MOUNTAIN AIR

The most challenging part of this Zermatt trip has been to capture the "open air" without a panorama lens. The spaces are so vast that they require special equipment to photograph them. When you're here in the winter, you appreciate the views -- but with skis, you can cover a lot of real estate in a hurry. The net result is you don't realize how BIG it all is. In summer, thousands of steps don't bring you closer to your destination, and even walking downhill challenges your thighs.

Take, for example, our trip up the Gornergratbahn on August 9. We chose a modest walk -- down from the Riffleberg station to town. That's about half the distance of a typical ski run down this slope. But it takes hours, not minutes.

Coming around the corner from the train, I was able to see two levels below: in the middle distance, some 1200 feet below, was the mountain restaurant at Rifflealp, where we planned to stop for lunch. Some 2000 feet below that, through a steep woods, was the "village" of Zermatt. (Beyond the village, one can see far down the valley, to the towns we passed on our train trip up from the Rhone Valley.)

As we walked down endless switchback trails, we saw few others. With the high cost of the Swiss Franc relative to the Euro, Zermatt was not crowded this August.

Nor is it all downhill. In order to avoid the steepest descents, the trails stretch over huge horizontal distances as well.  Coming around the side of the mountain, we emerged into a vast open terrain, and the descending Gornergrat train looked like a toy model crossing a prairie.

As we picked our way over rocks and streams, we finally reached the lower end of the bowl, and the train passing by on the horizon again looked large enough to hold human passengers.

After a sumptuous lunch (chicken-and-avocado salad for one, spinach-mushroom-prosciutto salad for the other, with fendant and a final glass of prosecco for dessert) we started down the forest path to town.

In a remote cul-de-sac, we passed a simple house powered by its own water mill. Later, the route was so steep, we were able to stand next to an ancient barn and photograph its mossy roof with a (cloud-wrapped) Matterhorn behind it.

Back in Zermatt, we were able to catch the last rays of sunshine from the hotel balcony, with the Matterhorn still showing its characteristic plume.