I finally saw the mesmerizing Matthorn in person during our July trip to Swiss Alps.
The first time I saw a picture of the large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak Matterhorn, I was captivated.
Matterhorn is an iconic, majestic, most photographed mountain in the world. It is 4,478 meters tall, the 6th tallest in Western Europe, has four faces, each roughly oriented toward one of the four cardinal points. Three faces of Matterhorn, north, east and west are located in Switzerland, the south face on Italy side.
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| Matterhorn reflection at Rifflesee (Riffle lake) |
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| Northeast Ridge of Matterhorn |
After research and my desire to visit Matterhorn, we decided on a itinerary that include Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken and Zermatt. Zermatt is the Swiss town that lies below the iconic, pyramid-shaped Matterhorn peak, at an elevation of around 1,600m, a gateway to Matterhorn for both mountaineers and tourists. We stayed at Zermatt for two days.
5-Lake trail and Gornergrat trail are the two best trails to view Matterhorn and its reflections in many glacier lakes. We hiked 5-Lake trail on day 1 there, and Gornergat trail on day 2.
Lake Stellisee (2537 m elevation) is supposed to be the best place on this trail to see the reflection of Matterhorn. Unfortunately Zermatt and Matterhorn area was cloudy that day, Matterhorn was blocked by cloud most of the time, and occasionally peek out with cloud partially hide it.
But we did see partially cloud-blocked Matterhorn when we got off train at Zermatt under a sunny sky.
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| view of Matterhorn from a street in Zermatt |
The weather in the mountains changed fast ...clouds broke up to reveal blue sky here and there, and Matterhorn partially. This trail is northeast to Matterhorn, and thus facing Matterhorn's northeast ridge.
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However, in early evening, the clouds finally moved away, giving us a clear sky except around Matterhorn. I witnessed a mysterious phenomenon, cloud appeared only at down wind side of the iconic Matterhorn, it seemed that the mountain was a cloud making machine.
How could this happen? I wondered.
It turned out that this type of cloud is called banner cloud. It is created by the low pressure areas in the downwind vortices drawing in relatively humid air from the lower slopes of the mountain. This reduction in pressure compared to the surrounding air increases condensation, in the same manner as an aircraft's wingtip vortices (Wikipedia).
Banner cloud at Matterhorn is the most famous banner cloud in the world.
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| Banner Cloud |
Day 2 at Zermatt was a glorious day, the blue sky had trace of cloud as eyes can tell.
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| Matterhorn - with banner cloud and without |
We took the cogwheel train to the summit of Gornergrat, and hiked downhill from Gornergrat trail. The trail is the best place to see Matterhorn, with clear view of Matterhorn's east face, northeast ridge and north face.
A few minutes after the cogwheel left the Zermatt, Matterhorn, with surrounding mountain peaks and glacier, appeared from the right hand side window, where our seats were. We started taking photos from different angles and at different altitude.
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| Matterhorn from a moving cogwheel |
We lingered near the summit of Gornergrat, taking a 360 degree view to see a large stretch of mounts with glaciers at northeast, green valley to the north, where thin layer of cloud hanging at the half height of mountains, Matterhorn to the west, another big stretch of glaciers and mountain peaks to the south!
Hiking down Gornergart trail, we had the best view of Matterhorn and surrounding peaks and glaciers. Some peaks are somewhat similar to Matterhorn, a couple of them actually taller than Matterhorn, with the topographic isolation 13.9 km, and its pyramid shape, Matterhorn stands out in the mountains.
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| viewed from Gornergrat trail |
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| panoramic view of Matterhorn and its surrounding |
The most beautiful vista on the trail is from Riffelsee (glacier lake), the Matterhorn and its reflection forms a striking tapestry. The most interesting encounter on the trail was watching 3 old man and 1 old lady playing Alphorn.
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| Reflection of Matterhorn in Riffelsee |
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| playing Alphorn in front of Matterhorn |
After Gornagrat trail, we took a detour to Gorner Gorge before retuning to our hotel at Zermatt. We hiked 18km on this day, with 1400m elevation drop. During the last the last stretch, as we were deep in the valley, Matterhorn gradually faded away from sight.
Matterhorn is mesmerizing - I took 150 photos of it during the two days at Zermatt.
I can only imagine how it looks like at sunrise, sunset and during dusk.
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| near Zermatt, nearby smaller mountains block the view of Matterhorn |
timelapse made by Google
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| our trail map - color coed - blue slow, red fast |
