Getting to Zermatt

Day one - 3.5 kilometers / 734 meter altitude gain

I meet my friend at Zermatt Station - I am not able to arrive until 4pm, meaning we have 4 hours of daylight and 3.5 hours to make dinner.

I had flown into Milan, Italy which was the closest airport to Zermatt, and far and away the least expensive train journey into Zermatt at roughly US$80 for my last minute purchase.  Unfortunately the Italian trains are not as efficient as the Swiss trains on this day and I am delayed by an hour.    The train ride is something of a destination experience in itself - huge windows looking out on classic Swiss villages clinging to the edge of steep valleys that drop down to a raging rivers far below.  

So we set out on our adventure in high spirits but in some haste - buying only a loaf of bread, lunch meat, a tube of mustard, grapes and cookies to survive in the Alps.  In fact I only am carrying a medium-sized daypack for the entire 4-day mountain trek (one cannot really call this backpacking I suppose).  

The trails will prove to be extraordinarily well marked, but as is so often the case, it is the initial "trailhead" that is the trickiest.  In this case the "trailhead" sits between a restaurant and retailer along Zermatt's remarkably touristy main pedestrian street (see pictures) Today's 3.5k hike to the Hotel Trift is supposed to take 2-hour (2:10 according to the precise Swiss signs).  But we take numerous pictures and stop for the signature apple drink at our first quintessential Swiss hut - Edelweiss.  After 2 hours we are nowhere near Trift and at this point the wind picks up and the sky darkens.  A few minutes later we feel a few raindrops which is troubling given our limited change of clothes.  We find ourselves struggling up a rocky path into a harsh wind and heavy rain and soon the trail begins to turn into a stream. 

About the point that I am starting to get a bit concerned, we spot a Swiss flag in the distance and  rounding a bend we see a humble looking hut through the rain that much to our delight turns out to be Hotel Trift.  

The storm makes the arrival at the Hotel Trift a major triumph.  We step off the dark wet trail into the most welcoming scene imaginable.