Conditions were a little better the second day. Also, a bit of info on Zermatt and how to navigate it.
Since I had a second day here, I decided to visit the rest of the area. And by “rest” I mean places I can visit without too much effort. One of the hikes I had considered was a hut where many of the climbers start their effort. It is a 2.5 hour (one way) hike that is listed as “Difficult” That means more than an hour to a cafe. You get pretty up close and personal to the mountain, but I really don’t think it has the best views, just different. It looked like a steep hike, and since I was hung over from all the relaxing yesterday, I thought that would be a bad choice.
The skies were crystal clear all day, even the mountain did not make any of her own clouds until late afternoon. Yesterday I had hung out at Gornergrat to watch the tease. Today I went up to the Glacier Paradise. That is 13,000 feet of thin air. There was plenty of up and down looking at and inside glaciers. There is a tunnel to walk around in looking at ice sculptures. There is also a ski run up there, for those who are interested. (at 13,000 feet) The view is amazing, and it gives you a different perspective on the Matterhorn. You look at it more from the Italian side. The Swiss like their view better. The mountain received a light coating of snow overnight so it looked great.
Before going to the Glacier Paradise, I retraced some of yesterdays steps so I could get one picture of the mirror image of the Matterhorn. There were too many trout jumping for a perfect mirror surface on the lake, but it looked good anyway.
This is the train to Gornergrat. It is even steeper than in looks. Much better to climb a few stairs than to climb an entire mountain.
ZERMATT
So, Zermatt.
As I said before, private vehicles are not allowed up there. You need to park in Tasch. For motorcycles, there is a free area outside near where the train comes in. It is safe during the day, but I am not sure if I would leave a bike there for multiple days. Well, yes, I am sure “I” would not but I am paranoid. I parked in the garage. There are cameras, and it is about as safe of a place to park as you can get.
But, backing up a bit. To get to Zermatt, there is only two ways. Legal ones anyway. A taxi from Tasch or the train from Tash. The train is cheap and goes there often. Taxis? I don’t know. Well, you can take a train from anywhere, some people come from Andermatt or Interlaken, but we are talking motorcyclists here. Well, there is a third way, Helicopter. When I win the lottery, I will still consider that too much of an extravagance.
It should be noted here, that there are plenty of hotels in Tasch that you can stay at, park your bike and do day trips to Zermatt. The only real reason I stayed in Zermatt is that I wanted to photo the Matterhorn without clouds and you have a much better chance of that if you get there early.
At the train station, there are carts you can get for 5 Francs. You get your 5 Francs back when you return the cart at the other end (you cannot leave, I mean, you are not supposed to leave the train terminal with the carts). When you are on the train, be sure to lock the cart to the side rail with the chain as shown in the photo. If not, the cart will slowly slide to the end of the car (personal experience here)
The carts can take your luggage from your bike to the Zermatt train station and back. Parking is paid for inside the terminal.
If you stay in Zermatt, check with your hotel. Many have a free taxi service from the train station and back. Mine did, but when I got there, I thought it was a very short walk to the hotel and chose to walk. After that ordeal I took the taxi back to the train station when leaving.
Zermatt is a nice place for a tourist town. A little expensive for food and things, as expected, but my hotel was $130 per night with a good breakfast and a private deck with a view of the Matterhorn. There are a multitude of complicated options for the lift tickets, but I just got two days of the peak pass so I could hop on/off anyone I wanted at any time. There is a variety of hiking, and there are cafes at almost all stops of the lifts, gondolas and trains, so if you want to have a drink walk downhill a bit and get back on, all is good. If you go AND you have time, try to go to all the stops, as the views are different at each. If you do not have time, Gornergrat is pretty damned nice, as is the Glacier Paradise. Each in it’s own way. For me, if time was tight, I would go to Gornergrat. One trip, one price, good variety of views.
One thing worth noting: For a place with no private vehicles, it is one scary place to walk. People are riding bicycles, electric and just pedal, at crazy speeds. The taxis and service vehicles are electric, so they sneak up on you. There are bigger buses as well in some of the areas. Some areas have almost no vehicles. Be careful walking around.
FWIW, the last time we were here, ignoring that we illegally rode into town, it was a waste of time. Not so say we should not have done it, but we rode from Andermatt to Tasch. That is not the best ride in the world if you do it the fastest way, and then back, which ate a ton of time. If I were to do that specific trip again I would have left Andermatt and stayed at Tasch, doing a day trip to Zermatt. If we had more time, I would have stayed in Zermatt for at least two nights. Good place to go for views. If you like a bit of hiking, a good place to stay a night or four.