Monday, April 12, 2010
Zermatt Snowboarding
Airframe construction is complete! The plane is currently being painted and having the cabin trimmed with leather, fabric and space foam for the seat cushions.
Helen and I headed to Zermatt in the Swiss alpine valley underneath the Matterhorn to ski for a week before the weather warms up. Although it is only the 4th highest peak in Switzerland, the Matterhorn is the most incredible natural feature that I've ever seen. The shear face that faces north down the valley is too steep for snow to collect and the southern face on the Italian side of the range has its own cloud even on crystal clear days, seemingly formed by the sun on the snow.
I took this shot from the top of Klein Matterhorn (3883m) - you can see the Matterhorn with its cloud behind me;
This is the view of the Matterhorn peak from Zermatt, down in the valley. Again, with its own personal sublimation cloud on a perfect Spring day!
Zermatt from cable car;
At these heights, it is possible to ski 365 days a year on the glacier so even in Spring the snow was excellent. We were blessed with a full week of clear skies. Each morning we'd catch the gondola to the top and ski to Italy for coffee (better quality and about a third the cost in Switzerland). The Italians were great - they seemed more interested in drinking liquors and hanging out in the sun than skiing hard.
Zermatt has only been developed for skiing in the past few decades. Before that it was apparently a peaceful agrarian place. The original inhabitants are still seem walking up and down the high street - they wear hats and clothes not dissimilar to American cowboys. This style of sheep shed was what everyone lived in, sleeping above the animals to stay warm.
Modern Chalets are wonderful buildings. In slab heating, multiple small saunas, individual ensuite bathrooms and typically Swiss fittings. Even though the weather was warm I cranked up the fire one night just to see how it worked. Beautiful. I could happily spend quite a while up there.
Luckily the tour company managed to secure a bus and a channel tunnel ferry crossing so the Icelandic volcano didn't stop us from getting home. We were glad to be able to return to London but the 24 hr bus trip back was a nightmare compared to the flight down and bus up the hill from Geneva. Great trip though. At the top of this cairn is a marmott statue. Their grease is used locally as an ointment. We were tempted but didn't buy any.
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