Zermatt - Skiing

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Zermatt in Winter - 2

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Skiing the UnterRothorn - Sunnegga area

The lift up to Sunnegga is an underground funicular railway & quite fast. Above Sunnegga, there is a gondelbahn to Blauherd & from there, a huge cable car up the UnterRothorn.

From Blauherd

There are two blue alternatives:

1. To the right of the cable car station back to Sunnegga. This divides left & right after a bit. Both are easy BUT avoid the marked black run off to the right. That is the National FIS course. From Sunnegga right, is a harder blur run to Patrullarve, see below.

2. Over to the right is a run to Tuftern village (coffee break?). it carries on for quite a way, then turns left & goes down a path to Patrullarve.

The National FIS course

This is the black run which goes off right from the Sunnegga blue run. Not used as a race track these days, it must have been fun at top speed with no one in your way. Steep & open at the top, it turns into the trees & down a wide gully, sometimes full of moguls, to Patrullarve.

Right: Matterhorn & Obergabelhorn from the National

Paradise

This goes left, over the edge, from Blauherd down to the Findeln chairlift, back to Sunnegga. usually a red run but can get patchy because it is in the sun.

The UnterRothorn

From the top, there are two ways down to start with:

1. Straight ahead down a huge wide easy piste to the pass between this hill & the OberRothorn. Now see below.

2. Off to the left. this is a hardish red run to the chairlift which comes back up to the summit. Off to the left of this run are two of the notorious "routes" (Black+, according to Mark Heller), Marmotte & Chamois, not always open either because too rocky or avalanche danger. If open, you usually need your steep powder technique here.

U - UnterRothorn, O = OberRothorn
B = Blauherd, T = Tuftern

From the pass, you can go left (North) or right (South-West):

North route. Left: an easy blue run to the chairlift (break left where obvious) back to the summit or carry straight on an easy red run (Kumme) over huge spaces down to the trees to meet the run from Tuftern to Patrullarve.

Patrullarve

Three runs meet here. There is a chairlift back up to Blauherd (replacing the world's worst drag lift!). There are two routes home:

1. To the right, a blue run continuing the wide path, past Othmar's café & turns left back to Zermatt. This gets narrower & a bit tricky for beginners, who should take the chairlift, ski to Sunnegga & get the train back. The path ends a short walk above the Sunnegga bottom station.

Matterhorn from Kumme

2. The continuation of the National goes straight ahead. This is easier than the top National but just about black, as it can get icy. This joins the path above.

South-West route. Right: a red run with almost immediately, a black alternative over the right edge of the path. These meet & at a signpost, you can carry on right back to Blauherd (Rotweng) or turn left down to the Fluhalp Hotel (lunch spot) & on a long, delightful trip in the Findeln Valley to Gant for the lift either back to Blauherd or up to Höhtalli.

Right: Monte Rosa from Rotweng, showing the Stockhorn (S) & the black run down the Trift Glacier