From humble beginnings…

Until the 19th century, Zermatt was a relatively poor, rural village whose inhabitants mainly worked on the land and visitors were few and far between. Tourism began to develop in the 1820s and 30s and the first hotel – The Cervin which later became the Monte Rosa – opened in 1838. As most of the surrounding peaks were gradually being conquered by some of the best climbers and explorers of the time, the one challenge remaining was the Matterhorn. Today, this can be seen from almost everywhere in Zermatt and on the surrounding slopes and is one of the main reasons people visit the resort. Back in the mid 1800s, several people had attempted to reach the summit and failed. The British explorer Edward Whymper had tried and failed eight times to climb the infamous Matterhorn from the Italian side of the border, but in 1865 he decided to attempt it from the Swiss side, and would need to start his expedition in the village of Zermatt.

Whymper joined forces with Reverend Charles Hudson who was also preparing an attempt, and along with two local guides, Peter Taugwalder father and son, a French guide Michel Croz, Lord Francis Douglas and Douglas Robert Hadow, the group of seven began their climb to the summit of the Matterhorn in July 1865. They were racing a group of Italians who had started out the day before from the Italian side and on 14th July, Whymper and his party became the first group of people to climb all the way to the peak of the Matterhorn and conquer one of Europe’s most famous mountains, standing at 4478m (14692ft) above sea level.  

Sadly, the expedition became most well known by the fact that four of the climbers died on the way down. Only Whymper and the two local guides, Peter and Peter Taugwalder made it to the bottom. In spite of this however, Zermatt gradually developed into a popular summer mountaineering resort and attracted visitors from all over the world. As visitor numbers grew, so did the demand for hotels and tourist amenities. Alexander Seiler who now owned the Monte Rosa hotel, began leasing more hotels and bought more and more plots of land from local farmers. He built the Riffelalp hotel on the mountain side about a mile above the village centre and wanted this to be the best hotel in the Alps. It even had special permission to build an electric tramway to take guests to and from the centre of Zermatt which was the highest tram in Europe and still is to this day. Completion of the Gornergrat railway in 1898 increased the number of visitors to the hotel, yet it took until 1928 for Zermatt to become a winter resort.

The first official winter season was in 1928 and since then the resort has developed and grown in popularity. It is now one of the most popular resorts in the world and with some of the highest slopes in Europe it offers not only fantastic winter skiing, but summer skiing too. Although Zermatt ski resort has grown in size it has maintained its traditional charm, and building restrictions in recent years have allowed the town to keep its chocolate box appearance. It still attracts a very wealthy clientele and is certainly one of Europe’s most expensive resorts, but unlike some of the other big-name resorts such as Verbier, Val d’Isere and Courchevel, the wealth is relatively understated.

Combine an incredible ski area with well maintained pistes, an efficient lift system and some of Europe’s best mountain restaurants, and Zermatt ski resort really is one of the must-experience resorts in the world.