The place
The Matterhorn, 4,478 m, over a village without cars. The highest lift in the Alps goes to Klein Matterhorn at 3,883 m, and from its glacier the pistes run down past Trockener Steg, Furgg and Furi to Zermatt at 1,620 m: some 2,200 m of skiing in one go.
Off-piste Off the marked pistes nothing is prepared or patrolled: glaciers, crevasses and cliffs, your own risk.
- 11lines to start
The lines
Every line here, with how hard it is.
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Klein Matterhorn to Zermatt
■■■■■From Europe's highest lift station, 3,883 m, to the village in one go: some 2,200 m down over the glacier plateau, the Theodul glacier, Trockener Steg, Furgg and the black through the rocks to Furi, then the larches to Zermatt, with the Matterhorn beside you the whole way.
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Furgg to Furi
■■■■■Piste 62, the one black on the long run: 2.8 km and 560 m from Furgg, down through the rocks to Furi.
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Hirli
■■■■■Piste 54 drops 300 m due north off the Hirli chair with the Matterhorn's north face 3 km off; then 52 Stafelalp, past the hut, down to the chair's foot.
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Hermetje
■■■■■One of Zermatt's yellow runs: poled, never groomed.
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Momatt
■■■■■A yellow run off Weisse Perle: open at the top, then steeper into a wide gully in the larches, the Matterhorn behind you, out onto the track at Weisse Perle's end.
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Tiefbach
■■■■■A yellow run off Weisse Perle: a traverse right, then down a wide gully back onto Weisse Perle.
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The Matterhorn Piste
■■■■■Pistes 72 and 69: about 6 km of red from the border at the Furggsattel down the Furgg glacier's side to Furgg, with the Matterhorn's east face 2.5 to 3 km off the whole way.
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Klein Matterhorn West Face
■■■■■Out of Europe's highest lift station and straight off the side: 450 m of steep glacier under the Klein Matterhorn's rock, keeping left of the cliffs, then the Gandegg piste down the Theodul glacier to Trockener Steg.
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Klein Matterhorn North Couloir
■■■■■The third of three couloirs on the Klein Matterhorn's north face: over 50° for 100 m, with cliff bands that are rappelled, and rarely in condition.
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Breithorn
■■■■■Called one of the easiest 4,000 m peaks: an hour and a half up from Klein Matterhorn to 4,164 m, then its south face on skis, about 30° and often icy, over the bergschrund, back across the glacier plateau and down the Theodul glacier to Trockener Steg.
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The Matterhorn's East Face
■■■■■First skied by Toni Valeruz on 14 May 1975, in 21 minutes from the shoulder.
