Hotel Schwarzsee

Our final Swiss hut experience, Hotel Schwarzsee, is a sudden and jarring return to civilization from the  remote, placid and other-worldly, Alpine trails.

While it sits high enough in the mountains at an altitude of 2,583 meters to quality as a "mountain" hut, the fact that a cable car from central Zermatt whisks visitors right up to its doorsteps means that the vibe is wildly different.

We approach Hotel Schwarszee in the mid-afternoon, and a few hundred meters away we start to hear a cover band's version of the Eagles's "Hotel California" blaring across the field.  Then a group of young American military-looking types ride by on mountain bikes with over-sized tubes, followed by groups of Japanese hikers, pairs of college-aged looking Americans on Eurail summer tours, and finally flocks of Chinese speaking tourists snapping pictures.

The Schwarszee hotel patio itself is pure, indolent hedonism - plump tourists dressed in summer business casual, baking in the sunshine, and ordering plates of fried calamari, french fried potatoes and pricy bottles of wines.  I am horrified, particularly by all the loud Americans (I am from America), by the dreadfully selected 1970s soft rock, and by the stark contrast in the atmosphere and conviviality vs. the other huts. 

But at around 5pm the last cable car heads back to Zermatt. And, click, just like that, the mountain hut world we had grown to love returns.  The hotel itself only accommodates a few dozen guests and we share dinner with our serious, kindred hikers (well, we like to kid ourselves that we too are serious mountain climbers) --  some of whom had hiked in from Italy that day, camping in snow and ice.  

I do have to appreciate the actual creature comforts at Scharzsee - the relatively spacious, private rooms, the indoor toilets, the hot showers..  And dinner is good too - some sort-of Swiss enchilada..