We took a short train ride to Zermott because there are no passenger cars allowed in the town. Upon arriving, we walked up the length of the town (alongside several thousand runners competing in a marathon) to the gondola to begin the trek up to the Little Matterhorn and the Glacier Paradise.
Although the summit of the Matterhorn was shrouded by clouds, it was still clear that this is an impressive peak, well over 14,000 feet high at the summit, one of the tallest of the Alps.
At the top of the gondola ride we were able to take an elevator up to a series of stairs that we trudged up to an observation deck located at an altitude of 12,736 feet – much higher than just about all of our Florida-based group had been before. It felt like we were truly on top of the world, and as you can see from the pictures below, it was a very cold part of the 4th of July for GYC!
After leaving the observation deck, we descended via elevator into a tunnel that had been carved out of the glacier. For many this was the highlight of the day – walking through a tunnel of ice that was thousands of years old! You can imagine that the temperature of this portion of the tour was the coldest of our trip as we walked through solid ice.
We then took a quick break for some hot chocolate at a small restaurant at the summit, and then took the gondolas back to Zermott and the warm weather. After some quick shopping, it was back on the bus for the drive out of the Alps and into Italy to Lake Maggiore and out hotel in Stresa for the next 3 nights. After a wonderful dinner at the hotel, we celebrated 4th of July outside the front of the hotel near the lake.
