Skiing Zermatt: Skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn with Henry Hardy
No cars...No roads you can drive in on. A train is the only real way in, and looming over the whole valley is one of the most recognizable mountains on earth. The Matterhorn doesn't just overlook Zermatt; it defines it.
People have been coming here to climb and ski since the 1860s, and the lifts have been running in winter since 1928. Today the Swiss resort links to Italy over the Plateau Rosa glacier and remains the only place in Central Europe where you can ski every month of the year. That's a lot of mountain, and a first visit can feel intimidating.
So for this episode of the Where to Ski podcast, I called in someone who has been working out Zermatt for a quarter of a century: ski guide Henry Hardy. Here's what he told me, from the best runs and the Italian day trip to off-piste safety, where to stay and where to eat lunch.
Getting to Zermatt: Leave the Car Behind
Zermatt is car-free, so the journey is part of the experience. It's about three and a half hours by train from Zurich and just under three hours from Geneva. Basel works too. Henry's advice for anyone flying into Switzerland is simple: take the train. If you drive, you park in Täsch, the last village on the road, and ride the train up from there.
Once in town, small electric shuttles serve the hotels, and electric taxis carry visitors from the station. The one exception to the train rule is Milan. The flights there are good and the drive is easy, which makes a car useful, though Italian train schedules can be less predictable.
From Marine Biologist to Zermatt Ski Guide
Our guest on this episode is Henry Hardy of Summit Ski School. Henry studied marine biology as an undergraduate then earned a master's in environmental technology at Imperial College London always taking time to ski. In January 2000 he moved to Zermatt and never really left. Henry went on to build his own ski school, and today he is certified by BASI (the British Association of Snowsport Instructors) and Swiss Snowboard. With decades of daily guiding behind him and hundreds of happy clients, we could think of no one better to guide us through this massive ski region.
He's quick to say his science background wasn't wasted. Running a ski school is a problem-solving exercise, and he has needed it. Since founding the school he has steered it through the 2008 financial crisis, COVID and Brexit. He is also a keen photographer, which helps explain his answer to a question I always ask: does he ever get used to the view? Never, he says. The light and clouds on the Matterhorn change constantly, and even after a few days away, coming back into town still stops him.
How the Zermatt Ski Area Works: Three Mountains
Zermatt has around 210 kilometers of marked piste, a big network of marked off-piste routes and far more unmarked terrain, served by nearly every kind of lift: trains, funiculars, cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and a few surface lifts. In winter the skiing divides into three areas, as you look at the piste map from town:
• Sunnegga on the left, with the easiest access from the village and the home of the beginner area.
• Gornergrat in the middle, reached by the cog railway from the station, with mellow intermediate terrain at the top.
• Klein Matterhorn and Schwarzsee on the right, the high glacier zone that connects to Italy.
The terrain hasn't changed dramatically in Henry's 25 years. The lifts have, and we'll get to that. Because so much of the skiing is above the treeline, weather decides where you ski, so Henry says not to plan around a single area. The best choice depends on the snow, the weather and what the group wants to do.
Beginner and Intermediate Skiing in Zermatt
The Swiss piste grading here starts at blue, with no green, then red, then black. Beginners and nervous returners should start at Sunnegga, which is the safest place to find your level. Even lower-level skiers get easy access to some of the resort's best mountain restaurants.
For confident intermediates, Henry points to run 15, a long red from Rothorn that drops roughly a thousand vertical meters, with some steeper pitches in the middle. A 10-person gondola added around the COVID years lifts you up in about ten minutes, so you can lap it five or six times for serious vertical. He calls the grooming some of the best he has skied anywhere: every blue, red and black run is groomed every night.
The yellow runs, the marked "itineraries," are the exception. They are patrolled for avalanche safety when open but left ungroomed.
Skiing from Zermatt to Italy
The cross-border day is a signature Zermatt experience, and any solid intermediate can do it. The run over is essentially a red with a couple of steeper moments. Stay at the top and you'll find a different vibe, with Cervinia and the quieter reaches of Valtournenche and the Ayas valley on the Italian side, and often different snow, since the terrain faces mostly south.
The new lift has changed the plan for the day. Henry remembers when the old tram meant being at the bottom 20 minutes before first lift to claim a seat. These days a 30-person 3S gondola hauls people up the mountain, so you can head to Italy faster and easier. The exception is a good-weather Friday after a stormy week, when the whole resort heads across at once. Even then the queue looks worse than it is, and he puts the wait at about 20 minutes.
Two cautions. First, the top station is close to 4,000 meters and can be cold, and some visitors feel the altitude. Walk, don't run, along the tunnel at the top. Second, watch the lift closing times posted on the Italian side, and watch the wind. If the wind shuts the lifts at the top while you are lingering over lunch, the way home is an extremely long taxi ride.
Advanced and Off-Piste Skiing in Zermatt
Advanced skiers have plenty to work with. Henry likes the deep, rolling black runs and the long yellow itineraries off Sunnegga and Schwarzsee, which he compares to double-black terrain in North America: a few poles mark the way and you handle whatever the rocks and moguls throw at you. One favorite is Tiefbach, number 59, one of three yellow runs through the trees on the Schwarzsee side. It's wide at the start, steep in places and finishes in a narrow gully, and it needs a lot of snow to open. When it reopened after four or five years, he skied it every day.
Off-piste skiing in Europe works differently from North America. Step off a groomed run and you're off-piste, which is roughly the equivalent of out-of-bounds. It's not forbidden, but it isn't patrolled the same way. That's why Henry is emphatic about hiring a guide. A guide knows how much snow fell last week, which cornice is about to release, where the cliffs are and where the safe line is. Even strong skiers underestimate how different the knowledge side of off-piste is from technical skill, and a set of tracks may be days old or may belong to someone who simply got lucky.
Here is the upside: off-piste doesn't get tracked out quickly here. A week after a storm, a guide who knows the terrain can still find fresh snow without going far, which would be rare in many North American resorts. Ski touring is also popular, particularly in spring, with famous routes in every direction.
Avalanche control is serious business. After heavy snow, teams use fixed explosive systems, Gazex tubes on the Italian side and, above some of the black runs, helicopters drop dynamite. In big storms the train or road into town can close until the work is done, which Henry says is quite something to watch. Lower terrain and the funicular open first, higher terrain follows when visibility lets the crews do their work, and the resort's app and its morning updates, from around 8:30, are the best way to see what is open.
Snow, Weather and Skiing Zermatt Year-Round
Zermatt's altitude brings a snow guarantee, with a caveat. The mountain's ridge position means big storms often arrive with wind, so powder days without it are special. Henry estimates that roughly 80 percent of the pistes are on glacier or covered by snowmaking, which helps in slow-start seasons. Morning corduroy is superb. By afternoon, heavily skied man-made snow can firm up, and that's when he heads higher to the glacier or into the bumps for more natural snow.
The resort is almost like two resorts in spring. Sunnegga is south-facing and gets warm, slushy afternoons, with a sweet spot around 11 a.m. Up on the north-facing glacier, above 3,000 meters, the snow stays wintry through the end of the season, which is good news for anyone who hates slush. Summer skiing continues on the glacier, with race teams and instructors training there into July, though Henry doesn't think you need to spend a week on one glacier with a choice of two or three T-bar runs.
What month is best? Henry says March. There's plenty open, the snow is often good and it often snows, and the days are longer and warmer. He also has a longer view. After 25 winters, he says the weather now pings around like a yo-yo, with January warm spells and big temperature swings the Alps never used to see. The pistes cope, but the off-piste snowpack takes a hit. Check conditions closely and keep a flexible plan.
In poor weather, head low. Sunnegga's lower terrain has trees and a chairlift being replaced this summer, and Schwarzsee has a covered chairlift and sheltered runs. On the glacier in a whiteout you ski from sign to sign, which Henry says can feel nerve-wracking.
Lifts, Lines and Smart Planning
The lift system has been transformed since Henry arrived, when there were T-bars and one-cabin trams everywhere. In 2006 the Riffelberg Express connected the areas properly, and investment since then has been phenomenal. T-bars now remain only on the glacier. Gornergrat's old T-bar became a six-person chair, replaced last summer with a fast eight-person chair.
Queues are manageable. Hardly anyone skis first lift, the crowds build between nine and ten, and once you are up the mountain you barely queue. Henry also pointed out that Zermatt's lift pass scans every lift you ride, so the resort knows how people flow around the mountain and adjusts accordingly. He has not seen lift infrastructure like it anywhere else.
Where to Stay in Zermatt
The village is small, and you can walk from one end to the other in 10 to 15 minutes, so you're never far from anything. True ski-in, ski-out is rare, though a few hotels sit at the bottom of the Sunnegga side. Many visitors choose hotels near the station, which puts the Gornergrat railway close by, a roughly half-hour ride that is a pleasant way to start the day. Henry's advice: Zermatt has no cute beginner area in the village, and nobody enjoys walking in ski boots, so stay within a couple of minutes of a lift or where your runs finish. If you're ever stuck, electric taxis are available.
The town itself is a mix of glass-fronted modern buildings and centuries-old wooden hay barns, and it never turned into a tower-block resort. It's worth wandering.
Where to Eat and Après-Ski in Zermatt
Zermatt's on-mountain dining is famous, and Henry says you could ski for a fortnight and eat at a different restaurant every day. You sit, you are served, and on a snowy day a long lunch is the best plan.
His personal favorite is the Findlerhof, near Findeln, below Sunnegga. You take your skis off by a few old buildings and a sign, walk down a short path past a pile of skis, and arrive at a small wooden restaurant with the Matterhorn in view. It has a cozy rustic interior in winter and a big terrace in spring, and it has stayed in the family, with the son taking over from his parents. Henry and his wife head there for a late lunch on days off.
For après-ski, coming down from the Sunnegga side puts you at Cervo, now a five-star hotel with a lively scene until about 6:30 p.m. that turns into a smart restaurant later. From the other side, Henry mentions Blatten for a sunny terrace, and Hennustall for the big Austrian-style party. In town, Henry names the Papperla Pub, Harry's Bar and Smuggler's, and on a busy holiday week you'll see people wandering around town in ski boots after dinner.
Henry's Take
I asked what the worst part of working in Zermatt is. His answer was thoughtful. He'd love more variety between immaculate corduroy and the gnarly yellow runs, because perfect grooming makes everyone a hero but doesn't teach skiers much. A little adversity, he says, is not so bad. And for visitors, the biggest challenge is size, since there's no village beginner area and getting started in such a big place is intimidating. His fix is to hire a guide or instructor for the first day and learn how the mountain fits together.
His perfect day? Plenty of powder in the sunshine with friends and family. DAily runs on Tiefbach (run 59) when the snow is right. He had one last winter, when a fresh snowfall coincided with a day off and he skied off-piste with friends and one of his kids.
Plan Your Zermatt Ski Trip
Best time: March for snow and warm sun.
Getting there: Train from Zurich, Geneva or Basel; consider flying into Milan and driving.
First day: Start at Sunnegga, or book a guide to learn the layout.
Italy day: Head up early, mind the lift closing times and the wind.
Off-piste: Go with a certified guide, always.
Lunch: Book a long one on the mountain.
Zermatt is big, beautiful and sometimes complicated. Listen to my full conversation with Henry Hardy on the Where to Ski podcast, and visit wheretoski.org for more discussions on the world's best ski destinations from the legends that live there.
Best run - Tiefbach (run 59)
Best Lunch - Findlerhof
Best Burger - Republic
Best Apres - Harry' of course
Find Henry - Summit Ski School
Episode Transcript
Welcome to Where to Ski, I'm your host, John Morgan. Today we're headed to Switzerland, buckle up, we're skiing Zermatt. There are ski towns and then there's Zermatt.
No cars, no roads in or out that you can drive on. Train's really the only way to get there. And looming over the whole valley, one of the most recognizable mountains on earth.
The Matterhorn doesn't just overlook Zermatt, it defines it. People have been coming here to ski and climb since the 1860s. Connects to Italy on the other side, and it's the only place in Central Europe where you can ski every single month of the year.
Zermatt has been a mountaineering and ski town since the 1860s. Lifts started running in the winter of 1928, almost 100 years ago. So they've been skiing here just for a while.
Three and a half hours by train from Zurich, just under three hours from Geneva. It's car free and there are small electric shuttles for the hotels and electro taxis to carry visitors from the main station or taxi transfer point outside of town. Skiing in Zermatt is year round through the glacier.
In winter, the skiing is split up into three areas. Connection to Sardinia, Italy through the Plateau Rosa Glacier. You can ski forever at Zermatt and view the scenery for as long as you can ski.
You know, we talked about the Matterhorn, but there's like seven peaks around there. You'll hear more on that later. With 210 kilometers of marked piste, a ton of marked off-piste routes, and even more unmarked off-piste, all of these are served by almost every type of lift ever made.
You can use trains, funiculars, cable cars, goblets, chairlifts, and there's even a surface lift left. The lifts are fantastic and the mountain restaurants where you can stop for that long lunch are even better. Our guest today is Henry Hardy.
He started the Subbot Ski School in 2001. Yeah, that's like about 25 years ago. He's guided this place every day and is certified by BASI and Swiss Snowboard.
Lots of miles, lots of guests, and many, many years of experience here. So after this quick break, Henry tells us which run at Zermatt he just loves, why the glacier is doing something that should concern every skier, and how he skis the real Zermatt
Henry, welcome to Where to Ski. That's great. Thanks for having me.
It's very, very cool. Zermatt's one of the biggies. It's really a biggie, and we're excited to talk about this place.
But first, how does a marine biologist end up running a ski school at one of the biggest resorts in the world? Yeah, that's a good question. I'm not sure I've really thought about it in terms of the marine biologist running a ski school before. But yeah, I guess there's a combination of the problem-solving thing from the science degrees and the problem-solving thing of running the ski school.
There's been all sorts of... Since we set up in 2004, we had the financial crisis. 2008, we've had COVID, we've had Brexit. So figuring out all those things as you go is interesting.
And from starting it in our mid-20s to now being nearly 51, it changes a bit. So working out as you go along, it's been a fun journey, for sure. That's funny how life works out.
You start off in one direction and go another. How did you end up there? Yeah, absolutely. How did you end up there from London? I did my undergrad degree in marine biology up in Bangor in North Wales.
And then I did a master's in environmental technology at Imperial in London. And then I went to do a ski season. And I did one in... I did a couple of seasons in Balderdare.
Just a bit of a proper ski bum type stuff. And summers back in London to save for another winter. And then after a couple of seasons of that, mum and dad were a little bit like, isn't it time to... probably time to think about a job? A real job? I said, yeah, yeah, okay, good idea.
I'll do one more season. It's a story as old as time in this industry. But yeah, so I did one more season.
And I ended up working for a small tour operator. And they sent me to Grindelwald. And then the guy they had here hurt himself.
And so in January 2000, I was sent here. And I haven't really left. Well, it sounds like, you know, it sounds like you've really enjoyed Zermatt.
And Zermatt's enjoyed you. I know some people who've skied with you. And they say that, you know, you fit right in there.
Let's go in and talk about some of the skiing. You know, Zermatt is sort of defined by one geographic feature. Big one, the Matterhorn.
When you're skiing with a client who sees it for the first time, what's that like? It's pretty cool. I mean, it's, you know, usually by the time we meet the clients, they've probably seen it from the hotel room or walking around town. But sometimes you end up at those moments where, you know, they've arrived at night or there's a big inversion in the morning and you pop out through the clouds and there's Matterhorn.
It's pretty cool. You know, it's such an iconic look, such an iconic mountain. So it's great.
You know, people love it. And it's always fun taking photos, different angles, as you cruise around the mountain sort of checking out the whole resort. But then it's not the only one either.
You know, we're surrounded by 38 4,000-meter peaks. So it definitely looms the biggest, even though it's not the tallest. But it's the famous one, and it's definitely an attraction for sure.
I was going to say, it's got the big rep. Yeah. Yeah, it really does.
Do you ever get, like, so used to it that you really don't even notice it in the morning? Or does every morning you look up, go, oh, there it is? No, I think it's funny. People ask that a lot. And I think, no, you don't get used to it.
It's so, I think the, I don't know, I'm quite a keen photographer as well. And the light's always changing or there's cloud. And so then, you know, you try and take different things or time lapse.
So it's always changing and always looks pretty amazing. If you've been away for a few days or you come back into town, you're like, that's pretty cool. Doesn't lose its.
It's still there. I didn't lose it. It's still there.
Yeah, yeah. Let's talk a little bit about some of the skiing. There's really some fun terrain there.
And there's sort of three different areas to start from a mountain. Yeah, exactly. And it looks like the area has, it hasn't been growing and growing, but it's, it was big to start with, but they've opened up more and more terrain as they've gone along too.
Sort of, because you've skied here before, haven't you? Yes. But not for a while. No, it's been a long time.
Yeah. Yeah. So I think the lifts have changed.
Since I've been here, the area hasn't grown and grown. The runs maybe have changed a little bit, but not a huge amount. The lift system, which we'll discuss, I'm sure, has changed a lot, but the runs haven't really.
There's, but there, you know, there's, like I say, there's three different mountains. So as we sort of look from town, you've got, we've got, or look at the piece map. You've got Sannegra on the left, Gornograd in the middle, and then Kleinmattu and Schwarze on the right.
And then that's where you would then access over into Italy as well. So, yeah, it's huge. It's huge.
That's the cool part is you can ski over to Italy. And I spent some time, I probably spent more time skiing in Serbia than I have in Zermatt, actually, but. Oh, okay.
It's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a fun thing to be able to do with people, just to hop over to a different country.
Well, you know, you get over there and it's different, but we'll talk about that. Let's talk for a minute about the less experienced skiers. Yeah.
Half the terrain is really targeted for them. What's a good fun day for them starting from town? I think for like sort of, you know, for the beginner, like sort of lower, yeah, intermediate beginner, it's interesting. It's, you know, you probably start either at Sannegra or Gornograd depending on, maybe on where you're staying or the weather or how people are feeling, but largely for us, especially as well, the lower levels, we tend to start at Sannegra, the terrains that are more accessible.
That's where the little, the beginner's area that we can, we use is. So, so certainly if you're not sure of the level or they're not sure of their level or haven't skied for ages, that's the safest place to start. So we'd head to Sannegra to start with.
And then, and then from there, we've got, you know, you go from the beginner's area, then you've got a few, you've got access to the beginner, beginnery runs and the blue runs. We don't, we start with blue runs here that don't have green. So we go blue, red, black.
So, so we start on the blue runs there, which also, you know, gets you straight into something else. We'll come to some of the, you know, the, the famous restaurants as well. So even as a, as a lower level skier, you've got access to to some of the best restaurants easily as well, without having to sort of challenge yourself on a run too much, which is cool.
Well, that's pretty much by design. They want to make sure they can get to everybody. I imagine so.
Now you mentioned to me that over on that side, there's actually some good groom skiing too. There's, I think you said it was run 15, Tuft & Coombe. Tuft & Coombe, yeah, that's great.
That's a great run. It's a, it's a red run. And it's from the, from the very top of that side, from Roathorn all the way around, gets you back to Patral out of the Cherves.
It's really long. It's a thousand odd vertical meters. All sorts of terrain.
It gets quite steep in the middle. It's a, it's a great run. It's the furthest like that, that side.
So, you know, ski is right or look is left of the ski area. So you look right back over town, up to Mount Horn. Yeah, it's a cool, it's a cool run.
Yeah. And you can just do laps on that. And, you know, it's probably, it sounds like a good warm up to get ready to go ski the rest of the hill.
It is. If you're, if you're, you know, if you're feeling, if you're more sort of a more confident skier, it's a great sort of warm up run. Yeah.
You can do, you could do loops of that. There's a, there's a gondola that went in. When did that go in? Sort of COVID time.
There was a, there was an old chairlift that did half of that, which got taken out by an avalanche one after a big storm. And, and so they replaced it with this huge, like huge vertical. There's a 10, 10 person gondola that's pretty slick.
So in 10 minutes, you're up a thousand meters and yeah, you can, you can loop that thing for some big vert to start your day. Oh man. Do about five runs on that, a thousand meters of shot.
That's, that's a fair amount. It's a long, it's a long, it's a long way. You can, you can cover all the ground here.
There's a lot of, there's a lot of vertical to be skied if that's your, if that's your thing. So I assume that, I assume when they groom stuff over there, it's pretty well done. They've got the, they've got the technique and the knowledge down.
Yeah. The grooming, the grooming here is, I'm not sure I've skied anywhere. It's better.
It's a, it's pretty immaculate. And every, every sort of, yeah, all of the blue, red and black, every groomed run is groomed every night. I mean, and to perfection, basically the yellows, the itinerary runs they're left un-groomed when they're open.
But yeah, everything else is groomed every night. So if that's your thing, then, then we've got lots of, lots of terrain to explore. So let's, while we're still talking about like intermediate skiers, you can ski over to Italy, out to Serbia.
Yes. Pretty much any level can do that, right? Maybe not a rank beginner. You've got to be able to ski, no, not a beginner, but any, any, any intermediate can ski that for sure.
And there's a, you know, there's a couple of, there's a couple of steeper moments, but there's nothing, you know, it's a red run basically. So it's, it's, yeah, it's very achievable for any sort of intermediate skier. Once you've got a, you know, a few, few weeks under your belt, it's, you're good to go, I'd say.
Now, in terms of doing that, is that, should you plan like a day around that to be able to go over there? It takes a while to sort of take the lifts up, ski down, enjoy part of Italy. It's changed. I mean, another thing that's changed in the last, in the last few years is the, the lift at the very top there.
So it used to be an old tram or cable car, which, you know, if you were, if you were, so yeah, when we were, you know, for the sort of first, whatever, 15 odd years here, if you were planning a day out with, with guests, then you would be, yeah, you'd say, okay, we're going to meet at the bottom, first lift. We're going to be 20 minutes before first lift because we want to be in that first tram. And then we go and we'll spend the day in Italy and it's, and it's good.
But then they changed it a few years ago with this huge 3S, which serves a big, like 30 person gondola that just, I mean, it fires people up the mountain. It's an incredible lift. And so now basically, I mean, occasionally you'll queue for it, but not for very long.
So you can actually sort of pop over at any time. So it's sort of changed the, the shape of the day going to Italy. You can be a bit more flexible.
You could start at San Diego and go across, but for sure, it's a, you know, if you want to explore the whole Italian area, then, then your best bet would be to head, head up there first thing. And then you've got, because you've got Cervinia, but also Val d'Ange, another, another little bit of the ski area, which is, you know, when you're in the far reaches of Val d'Ange, you feel a long way from, a long way from home. The snow is a little bit different over there too.
And the vibe is different, but the snow's a little bit different over there too. Isn't it different? It faces different directions. Yeah, it's all, I mean, it's largely South facing.
So, so it definitely, you know, certainly there's the sort of second half of the winter, spring time, you know, you get that more classic spring, spring feeling where it's a bit firmer in the morning and slusher in the afternoon. But, but for the, for the most part, you know, it's all high as well. So you definitely, the snow's, the snow's pretty good.
It seems to be in the last few years that either they get a lot of wind over there or we get wind over here. So one or the other seems to be, you know, a bit, a bit firmer in terms of the wind effect, but, but you can always find, find something good. The snow's usually, I would say it's, yeah, it's usually pretty good over there.
Well, I would think that would help in the, in midwinter too, when you can get a little bit more sun, something that's South facing and warm you up in like January, February, where Zermatt could get cold. Zermatt can get really cold. And, and you, you definitely notice that those, you know, when you head up, you're heading over to Iceland, because you have to go up to Clangmator, which is the highest place, you know, we are the highest bit of the ski area.
And so you're up there at nearly 4,000 metres and, and, and it's cold. I mean, however you go about it, it's cold. And there's sort of the, the sort of, you have to dive between there and the, and the border and it can easily be, you know, minus 20 centigrade up there.
And then you, you know, and you, but then once you get down into, you just hope the wind's not howling over in Trevena, because you get there and then, yeah, then it's South facing, sun's out. You're like, ah, here we go. There you go.
Adding to the mess. That's awesome. Yeah, it's good.
It's good. You do a lot of skiing with advanced skiers and Zermatt's got a ton, ton of really good skiing over there. Does it make sense to sort of focus in one area if you're, depending on the weather probably as well and the snow conditions, does it make sense to focus on one area, one of the three areas? I'd say no, as a direct answer.
It definitely depends on the weather. It depends on, on the snow. Maybe the goals of the group of the day, but you know, each, each area has its own, own, yeah, good challenging terrain.
Senega you've got, you know, when it's all in good shape, you've got, you know, the groom, some of the groom runs like that. The one we talked about already, the national is brilliant fun. You know, it's a good, good sort of deep rolling black run, which is, is really fun.
And you can loop on a chair if they're replacing this summer, actually. So that that's pretty good. Hoeften itself is really good.
And then when the, when the snow is good and you've got all the itineraries, there's a couple of great yellow runs down the face, which are, which are really good fun. And they're really, I mean, they're tough, long, long runs, much more like what I sort of imagined. I haven't skied in the States for a long time, but sort of the double black diamond sort of thing, you know, that big, big, long itineraries.
You just mark, there's a few poles to mark your way. And, and that's it. You know, you deal with the rocks and the moguls as they come at you, which is expensive.
You're like that sort of thing. You get a variety of terrain, which is good. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. You get all sorts.
And then, and then for the, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then from the middle from Gornergrat, Gornergrat itself at the top is, is largely pretty, pretty mellow.
It's a really good intermediate area. The, the Giftigli chair, you've got these, you know, three or four blue runs. There's one red run, which the local kids often race on.
And then, but that's how you would access, like you can get to, well, from Hatali and then back to Trifti as well. And that's where, again, there's some great skiing off there when the, when the snow's, you know, when the snow's good, it all takes a little bit longer to open now than it used to when I was first here, just cause the snow takes a bit longer to arrive. But, but there's some really, there's some really fun skiing there.
And then as you move over to the Glacier and climb out on Schwalze, Schwalze's got some great, great, again, great itineraries. There's a black run right at the top, which is really fun. All the stuff on the Glacier itself is, that's our sort of widest motorway cruisy skiing, but then down to, as you head down a little bit lower below Trognasteg, you've got sort of the ski instructor training terrain of Zwerg, which is, you know, sort of steeper red runs.
And that's where all the bumps are. And again, there's some itineraries there. So there's a real, there's a real mix.
I'd say it sort of depends on, yeah, on the weather and what people want to do for the day. And, well, and it depends on how, you know, with most mountains you've got to depend on the weather. And Zermatt, a lot of it is above treeline, which- Most of it is above the treeline.
Yeah. Yeah. So that really defines how you're going to ski it.
So like on a bad weather day, you're going to want to ski low just to be able to get some- Yeah, so if the weather's exactly bad, bad weather, you're probably heading more towards Sunninger because you've got that, that chairlift, I said, they're replacing this summer. You've got that, which you've got some skiing in the trees or over to Schwalze, where again, there's a chairlift with a good lid on. So it keeps you, protects you from the weather.
The top half is not in the treeline, but then you get down in the trees. So there's some good stuff, but yeah, up on the, up on the glacier when the weather comes in, it's, you know, it's pretty barren. It's pretty tough to navigate too.
You know, you ski from sign to sign and it gets, that gets nerve wracking. Yeah. It helps to know where you're going for sure then.
But once the storm- It can still be quite intimidating. Well, I've gotten stuck there. When you can't see the next sign, it gets a little scary.
It's like, oh, where do I go now? Yeah. After the storms leave, there's got to be some great powder skiing. That altitude makes for some pretty light stuff, doesn't it? It can do, it can do.
One of the, yes, let's go with yes. But it also, the problem with the altitude, it often brings the wind as well. We sit on this sort of, you know, this big alpine ridge.
And so we often have some pretty, when big storms come in, you know, there's often some wind. So, but when we do occasionally, you know, the heavens open and there's no, and there's no wind and everyone gets very excited. Yeah.
Even with the wind, I mean, there's some great, we have some great off-piste here. That's where I was going to go next, the off-piste. You know, that's getting more and more skied.
You know, it used to be that you go to Europe and no one would ski off-piste much. Now, it's getting much more popular. More Americans go over there, more Australians, more Brits go over and they want to go off-piste.
Yeah, it's interesting. I think there's, you know, I grew up skiing in, over there was sort of where I learned to ski and that's a big off-piste place. And then Chamonix, obviously, Verbier, there's a lot.
And there's some of the Austrian resorts, I think. But yeah, it's definitely, I would say it's, you know, it's growing here. But it's, you know, like I said, they're big mountains, the terrains, there's not a lot of like easy access, relaxed off-piste.
You know, there's a lot above you, there's a lot below you. It's pretty, it's pretty wild. You don't know where you're going and what you're doing.
That's the case pretty much anywhere. You can't just go to a mountain cold and try and get to the really good off-piste stuff. Is there much climbing there? No.
Like ski touring or rock climbing? Well, I was thinking ski touring. Like, you know, instead of just, you know, depending on the lifts, getting to the top of the lift and then climbing a bit to be able to get to some of the good off-piste stuff. I mean, there is, so there is a lot, but a lot of it's more, I would say, probably more when you move into the sort of spring thing and the bigger ski touring.
Objectives, there's a lot of, there's a lot here. There's, you know, we've got, like I said, surrounded by big mountains and pretty famous ski touring routes. Largely, yeah, there's, there are a few bits and pieces people do and skin to places after the snow, but we don't, you know, and don't tell everyone, but it doesn't get tracked out really quickly.
As you know, you can, you can, which is a great as a working as a ski instructor, you know, if you're on a booking that's not off-piste and it's after a snow, you can, a week later, you're still, you still don't have to go too far to find something if you know where to go. And that is awesome because you can't find that very often here in the States. I'll tell you that, you know, they drop, they drop a rope, it's mobbed.
Yeah, I mean, that's the, I think that's the, you know, as we sort of, we discussed a little bit, but the big difference here is the sort of, yeah, the on-piste, off-piste, in-bounds, out-of-bounds thing. It's such a different, it's such a sort of different approach here. So, you know, basically if you, if you, once you move off the side of the piste, you are off-piste, you know, you move off a groomed run, you're off-piste, which I guess technically is the equivalent of out-of-bounds.
It's not, it's not that you're not allowed to go there, but it's not, it's not necessarily patrolled for avalanche safety. It's interesting, it's very different. That's where it's important to have a guide, somebody who skis it all the time, knows where things are, where the dangers are, what the snow conditions are like, you know, yesterday, today, and last week, so that, okay, it snowed two meters last week.
We know that this little cornice is going to break at one point, we're going to have a slide. And... Yeah, exactly. Knowing the right way down and avoiding cliffs, things like that, it makes, it makes a huge... Yeah, there's a, yeah, there's a lot of, yeah, a lot of big terrain.
And, and, you know, and then the, like I said, the sort of the changing weather patterns. And I listened to your, your most recent podcast of the, you know, the weather guys with the crazy, crazy season last year. And, and it, and it was, it was really interesting, you know, with the sort of like the, the sort of different avalanche problems that we had last season.
And, and there was all sorts going on. And that, yeah, being aware of that, you can't just, you can't just sort of turn up and hang around wherever you want. There's, there's a lot going on out there.
No, and you need to have the right gear. You need to, or at least have a guide who will provide you with the right gear or point you in the right direction. And someone who can lead you down and say, listen, we skied this the other day.
It was awesome. It's filled in a bit more. It should be beautiful, but you got to look out for this, this, and this.
And by the way, when you're traversing, when you're traversing right here, we're going one at a time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. All of, all of that.
It's so, it's so important. And that's the, yeah, you know, skiing. I think as people do more of it and get used to skiing off-piste in Europe, it's, it becomes more, more sort of commonplace that, that everyone gets it.
But it's, yeah, it's really different to, it must be, you know, like, it must be fun being in the States. You can just kind of go anywhere. Yeah, yeah.
Without worrying too much. Yeah, well, that's why the insurance rates are so high. But that's a different topic.
The, you can go to a certain extent anywhere, but, you know, a lot of mountains are pretty well defined. And if you go out in a defined area in the U.S. and Canada, you can get into real trouble. And not just, you can get into legal trouble and you can get into risk trouble.
So there's a couple ways of looking at it. And people, you know, people sometimes exceed their skill level. Yeah.
And, you know, there, I'm sure there's places or zones that look like they're accessible, but, you know, you probably want to steer even an experienced skier away from there unless they do have a guide. You know, people think they get on their own. It's just like, hey, that looks awesome.
I want to go ski that. It's like, no, no, don't do it without a guide. Yeah, because they might, they might have the, you know, often there's the technical skill level and people are strong skiers, but the, yeah, maybe the experience and knowledge of the off-piste is, yeah, is different, you know.
And so that, yeah, there's a lot of thing. And the, not just heading out for, oh, those tracks look good. Let's go have a go over there.
You know, they might be a couple of days old. It might be, you know, whoever the guide might have chosen exactly that line because further to the left there's something else. So you can get into it, yeah.
Yeah. It could be somebody who didn't know what they were doing and got lucky. It could be that too.
How do they do on the, you know, as you said, they don't do a lot of mitigation outside of the, you know, the piece. How do they manage mitigation there? Is there a lot of bombing in the mornings after? Yeah, after it's snowed, there's a lot of bombing. There's a lot of the sort of fixed, the fixed, I forgot what they're called, but the ones with the dynamite inlet, they lower down.
There's a load of them, sort of like the inbuilt systems. Over in Italy, there's some of the Gaz-X ones with the, you know, the big tubes that come out. And then in certain places, like above the road, particularly, and above Fergferi, a black run down from there, they get the helicopter and the dynamite out, which is quite cool to watch.
Oh, that's awesome to watch and sit there and watch them do that, the result. Sometimes it doesn't do anything. Sometimes they hit it big and it's like, whoa, I'm glad it wasn't there.
Yeah, well, we seem to, like, we seem to, you know, in the last few years, we've had these, when it does snow, it snows pretty heavily. We've had these big storms. And then often the, either the train or the road, like accessing their matter will close, basically until they've had a chance to get up there and bomb it.
And so then, you know, it's closed. So there's nothing, no people to worry about when they go up. And it's a big mountain above it that they, they drop dynamite on.
And then, yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty cool to watch. But yeah, they do. So they do a lot of that.
And like I said, they'll, you know, they control everywhere, you know, above any piece. They obviously don't, no ski resort wants avalanches coming down onto piste. So they make sure that doesn't happen.
And then, and they'll close, open and close runs depending on that as well. You know, there's often, particularly as you move into spring and, you know, you get warming up afternoons. There are certain runs that close in the afternoon because there's a, there's a big face above it until that's gone.
And then suddenly there's no snow and then, and then it's okay. Then they'll leave it open. So after a big dump, how does the hill open up? You know, I assume the top, if you get a couple of meters of snow, the top is pretty well shut down for a while.
Does it open up usually by stages or is there a way that it sort of, that usually- I mean, again, yeah, it depends. A couple of meters would be great, wouldn't it? It's been a while. That would be fun.
We have, we have, maybe not that much, but we had some good snowfalls. But again, it slightly depends on which direction it's come from and the wind often, you know, if there's been, and the current weather, if it's suddenly, you know, if we wake up to a bluebird day and it's really nice and they can get out and they can, they can, you know, clear, like bomb the avalanches and control it as they, as they want, then things can open relatively quickly. If, if it's still really, you know, if you're still thick clouds, they can't see anything from the piece or they can't get the helicopter up, then it can take a, it can take a while to open.
And so you'll usually get on those days, you know, like the, the Sundergar Express, the funicular, which just runs up through the mountain anyway. So, and then, and then down from that, you've got a couple of red runs and some trees. And so the lower stuff will open up, will open up first, which can make for some, you know, interesting days because there's, there's not necessarily a lot open.
We had one, one of our big snowfalls last, last winter happened to be in the, right at the beginning of half term, which is fun. Last winter happened to be in the beginning of half term, which is fun. So we had this kind of two massive weather days and one of the busiest weeks of the year and not very much open for a couple of days. But ultimately, we just have to wait until they can see the mountain and then open stuff up.
And sometimes over the other side, like up at Climaton, again, because up on the glacier, obviously, the terrain's barely mellow. There's not a lot above it. And so that will be open.
But then you can't ski to town because that's all quite steep sided. So you can ski up there and then you'll have to download back to the village. And it just depends on the day and the weather.
The info on the app is pretty good as what's open. And just because something closes doesn't mean it's going to stay close to day. I think that's one of the things that we all get quite good at.
It's like just keeping an eye on the information that's available because stuff does open and close and then you can move around the mountain. So that's the point. So the app for Zermatt is pretty up to date and pretty well run.
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty good. It has all good bits of technology. It has glitchy moments, but largely, yeah, it's a really good one.
It's a great resource for just checking the weather, what the temperature is, what the wind's like and what's open in the morning. They sort of update it from like 8.30 in the morning. And then you're in pretty good shape.
You know what's going on. That's kind of key. That helps a lot because then you can check and see where you want to ski, see if something's open, see if it's being groomed even.
That makes a big difference. Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't have that, but it has been groomed. Everything's been groomed.
But the other thing, and you can definitely see if you're doing like we talked about the day to Italy, you can check if it's minus 30 at the top just because it's really sunny. It's not always. You mentioned a ski route called Tilbach, number 59.
Tiefbach, yeah. Tiefbach, where is that? I could not find it. Tiefbach is, as you look at Schwarze, so the sort of ski is the right of the piece map, sorry, right of the piece map as you're looking at it.
There are three yellow runs down through the trees and it's the middle one of them. But it's an itinerary. Like I said, our itineraries, they're marked off piece.
When they're open, they're sort of patrolled for avalanche safety, but they don't groom them. They don't send anyone down them. They'll mark the way and they'll tell you at the top how it's marked, where the poles are and how far apart they are and how far you can stray from the poles.
And then, yeah, Tiefbach's one of those. I had a different one that was one of my favourite runs for a long time, but last year that opened for the first time in probably four or five years. It takes a lot of snow to open it.
I think they have to, there's like a gully at the bottom and they need enough snow that they can basically bomb it and fill the gully in. And it hasn't had that much snow recently. And so this year when it opened, I was sort of skiing past the top of it.
I was like, huh, look at that. And I skied it every day. It's brilliant.
It's just really fun. It's just a great run. Long, it's quite steep in places, wide to start with, then this tiny little gully.
Yeah, it's great fun. That sounds like a blast. Yeah, yeah, it's good.
Now, during the day, a normal day, let's say the sun's out, it hasn't really snowed, so you're skiing with a group. Does the mountain ski with the sun in any way? Do you have a certain sort of pattern that you follow so that you follow the sun as you go in the middle of the night? You might do in terms of good visibility and how things look. I wouldn't say certainly the first half of the season till we get to sort of March time.
It doesn't necessarily change the snow a lot. I think if you start generally, if you start over at Seneca that side, it's quite bright in the morning and it's all good. But the snow stays pretty good.
I think we have a lot of snow making now as well. That really helps with the seasons where there's a slower start, which is great. I think something like 80% of the piece are either glacial or have snow making.
So it's a huge amount and that's really good. You end up, maybe you can still go everywhere, whatever the snow's like. But I think in terms of how it skis, the start of this winter was a bit like that.
And the morning, because it's been groomed, is great. It's really fun. The afternoon can get a bit firmer.
As it's been skied a lot, the man-made snow, as it gets skied a lot, it gets a bit... So then I'd probably head up higher, head over to the glacier or head off into the moguls, try and find something that's a bit more real snow. No, that makes sense. That makes sense.
It also gives you a shot to be able to get stopped for something on the way over. Either coffee or lunch. Yeah.
Coffee, lunch, whatever. Yeah, exactly. But even in the spring, we have a lot of resorts.
We see it's almost like they're two different resorts in a way. Senega you get is a very classic. You'll end up with those.
It's really hot. It faces south. You get really warm, hot afternoons.
It gets a bit slushy in the morning. Inherently, it's then a bit icy, but it's groomed ice, so it's okay. And there's the sweet spot, you know, 11-ish.
If you time it perfectly, then it's great. But up on the glacier, even through to the end of the season, even now, because it's high, it's over 3,000 meters, it's north-facing, the snow stays pretty wintry all winter up there. So you can always find, even in the spring, if we've got clients who really, really hate slush, we can cope with that here.
Now, you can even ski that glacier all the way through the summer too. It's open pretty much every month, right? Yeah, basically all summer. There was one summer a few years back, it closed because it got a bit too hot.
The freezing level was crazy high. It's like 5,000 meters or something, way above the top of the mountain. So then it closed for a month or two.
But largely, yeah, you can ski up there all year. And there's a lot of racer training up there too when you get towards July. There's a lot of racers, yeah.
It's one of the few T-bars we have left up there. But yeah, you can ski up there. There's a lot of race training.
So I guess it's busy with training. I think it's one of the sort of glaciers that's hanging on in the Alps in terms of summer skiing and training. It's busy with racers or instructor training.
If you want to go and have a ski experience, it's quite cool. I'm not sure you need to spend a week skiing there in the summer. Well, it gets repetitive when you're stuck on one glacier.
Yeah, one glacier, you've got a choice of two or three runs and T-bars. And so you've talked a lot about the altitude. Does that affect some of your guests up there at almost 4,000 meters? That's like with Colorado-level skiing where you're at 10 or 11,000 feet.
It definitely can do. And really only at the very top, I'd say, up at Climato. And sometimes people get up the lift there and you walk along this tunnel at the top.
And so if people are a bit eager and start running down the tunnel a bit fast, they're suddenly very short of breath. Or sometimes people just feel a little bit sort of unwell up there. But it changes very quickly as soon as you come back down.
So yeah, people notice it, though, definitely. You were talking about some of the lifts. You said that the glaciers got really the only T-bar left.
When I was skiing it back in the dinosaur's realm, there were a lot of surface lifts. So now it's all modern equipment, all modern trams. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, when I was first here as well, there were a lot of T-bars everywhere, really. And yeah, trams, like big cable cars. So they're just one each way.
So you end up queuing and waiting. And it was just not very well connected in places. And then in 2006, I think it was, they put the Riffleburg Express in.
So from Furi back up to Riffleburg, which meant then suddenly you can ski right to left as well as left to right, which suddenly links the whole area properly. And then the investment has been phenomenal since then. Yeah, the changing outlifts that have been new since I was here.
It was like a T-bar up on Gornergrat, which got replaced by a chair, you know, a high-speed six-man chair that they just replaced again last summer with a fast eight-man chair. So it's pretty, yeah. And then Pouch Love, which has been there since I was there.
That's probably one of the last ones to be replaced. They're doing this summer. Like I said, the big one, the 3S at the top.
Yeah, there's basically only T-bars now are up on the Glacier. Everything else is, yeah, fast chairlifts or big, fast gondolas now. That's pretty impressive.
That moves a lot of people out of the hill. So it doesn't really get crowded up there. We don't, I mean, I'll say we don't queue a lot here.
You know, there's a few times you might have the odd moment if a lift's been stopped for a while, you know, and it's a sort of, it's a one that you need to change direction and everyone's going that way or whatever it is. You can't go somewhere else. You know, like in Gantt, there's a spot there where you have to get one of two lifts.
And if they both end up stopping for a while on a busy week, then the queues build. But occasionally out of town, you get a little bit like if, but it's on sort of certain days more than anything. If you end up with like a day where, you know, if you have one of those weeks where the weather's been a little bit sort of wild and people haven't managed to get to Italy and suddenly Friday looks good, then the entire resort is trying to go to Italy.
So then you go back to the old days. You're like, okay, we're going to be at the lift first thing, because that can build quick. But it moves fast.
The queue looks huge, but you probably don't wait more than 20 minutes. Oh, that's not bad. Especially first thing in the morning.
You know, I could see waiting to get up first thing in the morning and having a wait because you've got a line building. People want to get up there if it's a nice day. And then once it clears, you're usually pretty good.
Yeah. So we don't really have the line. The line doesn't build first thing here.
Like if you're keen and you want to get out, just go first lift. Not many people ski first lift. And then it starts to build up the sort of nine to 10 window.
It gets pretty busy. But yeah, once you're up the mountain, you don't queue very much at all. Like I said, a few lifts, but you can avoid it.
That's actually pretty awesome. It means they've designed it right. I think so.
And it's interesting, you're different to a lot of places, but your lift pass scans every lift you go through. So they track where you've been. They know how people flow around the mountain and they figure it out.
And yeah, they sort of change the lifts appropriately. And it's pretty incredible. I have to say, as lift infrastructures go, I haven't really seen anything else like it.
Now, every month in the Alps is different. It sort of follows a pattern. November, December can be really, really nice.
Get to January, it's cold. February starts, it turns again and starts to get nice. What's your favorite month to be up there? Your favorite period of time? I think, I mean, I kind of like the changing seasons as well, all of it.
If I could only choose one month to ski now, I reckon it would probably be March. March is, for us now, March is when we seem to have the best snow that we've got. By then there's lots open.
The snow is often good. It often snows in March. Then the days are starting to warm up as well, which is always nice after you've got through December, January, February.
But yeah, like you said, it's really interesting here. Having skied here for 25 years, it definitely used to be, it was cold. It got colder in January.
End of Jan, Feb, it's unbelievably cold. And then sort of gently starts warming up. But nowadays, I mean, the last five years, the weather's like it pings around like a yo-yo.
Suddenly it's like, I don't know, 10 degrees in town in January. And then this year we had Easter. Just before Easter, it was like the middle of winter.
Yeah, the whole Alps sort of had a weird season. There were a couple of really, really weird, crazy patterns. Big, big temperature fluctuations that we never used to have here.
So yeah, we're high enough the snowpack can, or the snow, certainly the piece can deal with it. The snowpack for the off-piste takes a hit for sure. But yeah, coming back to March, March is fun.
It's good. March is fun, especially if you're living on the hill like that. Yeah, it's nice.
Longer days, longer days. It's warming up a bit. So Zermatt's quite a town.
Getting there is pretty easy, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to drive there from an airport. It's much easier to take a train. Once you get there, you can't drive anyways.
No, no, you've got to park down in Tesch, the next little village down and get the train up anyway, or a taxi. You can, there's a road you can get a, you know, if there's a big group of you, you can get a taxi out. But no, you're not, once you're here, you're, you're not using your car.
So I think, you know, if you're, if you're flying anywhere into Switzerland, yeah, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, then they're all, it's so easy on the train. You know, it takes a bit longer, but the train's really easy. The only one that is, we certainly drive to sometimes in Milan, the trains are less convenient to Milan, but the flights are really good.
So, so sometimes it's a, yeah, that can be good. And it's an easy drive. And sometimes the Italian trains aren't always on time.
There's, there's an element of that. Yeah. And there's also, yeah, well they go, you know, they don't run on these three days of the week or whatever it is.
So you just, you know, then, then, then the car, I think if you're doing Milan, the car is useful, but I'd say it's worth looking at flights there because it's definitely a, it's another good, yeah, a good location and easy drive. So yeah, once you get to town, it's sort of got a split personality. There's the newer stuff that's been built the last few years, but there's also a whole part of town that is like hundreds of years old.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's a real mix. I think it's really cool here. The, in terms of the sort of, you know, the architecture, you end up, you know, with these like really modern or like a modern word and big glass and, and it looks cool.
And next to it is the, yeah, you know, a couple hundred year old startle where they used to store the hay. And it's great. I mean, so there is a real, the real mix wherever you walk around town.
So, but it's, but it's all, but not, it never got, you know, it never had the sort of big tower block development. So they've kept it even with all the, the sort of the real differences and the new, the new bills. I think it allows, it looks really cool still.
That's, that's really nice. Cause you go in there and you can find really, really, really nice places to stay all over. Is there a certain, is there a certain part of Zermatt that makes sense to stay in? You know, it's sort of spread out and assuming you want to be near a lift or near a lift and restaurants or something like that, a certain part that you'd recommend.
I mean, I think the, I guess the important thing to it, it's not very big. You know, you walk from one end to the other, not in ski in like, you know, 10, 15 minutes. It's not, it really isn't huge.
So you're never that far away from anything. And maybe for in the sort of the further bits of up in Winckelmatton, it's a bit further, but there's sort of the length of the high street really isn't far. The way you stay, you know, you're not going to find that much ski in ski out.
A lot of, you know, it's just not a huge thing here. There are, there are a few hotels like at the bottom of the lift, like Turbo is at the bottom of the Sunninger side. You can ski to the front door.
That's pretty cool. And then you look at town. It's got great views of a town and obviously Matton.
And then the other side, there's a, there's a few there. There's one place actually that is quite good. I think a lot of people say it's anywhere.
The sort of hotels near the station, because it's right there as you arrive in town, but you're also right by the Gornergrat railway and you can hop on that train up to Gornergrat, which is a pretty fun way to start the day as well. And, and again, with the new, the new trains they've put on over the years, it doesn't take you any longer to get up there. People always be like, oh, we're going to get a train.
Yeah. But it's still, it takes half an hour, not even a short half hour to get to the top. And it's, which would be the same as, as getting the gondolas at the other side.
So, and then you're, then you're up the mountain and you go from there, you can go either direction. So that's pretty cool. I only ever really do that though.
If people are staying near the station, you don't really get the, you don't come into town unless it's a sort of specific people, you know, we want to get the Gornergrat train today. But if you're staying near there, it's really convenient. Does the train usually, if they have the lift shut down for weather, does the train make sense to take that in the morning? Can do, yeah.
Yeah. If the lift is shut, it can do, yeah. The only, there, there's a lot of, it's sort of around quite a lot of big terrain though.
So if the avalanche risk pings up too high, then, then it, it's, it suffers from that too, or the, or just, yeah, big snow drips and wind, but, but, but yeah. But like I say, nowhere's, nowhere's that far either near a bus stop or, or, or don't be afraid of calling a little electric taxi to get you to the lift. And, you know, it's one of those things, I think here you can, I think, you know, you can make it easier or harder.
It's, it's a different place, you know, it's not the sort of classic, yeah, like ski in, ski out and the little, you know, the sort of cute beginner's area in the village. We don't, we don't have that. So there are times when you get off the mountain and you're with the, you know, kids are exhausted and you can make them walk back to the hotel if you want.
I'm not sure it's going to help. I'm not a big fan of walking in ski boots too far. Yeah.
Yeah. So then, then, then it definitely is, it's worth, it's worth doing your research as to where, where to stay. And I'd say, yeah, near, near the bottom of one of the lifts.
And that, you know, if you're, if you're within sort of a couple minutes walk of that, then, then you're in, or where the runs finish at the same place. And then, then you're in quite good shape. Last time I was there, most of the restaurants, we're going to, I'm going to start asking about food now.
It was pretty much, it was pretty much like Swiss food. It was alpine food, you had the roasties, there was a lot of cheese. And I assume, I assume the restaurants have gotten pretty diverse now.
You probably get, get everything from Thai restaurants to traditional Swiss food too. Yeah. I mean, certainly in, in town, you've got, you've got everything, you know, whether you want your sushi or Japanese or the Thai or all sorts, as well as all of the sort of international and Swiss and Michelin stars and everything.
And then on the mountain, I mean, Zermatt's pretty famous for its on mountain dining nowadays. It's a, again, I'm not, I'm not sure there's that many places. You could ski here for a fortnight in a different restaurant every day of the week.
You know, it's, it's pretty incredible. That's the best part is sort of being up there on the hill. You know, it's not like you're going for the most part, going through a buffet and, you know, fighting for a table.
You get a table and there's, you're served and it's really, it's beautiful. On a nice day, there's nothing better. Yeah.
Yeah. On a nice day or when the, or when the, you know, the weather's like, the weather's sucked in and it's a howling blizzard outside and you're just inside. It's like, well, maybe this lunch can go on a bit now.
Is it all right? What's your, what's your favorite on mountain spot and where is it? I'd probably have to go to the Findlerhof. I think it's sort of since I got here, it's been, yeah, been a firm favorite. And that's where, yeah, my wife and I would go if we got the day off, we'd go, go for a ski and have, have a late lunch there.
I'd say it's just, there's something about it. You know, you kind of, the location's cool. Take your skis off and you walk down through the little old buildings and then it's just sort of pretty quiet.
It's very, yeah, it's just a great, it's a great spot. The food's brilliant. The reception's always good.
The, yeah, and it's like, it used to be run by Franz and Heidi and then recently just for COVID, their son, Frankie took over. So it's, you know, it stayed in the family and yeah, it's just, it's a brilliant spot. Really is.
Well, the family tradition is pretty important over there and it provides the continuity. Now, how do you get there? Where is it on the mountain? That is at, that is at, um, it's at Sonnega. So you ski from Sonnega, you head, you head down and towards Findel.
And there's a, there is a choice of runs. It doesn't matter which one you take. It's basically where those two runs join again.
There's a couple of old buildings and there'll be a little sign saying Findelhof and, uh, and with an arrow, you take your skis off there. You'll see there's a big pile of skis and walk down the hill. And you wonder where you're going for a little bit.
You sort of, you know, in the middle of winter, it's slightly icy, but they put some ropes off and, and you get down there. And then this is like very cute little restaurant just sitting there with a mattor. And then you're like, huh, yeah, this, this will do.
And it's really in the, in the, yeah, like say those days in the, in the winter, like inside is very, like it's sort of old rustic. It is an old wooden, you know, building and it's, you feel like you're in the Swiss Alps and then, and then, um, yeah, come the spring and the terrace is big and you can, yeah, sit outside and enjoy the views. Oh, that, that sounds spectacular.
I'd love to go have a beer with you there. Yeah, yeah. Well, you should, if you ever, if you ever make it back this way, we'll have to go for a ski in there.
Oh, I'll be, I'm coming over. I'm coming over. Excellent.
I look forward to it. Some people, some people go there and they want to ski a few runs and then go, go party. I'm sure there's quite a bit.
That's pretty endemic everywhere. Where should they head? I'm assuming the party starts on the hill and then moves into town. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, exactly. You know, there's sort of, there's a few, there's a few sort of classic ones.
Again, again, depends because we have, you know, the three different mountains and you come down really on two sides. Yeah. Either from Klamathorn or from Sanago.
So either of those will get you to, from Sanago, you'll end up at Cervo, which has a, is this big now, I think it's now a five-star hotel and has this huge apres-ski scene, which is, is yeah, pretty thumping until 6.30 and then it becomes very smart restaurant and the hotel again, which is quite cool. And that's great. It has a sort of constant, the schedule changes through the week.
So sometimes they have DJs, sometimes they have a band and it's always, always a bit different. So, and you know, you're sitting in the sun, you're looking at the Matterhorn, that's not a bad place to, you know, have a cold beer at the end of the day. And then if you come down from the other side, you know, if you've had your day in Italy or up on Klamathorn, you'll end up at your ski pass Blaton, which is a, another really nice restaurant, which also then in the spring have a big sunny terrace and they've got a bar or down to Hennestal, which is the sort of, that's our big sort of like famous hopping, you know, kind of like the Austrian apres-ski scene.
Oh, that's what, that's what you see on everyone posting from Instagram. Exactly. Okay, got it.
That's the Henny. So I must confess I haven't been in there for a year or two. That's the one, that's the one I avoid.
I get lost in those crowds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you get down, you hit town and then, and then you've got a few options.
There's, there's one right at the bottom there, the Smuggler Hole, which is quite fun. The Papler Pub is a bit of a, a bit of a staple, which is great. Again, they have a band at play who, they're, they're amazing.
That's really fun. That's the, probably like the big scene in town. And then Harry's Bar has got, you know, become a bigger place in the last few years, which is right in the middle of town.
Opposite the Snow Boat, the Snow Boat and then the Hotel Mama. There's a few, there's no shortage of apres-ski, you know, activities. If that's, if that's your thing, you're definitely like, you know, on a, on a busy sort of holiday week, Christmas, New Year, you're wondering about from dinner, you'll see a few people still kicking around in ski boots.
Yeah, that's, that's pretty normal. The other one I've heard about a lot about is Harry's and that's been there for a long, long time. Yeah, it's been there a long time, but it's definitely grown and sort of like in, in popularity in the last, like, yeah, it has a real, I think a lot of it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's fun.
The location's brilliant, like right in the middle of town there. So yeah, that's, that's always, always pretty noisy as you walk past. So what's the worst part about living and working in Zermatt? I wouldn't say, yeah, I had to think about this.
There's not, there's not a lot to complain about living here, you know, I mean, it's not a, but I guess in terms of like, you know, being here, like as I'm working here, I think for me as the instructor here and liking the sort of skiing I like, I would love to see, I would love there to be a bit more, a bit more between the immaculate grooming and the sort of gnarly yellow runs. I find it's interesting, like watching how people have sort of, how skiing's evolved over the last 25 years and, and, and how, you know, this is another conversation in itself completely. We don't need to get into my rants, but, but the, the, I think the sort of, yeah, that the sort of the slightly varied, slightly varied terrain for, you know, more intermediate skiers would be really, really nice to see.
I think, you know, I think there's a lot of skills that people don't learn just, just skiing on immaculate groomed corduroy. But, you know, we can find ways, I can find ways to make them learn. And, you know, a little adversity is not so bad.
Yeah. And having, having perfectly groomed stuff makes, you know, you're a hero every time you take a run, that's great. You just don't progress unless, unless you work at it.
Unless you work at it. Whereas, you know, if you survive the, the bumpy afternoons after it snowed, then, then you have, you've learned something. And it's interesting, you definitely see more people now be like, oh, I'm not going to ski this afternoon because it's, you know, the morning after it snowed, I'll ski a bit of powder on the piece in the morning and then go home because it's too bumpy.
Like, wow, when did that change? We used to, people used to like bumps. Yeah, everyone's knees got trashed. No, we still, we still, we're good, John.
We can still do it. So, no, it's a pretty, it's a pretty cool place to work. I mean, I think, you know, in terms of, um, yeah, for, for clients here, I think things people find hard, it could be, you know, like I said, not having a beginner's area in the village that, that can be, that can be harder work back to the, you know, you've got to walk maybe in ski boots, you've got to find your way up the mountain, you know, it's all a bit like, oh, that's quite hard work, especially if you're dragging little kids out that, that can be, you know, that, that, that can be hard.
It's a big place that it can be intimidating first time. If you're, you know, if you're trying to navigate it on your own, you're like, why do I start here? How do I not get stuck in Italy? So, um, but yeah. Can you get stuck over there? You can get stuck over there.
I mean, the lifts, you know, the lifts close there, there are, there are pretty, there are pretty obvious signs everywhere saying what times the lift close and they, they change as the winter goes on, it gets later and later. So, um, so that's good. But the other one is that it's just the weather.
Like if the wind comes in, um, the wind will close the lifts up, up on the, at the top. And so if you're, yeah, if you're relaxed, enjoying your, your lunch in the far end of Valtonanche and then, uh, you get back and the weather's changed, you're like, oh no. And it's a long, long taxi ride back. It's like six hours. Yeah. Yeah. It's a long drive. Yeah. You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that. That's like, that's like a major trip. Yeah.
No, it's funny. The mornings where the wind's a little bit, you know, it's a bit marginal as to whether we should go or not. There's always sort of the, the nowadays, the WhatsApp groups are a bit sort of everyone's chatting.
All the instructors are like, we're going to be all right today. Is this, uh, what do you, what are your thoughts on this? Is the wind going to pick up? And everyone just sort of stays in touch. It's like, I would come back if I were you.
Nothing like a bunch of instructors on a WhatsApp going, oh, yeah, yeah. You can imagine that. The rumors probably run rampant.
So your own personal day, no guests and you, you're going to go skiing for the day. It sounds like what you said before you and your wife ski quite a bit together. What's your, what's your perfect, perfect day skiing Zermatt? I mean, you know, my perfect day is, is obviously, you know, ridiculous quantities of powder in the sunshine with my friends and family, but isn't that everyone's, I think, I mean, for the most part, but, uh, I did have one day a bit like that last winter.
I had, uh, uh, it was a friend of mine and I had a day off randomly together and it had just snowed. And, uh, my eldest was, was, uh, didn't have school that day. So we all, we all met up for a couple of runs and just skied, you know, down, down off piece and most ridiculous snow.
It was just incredible. So, I mean, those are the, you know, those are the days you sort of remember. Um, that would be the dream day, but equally I'm pretty happy.
Like, uh, I generally I'll go, my wife and I'll head up, uh, you know, if the, if the boys, uh, kids are busy doing stuff, we'll head up and just sort of, you know, scout away around off pace, just trying to find some sort of probably slightly average snow, but in a new spot, I like, yeah, I like to more, more, um, yeah, I like skiing.
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