Zermatt

Morning: we took a train up the Gornergrat Mountain, and got off at the Riffelberg Station, altitude 8471 ft. We intended to hike up to the next station, Gornergrat, passing Lake Riffelsee, where the reflection of the Matterhorn is reflected. We got turned somewhere along the way and our easy one and a half hour hike turned into 4 hours, a gorgious path overlooking a glacier, and then a gruelling climb straight up a mountain. Anton figures a good 60 degree slope. We finally reached the top and were rewarded with a nice ridge hike and a restaurant where we ate on the terrace overlooking the glacier and the mountains. It was so stunning it almost didn't look real. That point was 10,210 feet high, so we climbed almost 2000 feet today. Then we took the rail back down to our next destination.

Afternoon: we took a cable-car ride up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (12,739 ft). We were a bit surprised to see skiers and snowboarders going up the mountain, but when we got up there, there was tons of snow and it was SOOO cold! Zero degrees C and a wind of 43 km/hr. We were at the top of the glacier that we had seen earlier on our hike. There was an ice palace at the top with ice sculptures and a fun little ice slide. We wished we had dressed warmer, but when we got back down to the town of Zermatt, it was sunny and 17C. We watched an alpenhorn demonstration and had to move for some girls leading their goats down the street.

Pictures will follow later when internet becomes available.
Sent from my BlackBerry.