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Face to face with the Matterhorn (or: Mountain air brings happiness)

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Von

For a long time I had been dreaming of spending the night somewhere where you have a fantastic view from your bed in the morning - without having to put a toe on the floor at all. Last week this little dream came true - we stayed at the Fluhalp mountain hut above Zermatt and the weather could not have been better. The Matterhorn, probably the most famous mountain of Switzerland, showed itself in full beauty! Here is a little photographic report.


We reached Zermatt around noon. Because of the somewhat special situation, for which a nasty little word with C... is responsible, it had few foreign tourists, but a lot more Swiss people, all dressed in proper hiking clothes. 

Soon we were sitting in the train in direction to Sunnegga station, from there we continued to the station Blauherd (2'571 m). Up there, everything was plunged into dense fog, the Matterhorn or any other mountain was out of sight. We started our hike to the Fluhalp hut and as if the weather god had heard us, the fog gradually lifted. And there we discovered something that you probably also know:

Known not only from the Toblerone chocolate-cover....The Matterhorn
Wait, did I hear chocolate?
Behind our back the Matterhorn and the beautiful Stellisee (a lake), in front of us the view to our hut and the impressive Findel glacier, on the way visit of some hairy colleagues - the short hiking tour was quite entertaining! 

Fluhalp in sight, behind it the Findel glacier

Our home for one night - the Fluhalp mountain hut
We arrived at the Fluhalp mountain and were warmly welcomed by the owners. I have to admit that I probably was inspired by some Instagram photos, otherwise I wouldn't have known this place. But I hadn't expected that we would really get a room with such a perfect view! I was amazed and couldn't take my eyes off it! 

 The Matterhorn has fascinated me for a long time, I read so many reports and saw so many documentaries about it - now I had it right under my nose. What a special mountain, the setting of so many exciting, beautiful but also tragic moments! 



We still hadn't had enough of hiking, so we explored the surroundings a little more. 


We were amazed about the impressive Findel Glacier right behind the house, which has already lost 2.5 km of its length since the middle of the 19th century.


I also used a small tightrope walk as a free therapy against my fear of heights...


After a delicious dinner in the hut and an even more delicious glass of wine from the region, we walked down again to the Stellisee, where we enjoyed the silence and the reflections in the lake. 

One of my favourite hiking moments is the evening somewhere in a hut, when the hustle and bustle of the day slowly fades away, most people have gone home again and you can really enjoy the nature and the silence all around. What a magical moment! When do you have the Matterhorn (almost) all to yourself? 



You can imagine that I slept wonderfully in the cozy bed and the fresh mountain air. So wonderful that I missed to admire the sunrise from my bed or to search the Matterhorn early in the morning for headlamp-lights of the brave mountaineers starting their trek to the summit. Next time... 

Strengthened after breakfast we unfortunately had to pack our things and check out. 
We planned the 5-lake hike for today. The first highlight came soon: from a narrow and quite scary ridge (which was a little near-death experience for me!) we suddenly discovered some marmots. These cute creatures made me forget for a moment that there was a steep downhill to the left and right of me and that we were standing on a surface that looked suspiciously crumbly and not trustworthy at all!  


Our hike led us past beautiful, small lakes, always with a view to the Matterhorn. A little refreshment in between, then we already reached Zermatt. 
Tired but happy we started our long way home - with a burnt forehead and tired legs but also with another book about this legendary mountain in my luggage...


If you want to know more about the beautiful Fluhalp mountain hut or the 5-lake-hike, click here

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