.
Race teams were training on the slopes, constantly buzzing past us.
We took five runs, all exceeded expectations. There was fresh snow on top of packed groomers, enough to push around and perfect for digging edges in.
Snowcats were out in force, hopefully preparing more runs. However great today was, it’d be awesome to have a few more runs.
Big thanks and shoutout to Max. In the rush to get out as the weather broke, we forgot a pair of gloves. Max kindly lent us his spare pair, saving the day.
Conditions look poor but it’s probably difficult to not have a good time in Zermatt!