Dan Will Travel

OMG

After my Glacier Express train trip, I arrived in Zermatt one cloudy Friday afternoon with one day to see the Matterhorn. (Gayle and I were here 20 years ago, and got a brief sighting but that was it.) As tourists to Seattle know, that sort of time restriction on seeing Mt. Rainer can be problematic for sure.

So, Saturday AM, with the peaks still in the clouds, I embarked upon the historic cog railway to Gornergrat at 10,200’ in hopes of a sighting. With the previous week’s trips up into the Swiss mountains, I assumed that I would get there, see nothing, fight hurricane force winds and be back in town in an hour or so.

As we chugged up the railway, the clouds above us did not part. Still scenic, but….. then….

OMG

NOTHING prepares one for the first sighting of this iconic mountain. Everyone has seen pictures, but seeing it yourself from so close is an experience without words.

Dan, Mr. Unemotional, was on the verge of tears of joy with the 360 degree view of the pinnacle of the Swiss Alps. 29 peaks of over 14,000’ right in front of you. Glaciers everywhere. And, bright sunshine, no wind, amazing.

Yes, Switzerland is expensive, but if you get lucky and can replicate this experience, you will never regret it. Go.

Hopefully this will work for you. My first attempt at including a video

The Matterhorn from my room upon arrival. (Not visible)

That first sighting as we get above the cloud layer.

Unforgettable.

So close to glaciers.

Telephoto view of the peak. Hard to imagine anyone climbing it!

A probably new glacier lake.

An iconic Swiss photo. The Matterhorn, a train, and a clock. And, yes, it is working.

Trails everywhere, even up here, and always well marked with time to the next point noted on the sign.

My proof shot that I was there. Although no wind and sunny, the temp is just slightly above freezing. Some bits of fresh snow here and there, and puddles were frozen.

What can I add here?

Mid day clouds starting to move in.

The view of the mountain from my table having lunch outside in the sun. What a life they have here. Every junction has some sort of full facilities. In this case, about 40′ away was a herd of sheep grazing by the hotel.

Telephoto view of the peak in the clouds.

And, finally, the view again from my hotel room in Zermatt, now with the peak visible.

Posted: September 24, 2015 by admin

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GLACIER EXPRESS

Another of the Swiss tourist train trips, this one is probably the most famous. It has been in operation since 1930, connecting two main winter sports areas, Zermatt (Matterhorn) and St. Moritz.

It is self-billed as the world’s slowest express train, and at 7 hours for covering less than 200 miles, it surely is a correct title.

One of the best parts of the route is shared with the Bernina Express that I already wrote about, but this adds the Oberalppass experience, a 6 mile long tunnel, and gradients so steep that the addition of cogs in the track line is required.

And, it is the coolest way to get to Zermatt at the base of the Matterhorn. (If you go, Zermatt is without cars and only accessible via train, so why not arrive in style?)

A fort along the way

My version of one of their classic marketing photos.

Going from the Landwassser viaduct into the tunnel.

The Landwasser viaduct from below

Well above the village we just left. You can see the lower tracks here.

Some sort of a storage barn

Seemed pretty appropriate with the Swiss flag, huh?

This is the cog system that allows for steep grades. In some cases the train grade was like the street up to my house!

Near Oberalppass.

Oberalppass

Train exiting the snowshed at Oberalppass.

Posted: September 23, 2015 by admin

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A LONELY MOUNTAIN PASS

My goal in the driving aspect of my trip was to find passes and roads that were not well traveled. And, going from Chur to St. Moritz, I totally succeeded. I found a pass that the road was not colored at all on the map, which means that it is not a major route by any means.

The navigation system’s female voice, (Hey, if it is a German car, we would call her Helga, but this is Switzerland, so why not Heidi?) kept telling me nervously that my route over the Albula Pass was on a seasonally closed road, but, sorry Heidi, it was still open.

Most of it was not fully two lanes, (randomly varied from 1 to 1.5 to 2 lanes) but it was paved and I did pass a great old castle, went through a one lane covered bridge and was able to stop wherever I could find a turn out as there was no one on the road.

This stretch over the pass was all above tree line and very windswept, empty of other cars, and cold that day. Just tundra and rock until the actual pass, where, of course, there was a restaurant, and gift shop. (If you have not been to Switzerland, you would not know that they have facilities everywhere, some fully developed when the only access is by trail.)

After a coffee break to warm up, I continued only to be stopped by a herd of cattle being moved down to the lower elevations for winter. This is so special here as all of the cattle have giant cow bells, (the steel bell itself is about 12” by 24”. Can’t be much fun lugging it around all day.) so the whole experience of watching the movement is very loud. The Swiss walk them, with no use of horses as we do, but they do use sheep dogs to keep everybody in formation. So what do we call a sheep dog when they are herding cattle,
anyway?

It was a classic Swiss scene.