February 17 – 19, 2017 (Zermatt, Switzerland)

I was super excited and had been looking forward to this weekend since Grant had booked it last October. He had seen a Meetup post for a group of Swiss adventurers to go on a ski weekend trip to Zermatt, a Swiss town in the Alps near the Italian border that’s home to the famous Matterhorn. As this was going to be my first time snowboarding in Europe, and Grant’s first time snowboarding on real snow, we were both filled with eager anticipation on this day.

We met some of the group members at the Zürich main station and boarded a train headed to Lucerne, and then south towards Zermatt. Once at the little town of Visp we had to switch to a smaller, regional train that climbed and snaked its way through the Alps. Unfortunately, as night had descended upon us, we couldn’t see the mountain scenery outside our window but we definitely noticed the climb in elevation as we heard snowboards and skis, propped up in the luggage section, one after another losing their balance and thudding down like large bowling pins. Thankfully, Grant had secured our snowboards with a suitcase bungee cord.

The mood in our train car was super festive; everyone in our wagon was headed for a ski holiday. There were people who had brought along wine bottles and plastic cups and others with open beers and bags of chips, snacking and toasting away. The chattering crescendoed in time to our ascension into Zermatt, 5,276 feet above sea level. A lot of the other passengers were part of our Meetup group, although we didn’t know it yet.

We arrived at the train station at around 8:45. It’s quite a long walk up a steep, icy hill to the hostel we were booked at. Thankfully, we had the sense to follow other ski veterans who knew the “ropes” of the town and piled into the battery operated “tuk-tuk’s” serving as taxis. Gas-engine vehicles are not permitted in Zermatt, so the taxis and other vehicles that drive on the narrow, winding roads are all electric.

As we alighted our taxi, I was stunned to see the phosphorescent clouds and the glittering lights of the town below. Then Grant pointed out that what I thought were clouds, was actually the snow-capped Alps that surrounded us like quiet sentinels in the nights. It literally took my breath away, I’d never seen such tall mountain peaks. I couldn’t wait to see it in the morning light.

At dawn, we headed to the ski gondola as soon as it opened. We had a two-day ski pass. Because it was Grant’s first time, and my first time in 7 years on a snowboard) we decided to start out on the blue run (easy). We took the ski lift up to Gornergrat and snowboarded down. We were lucky as the sky was a bright shade of electric blue and not a cloud in the sky.

I learned to snowboard in Oregon and was surprised to see how large Zermatt was. There were many ski runs streaking their way down several mountains. And this ski area crosses international borders, although our passes only worked on the “Swiss side”.

We really enjoyed the Gornergrat run as the Matterhorn kept us company. At the top of Gornergrat, we enjoyed a lookout over the neighboring peaks at 3,135 meters (10,285 feet) above sea level. There was even an igloo village halfway down the run where people could take a break, bask in the sun, and sip hot chocolate or Glühwein, (mulled wine). This provided a comfortable respite from the exercise of working your way down the mountain.

Take a look at our video from the Gornergrat area:

Grant practiced on the bunny slope but did join me on several blue runs, plowing most of the way down (when not falling). I suggested to him that as a beginner, he will constantly be “one with the snow” and will get good at falling. Lucky we rented helmets.

We finished off our day by going out with some of the people from our group and searching the town streets for a restaurant open for walk-in customers. This weekend was very busy and most of the restaurants were booked full of reservations. We found a place tucked away in a side-street and they begrudgingly accommodated our party of 5. They served a really good mushroom fondue. I’m happy to say that this was one of the things to do on my dream list: to snowboard in the Swiss alps and eat fondue.

What an amazing weekend!

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