Ever since we flew from London to Venice over the top of the spectacular Swiss Alps, I had been wanting to somehow include snowy mountains in our post-Venice holiday. When we started planning a month or so ago, we found out about a particular spot where you can take cable cars up and up and up the mountains and when you reach the top, not only are you in Switzerland, but you are also just across the way from the Matterhorn. So we went there.
From Verona we caught three trains to get to Châtillon in the Aosta Valley, aided into the second and into and out of the third by a friendly woman (who spoke no english) familiar with all the tricks for avoiding the delays we otherwise had in store.
The next day we went UP 3.3km, to Plateau Rosa, 3500 meters high, and -8°C.
From Châtillon (+8°C) we caught a bus up a winding mountain road to Breuil-Cervinia (+4°C), where the cable cars begin. It takes three cable cars to get to Switzerland.
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| From the second cable car, looking down to a lake on the freeze. |
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| Looking up one of the cable car runs. |
At the top.
Going up that high that fast makes you dizzy. It is a very peculiar feeling, walking along like normal and then suddenly being so light headed you have to stop and (where possible) have a wee sit down. Also a little nauseous, but only a little, mostly just dizzy. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for our behaviour or anything...
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| The mandatory border-crossing dance. |
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| Similar to the hokey tokey. |
See how warm we look! Thanks to Svetislava and Arnel, our hands were fully protected from the chill in snuggly lined leather gloves. We were totally spoilt. Thanks thanks thanks thanks! My feet though... despite double socking it (I should've triple socked it), and despite cleverly wearing my acqua alta gumboots for dry snow toeing it, after a couple of hours at the top, they were totally frozen. No feeling left at all in my right toes. Descent into warmer climbs was painful.
Views from the top.
The clouds provided constantly changing views of the mountain ranges surrounding us in all directions. It was incredible. Beautiful and slightly terrifying and truly spectacular.
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| Skiers heading down the Swiss slope. |
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| A glimpse of the Matterhorn peak behind a Swiss mountain station. |
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| The Matterhorn again from a better vantage point, but without it's peak. |
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| Just so you know where we are - that's us at Plateau Rosa, and that's the Matterhorn (Monte Cervino in Italian) up ahead. (A section of a model of the alps in a museum hut at Plateau Rosa.) |
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| Time for a whiskey and biscuits picnic to warm us up. |
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| Towards the east the sky looked like sunset above the mountain ranges. |
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| Just a little lardo sandwich before heading back down the hill. |
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| Our descent. |
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| Finn finding alternative entertainments to skiing. |
When we got back down to Breuil-Cervinia the temperature had dropped to 0°C and the wind was picking up. We retreated into a cosy bar for one of those incredibly thick and rich hot chocolates while we awaited our bus back down the hill. When we got outside again it was -1°C and utterly miserable, so much more freezing feeling than at the top of the mountain where we had been in full sun and there hadn't been a breath of wind.
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| A frozen waterfall, through the bus window on our winding journey back to town. |
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| Town - beautifully slated roofs, looking across the valley to the mountains on the other side. |
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| A half moon mountain above Châtillon. |
8 December 2011
Ah, pictures more my style this time, I particularly like the lardo link - leading to "this pork-related article is a stub, you can help by expanding it" just the way one feels about a good meal in the cold.
ReplyDeleteYep, we thought of you up there, thought you'd like it a lot. Not the lardo so much maybe, but the big powdery playground, yes. xx
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