(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

The Matterhorn isn’t like all the other mountains.  I had heard that the Matterhorn was special but I didn’t truly appreciate it until I saw the Matterhorn on a cloudless day.  This is what the picture above shows – it was taken from above the village of Zermatt and shows just how distinctive the Matterhorn really is.

Straddling the border between Italy and Switzerland, the Matterhorn rises to an elevation of 4,478 meters (14,692 feet).  This is very, very high but it is all the more remarkable because none of the neighbouring peaks are anywhere close to that elevation.

Wherever you go in the village of Zermatt, or wherever you ski in the Sunnegga-Gornergrat-Klein Matterhorn ski region, you constantly find yourself looking up at the Matterhorn.   Of all the mountains I’ve seen up close, only Grindelwald’s Eiger (with its sheer rock face of nearly 2 uninterrupted vertical kilometers!) comes remotely close to having such a magnetic effect.   I think we all took at least 100 photos of just this one mountain.

Even without the Matterhorn, however, skiing in Zermatt is quite spectacular.  The pistes on the Swiss side are extensive and there is an impressive vertical drop of about 2,200 meters (about 7,218 feet).   From top to bottom, it can be a 20 km ride!   There isn’t much in the way of easy terrain here and it has a reputation of being a real skiers’ resort.   But even if you can manage the terrain, you still have to conquer the altitude:  the top of the Klein Matterhorn area is a (literally) breathtaking 3,883 meters (12,736 feet) above sea level.

I was OK with the altitude when I just skied down from the top of the Klein Matterhorn.  This is glacial skiing and you don’t have to work too hard.  However, on another occasion, we climbed up to the top of a viewing platform for an even higher view.  This extra exertion left me feeling listless for the rest of the day:  I suspect that I had a minor case of altitude sickness…something I’ve never before had while skiing.

There is another reward for going to the top of Klein Matterhorn:  Italy!   Yes, the Italian resort of Cervinia is connected at this high alpine saddle and it is possible to ski on the Italian slopes if you bought the “all areas” ski pass in Zermatt.  The slopes on the Italian side are sunnier and easier…and the food is a nice change too!   The resort of Cervinia has some architectural missteps, to be fair, but it was really fun to end up in another country for a few hours.

The only problem with crossing over to Italy is that you really need to time your return properly.  If you don’t make it back to the Klein Matterhorn by the time the upper Italian lifts close, you are stuck on the Italian side.  It is a very expensive (hundreds of dollars) taxi ride back to Zermatt, as there is no direct road connection between the two resorts.  Somebody said that it would take “a few hours” by road.

For an intense week of skiing in the Alps, I would certainly put Zermatt at the top of my list.  Grindelwald/Wengen/Schilthorn would be close but the presence of other tourist activities (such as the Jungfraujoch cog railway) dilutes the ski atmosphere just a little bit…so it might be a good choice if you have non-skiers in your travel group.   Like most Swiss resorts, Zermatt is not cheap but it is possible to find deals if you don’t insist on a private bathroom.  After all, you’re there for the skiing!  We liked skiing in Zermatt so much that we went back in 2011.