Zermatt - the zermmary...

Well slopes are now shut and that's End Ex for the Englishmen in
Zermatt. The past two days have been perfect ski days - sun, good
snow, low temps and sans peeps :-) We've ski pretty much every open
piste (and a few not open!!) pistes in Zermatt & Cervina @ least
twice!! So what's this place all about? First the skiing, the on-piste
is good - flattering I'd call it! What is impressive is the amount of
down - 2200m all on piste is the biggest vert drop I know. The
infrastructure (lifts) etc are good - lots of cable cars and trains -
chair lifts are rare which makes for a very peaceful place. And
finally the T Bar - the marmite of the ski scene - suffice to say
there are plenty and i avoided all of em - result!!!! Being a hard
core trip I can't tell you much about piste side resturants - a gulp
of water and some choc was our lunch!!! The eateries did look good -
although you might need a 2nd mortgage but hell it's only £ and you
can't take it with you...!? The apres ski is excellent! Hennu's is
just the dogs althou i did actually see someone ski past tonight and
not stop so it is possible - not that I manged it!!!! Zermatt town
is a buzzin place - whatever time it is, people are wandering the main
streets - why I've no idea as it's tres froid out there! The bars are
good and plenty places to eat - it again ain't cheap but... And
finally, The Big M - it dominates the skyline - your eyes are drawn to
it constantly (or maybe that's just me!!) In town, they seem to have
thought of every poss piece of Big M tourist tat and its all for sale
along side watch shops selling chronographs (it's not a watch at these
prices) for 235,000 ChF!!!!!!!! If you like skiing and/or mtns - come
and visit - you will enjoy!! If you don't like - come anyway, the
first sight of that Mtn is well worth it! :-)

How sassy is Saas Fee...?

Despite the gloom and doom forecast by the meteo, Sunday dawned bright
- again no alarm as the iPhone outsmarted me again! A 10 min train
ride and a 40 min drive had us in Saas Fee - for the day! It was more
like Saas no horse town as we yomped to the lifts - yomping seems to
be very much part of the Swiss ski scene. A couple of lifts had us to
3500m in amongst some impresssive glaciers (note to self, don't ski
off piste?!?!) Despite thinking it would be all glacier runs -
shallow and easy, when you drop off the snout (and that's a genuine
term!) you get to some proper Red n Black thigh burners!! :-) Once
you've recovered, grab the cablecar and funicular and do it all again
and again... Finally when it's cold enough to freeze the nose hair
(should this blog have a health/age/decency warning??) it's off to
find a gluhwien or 2! So, is it sassy? Yeah - I'd go back when there
are a few more runs open.

Zermatt so far...

Today broke cloudy with a general promise of a poor day. The fact I'd
forgot to set the Sat alarm on the iPhone meant I also had an
impromptu lie in - I do wonder if I'm smart enough for a smart phone?!
Still managed to make the ten past 9 train so not a total wasted day -
ski hols are for skiing dontyaknow?! Weather was better than
anticipated - still wiped out twice... First was trying to show off on
a big pile of artif snow - the light was flat is the only defence I
can offer! The 2nd time was due to a sign - no, I didn't hit it, I
stopped to read it and fell over - Mr P thought it a great laugh to
turn me into a snowman - revenge is a dish best served cold
methinks... :-) Plenty of drama on the slopes for others - 2 helo
recoveries of trashed skiers. After plenty ski in conditions that were
again better - even Big M put in an appearance :-) we ended up at
Hennu Stall bar [http://www.hennustall.ch/] for an après ski gluhwien
- great place - possibly the best Apres ski bar in Zermatt...? If you
come here, go there! :-) And now some numbers, 2.5 days of skiing has
resulted in 57 lifts, 23,800m of descent and 164 km of skiing - skiing
holdays are for skiing don'tyaknow!! :-)

Zwei Gluwine bitte

Hi, after a morning in Italy ticking Cervina, the rtn was tres froid
particularly the final drag - which was so cold I did it twice... :-)
Then on the ski back to Zermatt I happen across a shack selling
Gluwine - just had to be done!!! :-)

The Matterhorn

Well I have to say whilst I've seen a few mtns and climbed a few mtns
- rarely have they been as dramatic as the Big M. Truly awesome with a
huge caption saying "Climb me if you think you're hard enough"?!?!??
The skiing was good 2day - 'kin (oops, sorry mum!) cold up at 3800m
today. Sooooooo cold infact we had to stop in a very twee bar - every
chair was covered with sheepskin rugs right under the Big M Nordwand
and had a Choc-o-rum - a very nice C-O-R but given it cost 10CHf
(£6.50!!!!!) so it should have been!!! I was tempted to ask if there
was a no sheepskin discount?!?

View from the shower...

Arrived in Zermatt to sun, snow and few peeps = big grin!!!

Off to find some skis...

:-)

Almost the best check-in in the world...

Arrived @ Gatwick for the Sleazy jet flt to GVA - the check-in/
security faff took less than 3 mins - thought I'd teleportered back to
Balivanich!!!!