Zermatt

How a farming village became Zermatt

Until the mid-19th century Zermatt was a farming community at the upper end of the Mattertal, at 1,620 m, in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais. Then, in 1865, came the first ascent of the Matterhorn, a tragic climb that set off a rush on the peaks around the village and, with it, the building of hotels and tourist facilities. Today about half the jobs in town are in hotels and restaurants, just under half of all apartments are holiday apartments, and the year-round population of about 5,820 (December 2020) can be outnumbered several times over by visitors. Only about a third of permanent residents were born here; another third moved in from outside Switzerland.

The skiing

The numbers are large in every direction. Our data lists 322 km of piste on 52 lifts, with two terrain parks, from a base at the village’s own 1,620 m to a top station at 3,883 m. That is 2,263 m of vertical, with a top station far above the altitude where snow reliability stops being a question, and it is why the season runs from November to May, two months longer than the December-to-April norm.

The terrain breaks down as 75 km easy, 220 km intermediate and 27 km expert. More than two thirds of the mileage is intermediate, so the marked pistes are above all red runs, and the easy share alone would make a decent small resort on its own. The 27 km graded expert is only 8% of the total. Zermatt is flagged snow-sure in our data, with modern lifts, scenic views and traditional character, a rare combination of all four.

The ski area is listed as Zermatt-Cervinia, and the second name is the clue: the Italian border lies over the Theodul Pass, above 3,292 m and about 10 km from the village, and the ski area’s name says it is shared across that border. Zermatt is the southernmost commune of the German-speaking world, so the language changes with the country at the top of the lifts.

The town

The Swiss Federal Statistical Office classifies Zermatt as a town, and it sits at the foot of Switzerland’s highest peaks, with the Matterhorn the one everybody comes for. The economy is tourism through and through, and the population statistics, a third local, a third from abroad, describe a place that has been absorbing outsiders since the mountaineers arrived in the 1860s. The traditional-character flag in our data is the village’s agricultural past showing through the hotels.

Practicalities

Milan Malpensa is the nearest airport in our records, roughly 87 km away as the crow flies, across the border in Italy. The season runs November to May, and the resort’s official website carries current lift and snow information.