Gornergrat Glacier...

Well, the next day started out with glorious weather! Absolutely blue skys and lots of sun. We got a late start because I forgot to turn on my alarm but we still made it to breakfast (which is included in the hotel price!). I had breakfast under the shadow of the Matterhorn!

We headed into town to procure lunch supplies and found the Coop - food on the cheap, yahoo! Today's hike started up high so we had to take a train up - a funicular actually - thru the mountain! Gotta love Swiss engineering. It saved us like 3000 feed of climbing which allowed us to do more in the day than just trudge up a big hill! From Sunnega we hiked up another 1500 feet past Blauhard to the first of the 5 lakes. On our trip up we were able to snap this beauty!

The trip up was steep - just like everything in Zermatt - it was straight up. But the views totally made up for it. You just hike slower, take more breaks and more pictures! The trails reminded us alot of the trails in Colorado, only steeper and bigger:) We saw free ranging sheep, goats, and chamois. From the first lake (Stellisee) we hiked down and around to Grindjisee and then on to what I think was Leisee (there were so many!).

When we go to the last lake we had a few choices. We could continue around the valley rim to Riffelap and then down on the train or just head down then or about 11 other permutations of that plan. I was starting to get really burned on my arms and was ready to call it a day but my fantastic husband fashioned a pair of sleeves from our coats (so i wouldnt have to wear the coat in 90 degree weather) and we decided to push on. We hit was we thought was supposed to be a hiking trail but instead ended up being an access road. I could have sworn we missed something but mark assured me we were in the right place. Thankfully he was right:) We reached the junction that would take us up to Riffelberg and on to Gornergrat or down to Riffelap and the valley.

We still had more time so we decided to push on. The last train down was at 7:40 and we started our hike up to the station around 6:00. According to the trail sign it would take us 1 hr and 15 min which meant there was little time to dilly dally. Unfortunately, the snow had a different idea. We lost our trail due to the snow and had to improvise. Fortunately, the direction was easy - up! At one point mark plunged hip deep in the white stuff and we were running behind on time! Seeing an easier path up, he took us cross country . It was worth it! We made it up with 30 min to spare and had plent of time to photograph the glaciers.

We waited around photographing and fixing blisters while we waited for the train down. It was 45 min down (which would have been a few hours if we hiked) . Dinner was kebabs (because that was the only cheap place open) and then off to bed. 9000 feet and 4+ glaciers - what a day!!

Lessons Learned:
1. Everything has a price - someone offered to buy our tripod while we were at the top!
2. The hiking times on the signs were pretty accurate for our hiking pace!