Switzerland Vacation Zermatt Day 17

The day dawned beautiful as the damn clock towers rang. Following another recommendation from Wade we again went up the Gornergrat for two more descents popular in their tours with Big Mountain Adventures. By the looks of the elevation profiles they know what they’re talking about for long fast descents!

On the way up you can look across the valley and see three trails coming down from Riffelberg. We rode Mark Twains Weg.

Top of the Gornergrat

Those Swiss like their huts in the most odd places. This hut gives you an idea of how popular mountaineering is in this area. The first hut built here in 1894 had 25 beds, this was enlarged 1918 to 45 beds, again between 1939-1940 a new hut with 86 beds was built. The capacity was raised up to 146 in 1972 and 160 in 1984. This new Monte Rosa hut can sleep 120 people.

Arial view of the area around the Gornergrat and Monte Rosa massif

Now we ride. We bombed down to the Riffelsee in advance of the wander weg wave and rode down a cool out and back trail that goes along the Gorner Glacier.

We head back towards the Riffelsee and Riffelboden down a different trail from the one we rode yesterday

Checking the map to make sure we’re on the correct red line

At Riffelberg there are a couple of options to get down to Riffelalp. We went down Mark Twains Weg named when Mark Twain had an expedition here in 1878. I think our journey was faster and more fun…

Mark Twain Weg starts as a cool traverse with incredible views

We meet some wanderweggers where the trail turns and heads back to Riffelalp

Awesome trail with one walking section of pretty steep loose rocky switchbacks

We then head to the Riffelalp station where the Arvenweg starts. The trail is fast and flowy all the way back to town.

We went up for a second lap with Bryce who took the morning off. This time we rode the Weg der Stille (Kelle trail), another techincal fast descent down to Grunsee. We were at this intersection the day before. This time we rode the Naturweg the other way, and went down another thin red line closer to the Findelbach creek and back to Zermatt.

Zermatt – Gornergrat day 2 at EveryTrail

Monte Rosa trail out and back – riding by the glacier!

Mark Twains Weg

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