Inescapable

Monte Cervino (in Italian), Mont Cervin (French), The Matterhorn (German and English). It stands astride the Swiss/Italian frontier – it even has a Swiss and an Italian summit. It’s almost universally visible, the most prominent feature from the Zermatt valley (Mattertal) and also from Italy.

Today, after a frustratingly delayed start due to lift closures (due I think to high winds), I finally made it down into Italy. I skied down Red Seven ‘Ventino’ a fabulous roller of a piste that starts from Testa Grigia on the border and ends at the edge of Cervinia 4,800ft lower down. The Matterhorn looks very different from Italy, still the most dramatic peak in the area but without the graceful triangular lines when seen from Zermatt.

The Matterhorn as seen from Plan Maison, Cervinia

After a few ups/downs in Italy I retraced my steps back up to Testa Grigia, always conscious of the fact that if the winds increase and the lifts close then it’s an extremely expensive, and long,Taxi ride back to Zermatt.

Testa Grigia on the Chair up to Theodul

The day ended with a ski down to Stafelalp (on the way back to Zermatt) on the ‘other’ side of the Matterhorn from where it is the North Face that dominates. This is a feature I have covered before but it bears repetition. As I descended into Stafelalp the sun had just set below the base of the Hörnli ridge. The Hörnli hut from which the Mountain is most commonly climbed can be seen on the hump at the left of the image. The D7000 has made a fine job of catching the high dynamic range in this final image.

The Matterhon after sundown

I will try to post something tomorrow that does not involve the Matterhorn!

Meanwhile do remember that all images in my posts look best if you click on the image to see it in its original enlarged size (WordPress does not do images any favours when it re-samples them to a variety of sizes required to fit the Blog’s template).