Switzerland Guide
Valais
Zermatt
St Moritz may have the glamour, Verbier may have the cool, Wengen may have the pistes, but Zermatt beats them all – Zermatt has the Matterhorn. No other natural or human structure in the whole country is so immediately recognizable; indeed, in most people's minds the Matterhorn stands for Switzerland.
Emerging from Zermatt station is an experience in itself: this one little village – which has managed, much to its credit, to cling onto its old brown chalets and atmospheric twisting alleys – welcomes everybody, regardless of financial status, and the station square is where all worlds collide. Backpackers and hikers rub shoulders with high-society glitterati amid a fluster of tour groups, electric taxis and horse-drawn carriages. Everyone has come to see the mountain. Zermatt has no off-season – it's busy year-round – yet the crowds never seem to matter. You may have to shoulder your way down the main street, but the terrain all around is expansive enough that with a little effort you could vanish into the wilderness, leaving everyone else behind.
The small area around Zermatt features 36 mountains over 4000m, a statistic as enticing to summer hikers as to winter skiers. The skiing boom of the 1960s saw the hamlet double in size, but today it's still acceptably small and low-key, rooted to the valley floor in a natural bowl open to the south. The Gornergrat railway lifts you up to a spectacular vantage point overlooking the Monte Rosa massif, with its summit the Dufourspitze (4634m) – the highest point in Switzerland. The skiing is superb, but in many ways the hiking is better, with some of the most scenic mountain walks in the whole country within easy reach of the village.
Skiing
There are three ski and board sectors, each accessed by its own transport route: pistes from Sunnegga/Rothorn link to the adjacent Gornergrat/Stockhorn, while the Schwarzsee/Klein Matterhorn sector, rising to 3900m, connects to the Italian resort of Cervinia. All of them offer satisfying runs at most levels of ability, with a healthy dose of blues and manageable reds around Blauherd above Sunnegga, and some good, scenic blues and reds at Gifthittli above Riffelberg; from here, long, leg-stretching reds take you down to Gant in the valley, which has lifts on both sides up to more choice runs. The spectacular "Triftji Bumps", from Hohtälli above Gornergrat, is one of the most famous black runs in the Alps, but it also has a separate, less challenging red twin that meets it at the bottom.
Top destination has got to be the network of pistes and lifts above Furi, with some airy red and black runs around Schwarzsee and Trockener Steg, and a long blue dubbed Gandegg. The high-level red runs around Testa Grigia and the Klein Matterhorn station, well above 3800m, are superb, and there are plenty of options to ski down from here to Cervinia (passport needed). Up here on the Theodul glacier is also where you'll find the Gravity Park, Europe's biggest snow park, with a 200m super-pipe, half-pipe, kickers, rails and plenty more to keep boarders happy. These pistes also offer memorable summer skiing and boarding, in a sweeping area from the Klein Matterhorn at 3900m down to Trockener Steg at 2900m. A ski-pass for universal access at Zermatt and Cervinia is Fr.76/379 for one/six days. A pass for Zermatt's lifts only is Fr.68/336.
Schools include Stoked ( 
www.stoked.ch ), perhaps the best of Switzerland's new wave of ski and board academies; also check out www.skischulezermatt.ch and www.matterhornskiwochen.ch . Zermatt comes into its own with the array of heli-skiing (around Fr.300) and off piste possibilities all around the area; schools and the Alpin Center ( 
027 966 24 60, www.alpincenter-zermatt.ch ) can advise.
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