@Alexzn I missed my Matterhorn photo opportunity. I went to the Embassy (McDonalds). One must always visit the Embassy to truly appreciate the locals as every menu gets a local twist. My standard order is an ice cream cone but the local menu only had sundaes. I ordered the sundae and it came topped with a perfect rendition of the Matterhorn! The local touch. The Sri Lanka curry peanuts and the paprika crackers from the Coop grocery store were another local treat - but neither made good Matterhorn models (quit playing with your food!).
Since 4000 meters is too high for me to breathe, there's no way I could do an easy 1 hour hike. But the ski area is so big that there are plenty of options. And the runs we've been taking have been way too long for my quads already. I'm absolutely enjoying it!
Ulf was our guide today. It wasn't the best day to get guided as it had been a while since the last snow. But up high there was still some fun to be had off piste. We skied mostly the same runs as yesterday but got some snow that wasn't a groomer. Hohtalli had a special guided area off a short private cable car ride. Ulf picked the best lines between the ice and the random break through crust to get us sweet dusty packed powder on some long steep pitches. He also pointed us to a couple of nice bump cutoffs that allowed Liz to stay on the groomer and still ski with us. He gave us a much better feel for the mountain (actually only half the mountain as it isn't possible to ski the Italian side and still take any runs on the Zermatt side - we might try to get to Italy tomorrow but I doubt that there is time). The guide was a bit expensive but he did teach Liz quite a bit and we appreciated his tips. It would be awesome to have a guide for a powder day. Actually it might last a week as there are that many bowls and that many long powder pitches. As one from Squaw where the powder doesn't last an hour, Zermatt would be powder heaven - especially with a guide.
Today's skis were Scott Crusaders 169. They switched out my skis when they heard I was going off piste. They were going to give me some boring Solomons when I saw the Scotts go by.
@Philpug has been trying to get me to try Scotts for a while but it never worked out. So my indie ski choice was a Sun Valley offering. Great choice. Pretty good on the icy groomers. Pretty good in the crud. OK but a bit slow and heavy in the bumps. OK but rides a bit deep in the bits of powder I found. A really fun ski. I switched with my son who was on some green Rossi. Absolutely horrible. Heavy, sluggish and slippery - no redeeming qualities. Fortunately I got most of the day on the nice Scotts.
The coolest spot was at what had to be the starting point for the Everest , oops I mean Matterhorn ascent. Seriously we were right there. Awesome!
Still wondering (all night) why the mountain is open during the hours when I should be sleeping. I'm exhausted - in a good way!
Eric
