We took the Gornergrat Railway up the mountain. It started in the centre of town, circled and climbed up the mountains. The view back over the town is impressive and so is the angle of the seats. We climbed at a steep grade. Up though forest then through clouds and into a snowy landscape. We stopped at four stations along the way, but few got on or off. We saw views of mountains, waterfalls, tunnels, canyons, snow shelters, tree and ended up at 3089m and in the snow.
Wikipedia
‘The Gornergrat railway is a mountain rack railway, located in the Swiss canton of Valais. It links the resort village of Zermatt, situated at 1,604m above mean sea level, to the summit of the Gornergrat. The Gornergrat railway station is situated at an altitude of 3089m, which makes the Gornergrat railway the second highest railway in Europe after the Jungfrau, and the highest open-air railway of the continent. The line opened in 1898, and was the first electric rack railway to be built in Switzerland’
We climbed out the train into the swirling clouds and snow. A slippery walk to the viewing platform, our fellow walkers were only the most enthusiastic. After struggling up the icey path to the viewing area Aby was quick to climb upon the wall and look down. We enjoyed the great views down the valleys, (between the clouds) seeing glaciers from above and all the grinding rocks. Too much cloud to see any of the great peaks but we saw rocks, plants, glaciers, snow and blackbirds with yellow beaks and orange feet. Had an expensive but nice soup at the restaurant while we waited to see if the weather improved. It did not – we actually got snowed on !
Even with less than good weather it was still a lovely destination being really high in the mountains with occasional glimpse through the clouds of parts of large mountains.
Before we took the train back down the mountain we made a stop at the tourist shop and bought some souvenir Swiss Army knives, the real thing, with free engraving ! (And at a very good price)
As we boarded the train it started snowing but stopped quickly as we descended, being careful not to slide off our seats. We were lucky to see a few marmots next to the tracks and a buck sitting amongst the trees.
That evening, the clouds lifted and ……………
That was the Matterhorn, from the hostel window. So we rushed off to get some pictures before the cloud came back (Mt Cook style)