Zermatt

The first weekend in February I went skiing in Zermatt with Adrienn, Richard, Lindsey, Devon, Evan and Shane. This trip had been planned for a long time... I booked the hostel way back in October because I heard that it's really hard to get one during peak ski season. Unfortunately, I somehow messed up and didn't book for enough people...Tommy was supposed to come on the trip too, but he volunteered to not come which was really nice of him…even if he might have had ulterior motives ;)

Thanks to Devon and Richard for most of these pics :)

Devon, Shane, Evan, me, Richard, Lindsey and Adrienn with the Matterhorn in Zermatt

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I took the train up with Adrienn, Richard, Lindsey and Devon. Since Zermatt is pretty far away, and requires a mountain train that doesn’t run that late we had to leave right after work in order to get there that night. Evan and Shane weren’t fans of this plan, and opted for the cheaper option that involved renegade camping overnight along the way, and then meeting us in Zermatt in the morning…..haha, crazy boys.

Friday night we got settled at the hostel, and met our 2 roommates…one of them shared the room with us the whole weekend. He was a really cool guy, and gave us info about where to ski. He also put up with our late night comings and goings without complaint, so that was pretty decent of him too.

Lindsey, Richard, Devon and me checking out the town of Zermatt

Richard and Lindsey enjoying some beer

Adrienn , Devon and I at the bar

We spent some time wandering around the town, which reminded me a lot of Banff (aka, mountainy, touristy ski town). There were lots of cool shops (all closed of course, remember, it’s still Switzerland) and bars, and we ended up stopping in one that looked pretty fun. We had some beers and met lots of people, it was cool because everyone had such a great “I’m here to ski, so life is awesome!” kind of vibe. We stayed there for a couple hours and then went back to the hostel to sleep.

Evan and Shane arrived pretty much on schedule next morning, and after dipping my massive bag of weekend food for breakfast, we hit the slopes. Unfortunately, Zermatt is not in the region of Switzerland that has been getting lots of snow, so the conditions weren’t great. But it was still really sweet to be skiing in Switerland’s most famous ski resort, with the view of the Matterhorn right in front of you. It’s funny because for some reason I was expecting a giant mountain….it’s really not all that big. Still, something about the Matterhorn just makes you want to look at it and be impressed (and think of Toblerone…mmmm). You'll notice that almost every picture I posted has the Matterhorn in it....it's just that cool.

The Matterhorn! Pretty cool.

Nice pic by Devon

We took various gondolas and cable cars all the way to the highest part of the resort, the top of the Klein Matterhorn (aka, “Little” Matterhorn …oh ya, I didn’t take those German classes for nothing!!!), where the view was just amazing. Another thing amazing was the altitude, 3820m, I was feeling a little light-headed at first, but luckily it didn’t last.

At this point we split up…I went with Richard and Lindsey over to Cervinia, the Italian part of the resort. How cool is it to be able to ski right into another country!!! And they didn’t even check our passports….hello illegal immigration, mwah ha ha. We spent some time skiing groomed runs, and then found a pretty nice off piest part that was fun, though a bit rocky in parts.

Me and Lindsey skiing in Italy

Wooo! This is awesome!

Soon it was time to meet Adrienn for lunch, and then she joined us for the afternoon. We found a cool little set of jumps that led into a long speedy run which we spent the rest of the day riding… I was getting some nice air, and it was insanely fun to tear down the groomed part as fast as humanly possible.

Me in action

At the end of the day we met up back at the hostel, and hit up the local Coop for some dinner supplies. After some showers of varying temperatures (I was lucky enough to get one on the warm end of the timeline, woot!), and a quick nap, it was time to get the night started. Evan and Shane got us all playing High-Low Red-Black, a horrible complex drinking game. Haha, no, of course it’s really easy, and involves lots of drinking and bitterness towards the person that’s turning cards for you, lol. Also playing with us was Axel, another guy from the hostel who was really cool. He came out with us for the rest of the night, and also skied with some of the guys the next day.

The night starts out fairly tame with some wholesome cards

Shane doesn't like losing at High-low Red-black

Cheers

Cards!!!

We left the hostel and set out towards the same bar we had been to the night before, since it seemed like the best place in town. On the way there were various shenanigans, including some of the guys deciding to wrestle (this seems to be a reoccurring theme… ;)

The bar was packed and we had a blast partying there, thought at times left for various adventures. No misleading pictures were taken involving a yellow man. Eventually (and not horribly late, please consider how early we started drinking) we made it back to the hostel, and varying times and states of drunkenness.

Shane and Devon wrestle. Lindsey lends a hand.....er, foot

The girls attack Shane with hugs. Check out my super- reflectyness!

Lindsey and Axel at the bar

The next morning everyone was feeling fairly rough, so we took our time getting started. We had decided to ski on a different part of the mountain today, which involved taking a special train. I was happy with this, it gave me time for a quality nap (well, as quality as you can get curled up on the floor of a train).

Leaving the hostel in the morning and feeling GREAT!

Me chillaxing on the train

We split off into the same groups as before, and our group had a pretty chill day just cruising around some runs. We found some steeper stuff that was fun, thought it got a bit icy later in the afternoon. Despite our late start (around 11) we still stopped for lunch to break up the day, and cure Adrienn and Lindsey from super hangover mode, lol. It was a fun day, and especially the last run of the day was really cool.

Me and Richard eating lunch. I'm rocking my borrowed toque from Richard (see Milan post for the further info on that one)

Adrienn and Lindsey finally start to feel like they're not going to die














Me and Adriernn ready (and almost ready) to hit the slopes

Dramatic pic of Evan

Axel, Devon and Shane enjoying a day of skiing

We met up with everyone and took the train back to Baden that evening. It was a good weekend, probably the most fun ski trip I’ve had so far (despite the actual skiing part not being so great). I’m also glad that I’ve finally seen the Matterhorn, a un-missable Swiss sight.

One final view of the Matterhorn and the town of Zermatt