LOOKING DOWN ON IT ALL

Alf Alderson heads to one of skiing’s most iconic locations

Bergsteigen rund um das Matterhorn, Zermatt, Schweiz

The Swatch Skiers Cup, the first-ever continental team freeski event, Zermatt / Switzerland - 10-15 February 2013. 16 of the world’s best freeskiers competing in both Big Mountain and Backcountry Slopestyle to bring back home the treasured Swatch Skiers Cup trophy. The 2 teams of 8 Riders, led by captains Cody Townsend - USA (Team Americas) and Kaj Zackrisson - SWE (Team Europe), will battle in a series of man-to-man duels in the Chilean Andes. A rider winning his duel scores one point for his team and the team with the most points at the end of the 2-day competition gains possession of the Swatch Skiers Cup trophy for one year.

The Swatch Skiers Cup, the first-ever continental team freeski event, Zermatt / Switzerland - 10-15 February 2013. 16 of the world’s best freeskiers competing in both Big Mountain and Backcountry Slopestyle to bring back home the treasured Swatch Skiers Cup trophy. The 2 teams of 8 Riders, led by captains Cody Townsend - USA (Team Americas) and Kaj Zackrisson - SWE (Team Europe), will battle in a series of man-to-man duels in the Chilean Andes. A rider winning his duel scores one point for his team and the team with the most points at the end of the 2-day competition gains possession of the Swatch Skiers Cup trophy for one year.

If the weather was playing ball the view from here would be one of the most spectacular in the world – as it is all I can see is whiteness. Where the Matterhorn should be – white; where the Breithorn should be – white.
So why, you may reasonably ask, am I trudging upward on climbing skins towards 3479-metre Testa Grigia, some 1800 metres above the famous Swiss mountain town of Zermatt (which needless to say is also lost in whiteness)?
Here are the reasons:
1. It’s an alternative to climbing up the 4164-metre Breithorn, which was the day’s original plan;
2. I’m in the company of local ski fanatic Ed Mannix, who would probably try and skin up the Eiffel Tower on his skis if there was snow on it – he’s making me do this;
3. At the top of Testa Grigia one can find the Refugio della Guide del Cervino, which serves plain, wholesome Italian grub; Ed is dangling this before me like a carrot; it seems to be working…
All of which are pretty valid reasons to be wandering around above Zermatt and below the Matterhorn in a whiteout…
Zermatt and the Matterhorn are, of course, two of the most iconic locations in the skiing world. Both are part of mountaineering folklore and skiing history, and no matter how often you ski beneath the Matterhorn it never fails to impress (as long as you can see it, that is…).
And the whiteout conditions are not all bad, since this means snow is falling heavily; indeed, the very storm we’re trudging through has deposited around 150cm of snow in the last few days, and when the weather starts to clear the following day I get to see and ski some of the most spectacular freeride terrain on Earth.
Ed’s original plan to hike up the Breithorn remains on hold though due to strong winds at higher elevations. This is a shame as it would have been my first 4000-metre peak on skis, but I’m not too downhearted at the alternative, which is to head over to Cervinia in Italy, linked to Zermatt by an impressive array of cable cars (make sure you’re in time for the last one back though; if you miss it you’re looking at €300 for the taxi back to Zermatt).
This means we’ll be hooning downhill on skis rather than hoofing uphill on skins. And the wide, open and easily accessed off-piste terrain down which Ed leads me has barely been skied, and as the day progresses it begins to emerge from the clouds as the sun breaks through.
It seems appropriate that the cheery atmosphere of sunshine on powder is accompanied by the hubbub of Italian voices gabbling excitedly over the top of one another as we await the cable car back up to Testa Grigia. As Ed points out “You can always tell you’re in Italy from the noise!” Being part Italian himself I guess he should know…
Ed is a man to be envied. A Zermatt resident, when not ski touring he runs Matterhorn Chalets, offering upmarket chalet accommodation packages which also feature six days skiing with a UIAGM mountain guide to help you explore the iconic peaks that look down upon Zermatt. Said guide, Andreas Fux, is Zermatt born and bred and from a family of Swiss mountain guides, so you really couldn’t find anyone better to follow around the mountains.
After lunch in Italy (which is considerably less costly than lunch in Switzerland), we head back down the slopes to Trockener Steg on the Swiss side of the border, and there begins to develop the feeling of a ‘presence’ over my left shoulder as the unmistakable outline of the Matterhorn gradually begins to emerge from the last remnants of the cloud and mist.
Possibly the most famous mountain in the world, it was first climbed in 1865 as teams of mountaineers from Britain and Italy, massively aided by local guides, competed to be the first to reach the improbably pointy summit.
The Brit team narrowly made it, led by the irascible Edward Whymper, but at a massive price – four of their party of seven died after their climbing rope snapped, and the body of one, Douglas Hadow, still remains somewhere on the mountain. You can see the infamous rope along with other ancient climbing gear in Zermatt’s fascinating museum, which is well worth a visit should you have a down day.
By my third and final day in Zermatt the weather is a good as it ever gets for a skier – brilliant blue skies, bright sunshine, ice cold air and fresh powder all topped off by some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the Alps.
Had we been quick about our start Ed and I could possibly have skinned up to the summit of the Breithorn this morning, since this was, after all, the object of my trip to Zermatt. However, we’d knocked back a beer or two the night before so not only was our start a bit late, levels of enthusiasm for slogging up to 4000-metres were none too high.
On top of that I had to take the train from Zermatt to Geneva early in the afternoon so time really was against us, and as Ed sagely pointed out, you need to savour your first 4000er rather than rush it. No matter, we simply hit the red and blue pistes above the cable car station at Trockener Steg briefly before veering off left or right to the wide, open and relatively untracked freeride terrain to their sides.
It struck me then that this is another feather in Zermatt’s cap – you could have skiers of all levels of ability enjoying this terrain and, in a sense, skiing together by meeting at Trockener Steg at the end of their descent to share a lift back up the mountain.
It’s little wonder, then, that Zermatt rates so highly on any skier’s bucket list. It has the altitude to virtually guarantee good snow, it has skiing to suit all abilities, it has a charming and interesting town to enjoy when the skiing is over, you can nip into Italy for the day with ease – and best of all, it has the mighty Matterhorn looking down on all of this.
And not having been able to get to the top of the Breithorn even had a positive aspect to it – I have the perfect excuse to go back to Zermatt and try again.
FACTBOX
You can enjoy seven-nights with Matterhorn Chalets (www.matterhornchalets.com) including half-board, all drinks and UIAGM mountain guide in Chalet Ulysse from 1375CHF. Matterhorn Chalets offer both serviced and non- serviced properties in Zermatt.

Zermatt is served by the incredibly efficient, comfortable and spectacular Swiss Federal Railways. For information on their Swiss Travel Pass visit www.swisstravelsystem.co.uk.

www.zermatt.ch for resort information

www.sno.co.uk/ski/switzerland/zermatt/ for travel & accommodation packages