Zermatt Luxury Ski Resort

Zermatt is steadily establishing itself as one of the most raved about resorts in the Alps, with awesome scenery, an enviable snow record, superb skiing, and nightlife to match…it’s a resort that has pretty much everything you could ask for!

After decades of resting on the laurels of its outstandingly beautiful scenery dominated by the Matterhorn, Zermatt has finally seen fit to upgrade its lift system and bring its ski area up to the demanding standards of one of the world’s top five resorts. This has come about as a result of a merger between the three separate lift companies, and improvements continue to take place on an annual basis.

Zermatt is completely pedestrianised, although free electric buses connect all the main lift stations on the valley floor and there are plenty of milk float-style electric taxis for hire. Visitors arrive in the resort via a short train ride from the hamlet of Täsch, and this itself is a truly breathtaking experience! You enter a magical world of horse-drawn sleighs, luxury hotels, sublime skiing, and a ring of 38 4,000m peaks that is the wonder of Zermatt.

The Matterhorn Ski Paradise covers an area from the Rothorn Paradise (3103m) and the Gornergrat (3089m) to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (Klein Matterhorn) (3883m) and Schwarzsee Paradise (2583m). It connects from the Klein Matterhorn to Breuil-Cervinia / Valtournenche and Val d'Aoste.

Zermatt may be steeped in history, but it is now looking firmly to the future with long-overdue investment in its lift system, and construction of the Matterhorn Express gondola from the village to Furi and on up to Schwarzsee at 2600m has relieved a lot of the rush hour queues with an alternative route up to Trockener Steg. Above here there’s a new covered glacier chairlift that starts in Switzerland and ends in Italy, providing frostbite-free access to Cervinia.

Sunnegga/Blauherd/Rothorn are accessed by the high speed Sunnegga Express underground funicular which runs to Sunnegga (2,290m). Then there is a choice of telecabine or high-speed chairlift up to Blauherd, from where a new 150-person cable car runs up to Rothorn (3,103m). This area has lots of good red run skiing, including the long cruise from Rothorn round to Fluhalp and then on to Gant; the long Kumme run from Rothorn down to Tuftern; and the south-facing Paradies run from Blauherd down to Findeln, a beautiful piste often rendered unskiable because of its very sunny orientation. The National is one of the longest, most exhilarating, steep cruising black runs in the Alps, running from Blauherd back almost to resort level.

The Blauherd-Sunnegga Standard and Tuftern blue runs are ideal for intermediates and offer some stunning views. This area now offers easy access to the neighbouring Gornergrat/Stockhorn area thanks to a 150-person cable car from Gant to Hohtalli. (From Hohtalli you can ski the marvellous long, wide red-rated White Hare run back to Gant.) Alternatively, old-fashioned drag lifts can take you across to the steep, challenging and often mogulled black runs around Triftji.

Zermatt has superb powder possibilities but a guide is essential, particularly for the Klein Matterhorn sector, which is heavily crevassed.