Gornergrat

by Living Our Best Lives

Kilometres Walked : 15km

We excitedly boarded the Gornergrat Bahn at 8am for our journey to 3100 metres above sea level. The cog railway has been operating for 125 years now and once aboard you have a constant view of The Matterhorn. (When there aren’t any clouds about that is) Once we arrived at the top we stepped out to a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. Whilst not as high as we were on the Matterhorn Glacier Palace we had a completely different perspective of the scenery before us, with a fabulous view of the Gorner Glacier. With a length of about 12.9 kms the Gorner Glacier is the third longest glacier in Switzerland. We spent quite a bit of time just sitting and taking it all in. It was just truly beautiful.

Heading up ( a little bit of cloud about today)
The Gornergrat Bahn (we have a arrived)
The Gorner Glacier.
Closer up.
Another frozen lake.
No swimming today!
The clouds are rolling in.
Ski chair lifts everywhere.
Cute hut on top of the mountain.

We were hoping to walk straight back down from Gornergrat but noticing how much snow was still about we opted to jump back on the train and get off at Rotenboden the next stop on the way down. And after watching several other hikers battling through the snow on the way back down, we knew we had definitely made the right decision. After sharing a seat and snack with a lovely fellow Aussie lady we met back up on Gornergrat we headed off on the trail to Zermatt. Joan the Australian was going to go down to next station and hike down from there as she was feeling the effects of the high altitude. The altitude definitely does take some getting used to, at times you can feel a little light headed and you really need to just take your time hiking so your body can adjust. The Mighty Matterhorn didn’t really show her peak again as the clouds rolled in but the views surrounding us on the hike down were as always stunning. Lots of funny marmots entertaining us again and of course more beautiful wildflowers and plenty of little waterfalls cascading down. Once we reached the pine forest the fresh scent of cut timber was heavy in the air again reminding us of the Norsca ad. (Must try to find some at the shops)

The start of our hike down.
We still had to walk around a little bit of snow but this was the last of it.
Little waterfalls everywhere.
It was hard going on the knee’s today.
Such a pretty walk.
Wildflowers.
Ski village further down the mountain.
Back amongst the pine trees.
Cutest little chalet.
Is this the prettiest toilet block ever?
And we are nearly back in the village.

With extremely sore knees and legs we waddled back to our studio for a much appreciated cold beer. Another beautiful hike in a very special part of the world.