With this 11-night excursion, you hike beneath the towering peaks of the Michabelle mountian range that runs between Saas-Fee and Zermatt and get to hike the Berner Oberland (Bernese Alps) famed for glacial carved valleys and towering snow capped peaks and amazing waterfalls. In Zermatt and Wengen you are always in view of flowing and hanging glaciers. The view of the Matterhorn from above Zermatt has to be seen to be believed. None of the millions of pictures taken of it over the years can convey how it feels to be there. It truly has to be seen in person to appreciate its unique character and striking beauty.
Base Villages: Wengen and Zermatt, Switzerland
Hotels:
– Zermatt, Switzerland: Hotel Silvana
— Wengen, Switzerland: Hotel Faken
Highlights – Zermatt: The Matterhorn and the Matter valley, surrounded by 30 peaks topping 4,000 m (13,000 ft.); the Monte Rosa massif and Dufourspitze, the highest point in Switzerland; Gornergrat, a cog railway that travels 3,089 m (10,134 ft.) to an impressive overlook, and the Klein Matterhorn, the end point of Switzerlands’s highest cable car at 3,820 m (12,533 ft.) terrific. Having such impressive gondolas and cable cars and cog trains to our trail heads helps us keep above tree line affording incredible views of an area that holds 3/4 of all 4000-meter peaks in the Alps.
Highlights – Wengen: The Jungfrau massif (Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau); Lauterbrunnen Valley, including remote Obersteinberg hamlet; Staubbach, Trümmelbach, and Höldribach falls; mountain pass of Klein Scheidegg; Jungfraujoch (aka the Top of Europe railway station) are a few of the amazing sights around the village of Wengen. The view from the Hotel Falken of the Jungfrau is magic at sunset.
Guides: Shannon Harris, Carrie Carlquist and Monique Senstius
