Skiing the Matterhorn: A Mid-Summer Day’s Dream

One summer day when I was in college years ago, I arrived in the quaint village of Zermatt in southern Switzerland. Quaint because it had no cars then. And doesn’t even today. The next day, we went skiing… on July 31st! Glaciers provide year-round snow, so we took a few of Europe’s longest aerial trams and a few ski lifts, then enjoyed miles of open terrain and extremely long runs, with the majestic Matterhorn right next to us.

We were skiing in the highest mountains in Europe — and there are 29 peaks of 4,000 meters or higher — so we actually descended THROUGH the clouds. Besides skiing in mid-summer, the other thrill of the day was skiing south over the Italian border (no passport required) to the village of Cervinia, having pasta for lunch, then skiing back to Zermatt and having fondue for dinner. All in all, it was one of the most memorable vacation days of my life! Zermatt