# Trail report from Switzerland 18-27 September



## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

I just got back from 2 days in Zurich, 2 days in St Moritz and a week in Zermatt. I'm 63 and my wife is 62 (and not a particularly accomplished rider, though strong).

St Moritz has a "flow trail" that is accessible from that town or Celerina. I like Celerina, but they roll up the sidewalks at 6pm....St Moritz has more going on. The bike shop folks aren't very informative, but the lift areas have information available. With only 2 days in St Mo, we skipped the riding.

Zermatt has trails that fall into two categories, for the most part. Wide, roadlike trails specifically designed to be ridden downhill on bikes and world class downhill trails that include some hike a bike sections.

The trails in Switzerland that we saw evolved over the course of hundreds of years of hiking, with mountain biking being a new phenomenon. They are not well suited to mountain biking. More recently, with the introduction of the sport, they have built trails for bikes. They are mostly designed to be ridden downhill...ride the tram up, ride the bike down. Those trails are snooze-fests if you are used to biking in the U.S. But, the views are spectacular and there is world class food around every corner. We live in Park City Utah and like to climb and descend so for us (we are a bit spoiled with 400 MILES of singletrack!), it was the views and food, not the trails that we liked. We skipped the trams and climbed, on our bikes. Once to the top of Sunnegga and once to the top of Schwartzee...a total of about 8000 feet of climbing. It was pretty hard going for my wife, but had we just lifted up and ridden down, it would have been pretty boring. If you are, or are part of a group of very fit and skilled riders, you'd find more to ride. There is a dedicated world cup downhill trail from the top of Sunnegga that should not be missed...they even put pads on the trees along the trail.

If you plan to ride on a weekend, or during busy times, reserving a bike is a must. They will sell out. The shops also rent protective gear, so no need to bring anything but shoes. If you want clipless, bring them and if you are particular about your flats, bring them as well. Bring clothing for changeable weather as well. When we rode, the temps in Zermatt were about 40 F in the AM and about 30F at the tops of lifts. With the sun out, that was not limiting for us...warm gloves and windbreakers sufficed.

We had a great time and mostly ended up hiking and eating. We love Switzerland and love the Swiss. We'd been before, so we sort of knew what to expect. We also had a 15 day Swiss pass that made things pretty easy getting around (the Swiss pass also gets you half price on lift tickets).

Pizza (or Italian) in Zermatt, I'd have to go with Vieux-Valais da Nico. I've had pizza all over and this was by far the best. I also had the antipasto...I usually am conservative about what I eat - nothing weird please - but this included squid, octopus, muscles, clams and some other stuff I didn't recognize...cleaned my plate! It's upscale looking and every time we went in, they asked if we had reservations (we never did)...they mostly speak Italian but the language barrier was minimal, service was great, food spectacular, people very nice (our third night in, I tried a grappa that was great and they comped me for it). Also, Restaurant Old Zermatt had some great venison (get the Rehpfeffer with spaetzle). The restaurants generally don't start serving dinner until 6PM.

I wish I had a better report of specific trails, but we were somewhat limited by ability and trail design.

But, having said that, this video covers what I think might be the best route down from Gornergrat in Zermatt...just turn down the volume. The music is hideous!


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