Where the Matterhorn Lives – Cervinia Italy

Where it is cold, barren, and unforgiving, that is where the Matterhorn lives.  Where massive vertical peaks assault the sky in a snow covered moon-scape far above the tree line, that is where the Matterhorn lives.  Where the Matterhorn lives is in the Alps of north-western Italy, on the Italian-Swiss border.  Towering among the highest of all Alpine peaks at 4480 meters, it looks down upon the towns of Cervinia, Valtournenche, and on the Swiss side, Zermatt.  One of the more familiar views of the Matterhorn is well represented in this stock pic taken by Consani in 2001 of the northwestern corner from the Swiss side:

It has been climbed, trekked, camped on, and even had a cable car attached to it, but the Matterhorn has never been conquered.  Since 1865 it has required the souls of more than 500 adventurers to prove that point.  It does not suffer fools. 

Fortunately I was not in Cervinia to tangle with the Matterhorn, I was there for the skiing.  The skiing of course is not done on the sheer vertical slopes of the Matterhorn itself, many of the ski runs are across the faces of the massive seven kilometer-long alpine ridge at Furggsattel that connects the Matterhorn to Plateau Rosa.  The picture below shows the Matterhorn from the south (Italian) side, and where the ridge that connects to it starts.  On one side of the ridge is Italy, on the other Switzerland:

After 4 weeks of Italian school I was ready to go skiing.  I was up early Tuesday morning, the first in for breakfast and the first one out the hotel door with skis in hand.  Standing in the backyard of the Hotel Meuble Furggen, I clicked into my ski bindings and shoved off the lip of the yard and skied down to the trail, and then on down to the Cretaz lift.  I was pumped to be skiing for the first time in Cervinia, and the early start meant hardly any skiers on the mountain.

I had traveled in the day before, and after a 6 hour marathon of 4 trains, a bus, and a shuttle bus, I finally had arrived at my hotel.  Although I only had two days to ski, I was resolved to take it a bit easy the first day, partly because it was my first time skiing here and partly due to the altitude.  When I finally arrived Monday afternoon I had put my time to good use, walking around Cervinia not only to see the restaurants, shops and sights, but to accelerate the altitude acclimatization process as much as possible. The moment I arrived I began using my inhaler at regular intervals, doing my utmost to ward off altitude sickness.  If ever I would find myself in a place needing such precautions, it is here – the simple facts are the town of Cervinia lies at 6,600 feet above sea level, and the highest ski runs top out upwards of 3,900 meters (almost 12,700 ft. at Gobba di Rollin).  Since my lungs are pretty much at their limit above 3,200 meters (a little over 10,000 feet) I would need to choose my ski runs carefully.  At the highest peaks the air is thin, cold, and the oxygen scarce.

The early morning brought light snow, but by 9:30 the bluebird skies opened up and bathed the mountains in sunshine.  The Italian side of the ridge at Furggsattel faces south, and all the slopes on that vast ridge catch the sun beautifully. 

The temps warmed up but after my first few runs I found I was not warming up to the Solomon skis I had rented – they were stable enough but were reluctant to turn and certainly not very sporty.  I skied back down to town, handed them back to the rental shop and asked for something better.  

They gave me a pair of titanium reinforced Volkl racing skis.  It was like trading in a mini-van for a Maserati.  The Volkls were lively and carved like surgeons’ scalpels, and managed to keep a grin plastered on my face for the next two days – that, and skiing in the shadow of the Matterhorn.  

The glorious sunshine and clear, thin air made it possible to see all the way to the horizon, and the view was pure Alps regardless of the direction you looked.

And talk about snow covered moonscapes –much of the higher elevation ski areas look otherworldly.  If the moon were covered in snow and had Alps, it would probably look something like this:

The altitude and rocky soil has a lot to do with why upper portions of the Cervinia slopes are so barren.  The trees can grow up the mountain side only so far, as best shown is this this picture:

When I wasn’t carving trenches on pistes I was riding back to the top on a fast, efficient lift system, and as usual would I try to strike up conversations with my chair mates (when I had some).  In Italy this is easier said than done because my Italian is not very good yet, however, I met people from all over Europe, many of whom spoke some English.  I met Italians, British, French, Swedes, Finns, Russians, Germans, and Swiss, and (when we could) would exchange information about which of the mountains we had just skied over from and what the snow conditions were like.  Of particular interest to me was where people were from and how they got here – which led to a rather depressing exchange with a Swiss couple:

“Yas, it vass easy to get here frum Svitzerland.  Ve get on der train und vun hour thirty minutes later, or possibly thirty five minutes later, ve get off und ve are here, no problum.”  Meanwhile my trip to Cervinia Italy reads like a scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and I live in Italy! Go figure :-/

Anyway, after spending the afternoon thoroughly exhausting myself on all the slopes between the Matterhorn and Theodulpass,  I skied back down to my hotel room and retired to the balcony with a beer to enjoy the scenery of what passes for the backyard of the Hotel Meuble Furggen.  

After showering and catching some dinner in town, I returned to the balcony to catch the twinkle of lights from the ski town of Cervinia below. 

Wednesday, March 20th

I was up at 6:15am to finish the last of the packing, grab some breakfast and again be the first out the door.  I again rode up the Cretaz and Pancheron lifts, and then skied over to Plan Maison.  My plan was simple but frankly a bit aggressive – I would catch the Laghi Cime Bianche gondola, then transfer to the tram that would take me to the summit at Plateau Rosa.  Plateau Rosa is the massive peak at the opposite end of the ridge from the Matterhorn, and tops  out at an elevation of 3,480 meters, almost 1,000 feet above my safety zone.  Still, I had ridden (briefly) up to Theodulpass the day before and skied down and been fine - this was only 180 meters higher. 

The tram ride up was the most pleasant I’ve ever had – and much appreciated given my proclivity to get tram sick.  Almost as long as a school bus and twice as wide, the sleek modern tram was very stable, had plenty of extra standing room, had digital monitors overhead to update skiers about mountain conditions, and even played soothing music over the speakers.  It was a quiet, peaceful ride up, the other skiers talking in low tones and patiently waiting to get off.  For them it was just another ride up to the tops of the best ski mountains in the world – the Italian Alps. 

It was COLD and windy at the summit, but well worth the trip up!  Plateau Rosa is the high altitude intersection that can take you to (on the Italian side) Grand Sainetta, Salette, and down to the town of Valtournenche.  It is also the jumping off point for the tremendous Gobbadi Rollin peak, the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, and down to the town of Zermatt far below (on the Swiss side).

At this altitude I didn’t loiter long – I leaned over for a look down into Switzerland and snapped a few pix, then shoved off for the long decent down the Italian side.

What a trip down!!  

From Plateau Rosa a mix of red and some black trails (advanced and expert) drop 1430 meters (4,650 feet) all the way down to the town of Cervinia without interruption.  The weaving in and out of the mountain peaks during the decent, and the magnificent vistas are inspiring all the way down!!

However, if you are walking your 4-5 miles each day and pumping iron in the gym 3 days per week, you may think you are in shape – skiing straight down 4,650 feet may change your mind about that (it did for me!)

I moved over to Plan Torrette to ski out the remainder of the morning, marveling at how close the lifts gets you to the Matterhorn.  Had I a pair of snowshoes I could have trekked over what appears to be just a few hundred meters and touched the base of the mountain.  

By noon it was time to head back to the hotel to gather up the last of my things, catch the shuttle into town to return my skis, grab some lunch and catch the bus that would take me to the first of my trains back home.  It had been a wonderful trip!!

Reflections on skiing Cervinia:

- The mountains at the Matterhorn offer a magnificent ski experience.  Per the ski map there are a dozen named peaks that are skiable, but that doesn’t even begin to account for the outstanding slopes found on the tremendous ridges that connect many of the peaks.  I don’t know how many Vail’s would fit inside the collection of Alps that surround the Matterhorn, but the size of this complex is staggering.

 - If I had more time I definitely would have skied over the ridge at Theodulpass or Plateau Rosa and skied down into Zermatt Switzerland.  I also would have skied the south facing slopes above the town of Valtournenche, Italy as well.

- The “town” of Cervinia is really little more than a very large ski village, but it has all the hotels, bars restaurants, shopping, and ski rentals you need for a week of skiing. 

- Traveling to the Alps by train is really getting to be quite a bore.  Only in Italy can you travel on a 300 kilometer per hour train (185mph, no kidding!) and still get to the station late and miss your connecting train (no kidding!)

- The Hotel Meuble Furggen worked out well for me.  It is true ski-in/ski-out to the Plan Torrette lifts, making it perfect for skiers.  Staff was friendly and spoke some English.  Because the hotel is up on the mountain they offer a free shuttle van into the center of town, and it is much quieter than staying in town. The complimentary breakfast was good, and although the room was small (the shower was smaller than a phone booth) and plain, it was very clean, room/bed service was very prompt, and my balcony had a great view.  The hotel is a good value for the money and I would probably stay there again when skiing in Cervinia.

- Two days of skiing doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this immense range of mountains has to offer.  I will definitely be back next year.