Being the gluttons for punishment that we are we decided to head towards Switzerland (again). This time to Zermatt in the western part, so Mark could go skiing. We tried a different mountain pass this time, which claimed to be open and smooth sailing for cars. ¾ of the way up everyone suddenly stopped. We were only 30 km away from our destination and that was the only pass in the area so we sat there for several hours. Eventually coming the other direction was this van with a bashed in front, bashed in back and the bumper sticking out the rear window. A little after that plow trucks come through and we slowly proceed up the hill to see a wrecked BMW on the side of the road, and the road was fairly slippery. We made it safely to the other side of the pass where people coming the other direction had been waiting. They started clapping when they saw us. Now in this part of Switzerland the snow is so high that they can’t plow it to the side of the road very easily. So they plow it the best they can then they have HUGE snow blowers that then throw the snow up and over the snow banks. Some of the snow piles were higher than semis. And we thought New York got a lot of snow!
Simplon Pass, Switzerland
We drove to Visp, where we were going to catch the train to Zermatt, where we found out it would cost us $80.00 to take the train in and back, not including parking. We thought that was slightly exorbitant. So we decided to continue driving to the furthest point we could which was Tasch. (Zermatt is a car free city) Needless to say the round trip was a lot better there at about $20.00. (Definitely the place to be) We took this train that had huge picture windows and a partial glass roof through the mountains and into Zermatt. We came out into this quaint little village nestled in the shadow of the Matterhorn. With the delay getting over the pass it would have been after 2 by the time Mark could have gotten out on the slopes, so he decided the better part of valor was to hang out with Jenny and explore the town. We walked as far as we could towards the Matterhorn and took as many pictures as we could on a beautiful blue skied day. We then trekked back into town all the while being passed by skiers, skiing down the streets and found some Swiss chocolates and other assorted treasures.
The Matterhorn
Zermatt, Switzerland
The Matterhorn
Zermatt, Switzerland
Zermatt, Switzerland
Zermatt, Switzerland
Jenny n' Mark
Zermatt, Switzerland