Europe - The Mighty Matterhorn
Well, our prayers were answered - our day dawned sunny and clear! What luck as we boarded the Gornergrat cog railway - every passenger excited to catch their first glimpse through the train window of the Matterhorn in all her glory.
With 5 stops to Gornergrat the cog railway climbs to 3,089m. We decided to alight midway at Rotenboten Station, as there were far less people and as you can see below marvellous views of this majestic mountain rising to a height of 4,478m. What a thrill to see the world's most photographed mountain.
Even a hang glider suspended close by.It was not cold and no jackets needed as there was no wind and the snow glistened in the sunshine.
We continued to the Gornergrat lookout at the top, which is surrounded by a white wonderland - the Monte Rosa massif and Switzerland’s highest peak -Dufourspitze at 4,634m and the Gorner Glacier, the 2nd largest glacier in the Alps. The vista covers a total of 29 mountains above 4,000m, including the Matterhorn.
A delight to indulge in apple strudel with coffee in the cafe overlooking such splendour. By the afternoon the wind had picked up and then it was icy with clouds starting to obscure what is now my favourite mountain.
What a day! A marvellous one!
It hard to appreciate the full grandeur from my photos. The following video allows you to appreciate the scale and beauty of these mountains and some of the hiking trails, which looked wonderful. As you will see in the summer the reflections in the lakes are incredible. I was keen to see Riffelsee Lake, which is close to Rotenboden, but we were too early and the lakes remained frozen. Also too much snow to consider any hiking for novices like us.
Blacknose sheep graze the mountain slopes and as I learned in the video are fitted with GPS trackers so as a hiker you find them - they are very cute.
The PlanetD couple captured the majesty of the Gorner glacier and as they commented the whole area is:
like walking through a painting.
Grab a coffee or your favourite beverage and enjoy 8 mins of wonderment.
Our next excitement is travelling on the Glacier Express and final alpine adventures. A post coming to you soon.