Chamonix to Zermatt
Feeling pretty hammered from our big hike to Lac Blanc the previous day, we traveled on the train from Chamonix to Zermatt.
We had three changeovers on the way but all went smoothly. On the last leg from Visp to Zermatt the train was packed full and a nice German lady and her mother sat next to us. Harmony was very social and had us conversing with them as best we could given the language barrier.
After a bit of navigating the back streets of Zermatt, we arrived at our hotel. It was a bit older and lacked some amenities like AC and a fridge. But at least it is on the cooler side here and we can open the windows. We’ll make do. The room is cute and comfortable all in all.
For tomorrow we have reservations on the Gornergrat train. Should be another fun day!
Gornergrat
Up at 5:30 am to catch the first little cogwheel train up the Gornergrat. Our car was full of construction workers heading up to start their workday on the track and such.
We opted to start by getting off at the Rotenboden stop and hike down to Riffelsee (Riffel Lake) to catch Matterhorn reflection photos in the lake. I was amazed that we were the only ones there! I captured what will hopefully be some great images even though the mountain kept her summit hidden in the clouds.
It was a moody morning with moisture laden clouds all about. After a bit we decided to hike a little farther down to a small unnamed lake and took a bunch more photos. After being rudely startled by approaching hikers, we decided to hike back up towards the Rotenboden station as the ominous dark clouds approached. Part way up, mother nature threw her fury at us. A fast moving thunderstorm hit us with rain and hail… We hightailed as fast as we could up the mountainside, but still ended up getting soaked!
We caught the next train up to Gornergrat and the storm blew out as fast as it came in. The views of all the glaciers at the top were simply amazing! After photographing the views for a bit, we went into the observatory building and checked out the gift shops and displays on the Matterhorn.
The Matterhorn continued to taunt us with almost revealing the summit and then the clouds would hide it again. We decided to head back down to Rotenboden and hike back to Riffelsee hoping for best… But after eating some lunch and waiting for what seemed like hours to finally capture the summit barely peaking out of the clouds, we decided to call it a day and head back down the mountain on the little red cogwheel train.
Tomorrow… Up the Sunnegga furnicular for a bit more hiking.
