16/06/07
JPN
In the morning, I went to Coop to buy some food and water for hiking.
I went to the information centre and asked about the hiking routes and got a map.
I started walking from just before nine.
There are numerous hiking courses around Zermatt and I decided to take a eight hour route that goes through
Zermatt-Tufteren-Rothorn-Findlen-Zermatt.
While walking, I only saw few people.
Near the Tufteren resting point, there were many sheep-like animals, grazing.
I was watching them for a while, but suddenly they turned their heads and came down the hill toward me.
I realised that they all had horns and thought it could hurt if they poke me with those,
so without stimulating them any further, I retreated back slowly and steadily.
Tufteren is at 2215meters height.
But Zermatt is at 1500meter altitude, which meant I climbed just over 700 meters so far.
I was walking up this beautiful hill when I spotted a large animal, moving...
It looked like a deer plus an antelope divided by two.
I thought, I must be the luckiest person on earth and with haste took out my camera.
I used a zoom lense with my film camera.
Oh I can't wait to develop this one!
The photo below was taken with my digital camera, using digital zoom.
It was just before lunch time, when I reached Sunnega Paradise, which is at 2288m.
Without rest, I kept walking upwards, with a spectacular view of the glaciers on my right.
Gradually, the snow started to appear and soon the whole path was covered with snow.
I kind of figured that nobody has come this way yet this season,
as there was no footprints apart from mine and of this three-legged animal...
It was a bizarre experience.
As I neared the Rothorn Paradise, which is over 3000 meters high, my surroundings became so quiet.
It was a complete silence.
I shouted towards the other side of the hill,
'Hello? anobody there!!?'
I knew there was an observatory, where the cable cars stationed.
But it seemed a little far away, as I couldn't hear neither the sound of people nor the cable cars.
I recalled a scene from the Magic Mountain, a scene I read in the train on my way to Zermatt,
where Hans Castorp gets lost in the snow mountain.
It was kind of funny, but at the same time, I got scared of the irony should that really happen.
I suddenly realised that my initial motive was to do hiking, and not climbing a snow mountain.
So I decided to turn around and walk back the same path.
I ate a sandwich at Sunnega Paradise, feeling glad to be back with the presence of some other people.
Then I hiked down to Findeln.
When I was walking the areas of Findeln, the clouds drifted away, exposing the peak of Matterhorn.
Matterhorn has such a distinctive shape with its pointy peak,
that a small patch of cloud covering it could alter the image.
So I was really happy when the clouds cleared away.
I got back to Zermatt at around six.
When I got back tp my youth hostel, by coincidence I met Takanobu, whom I met in the train from Vienna to Salzburg.
Yeah, a small world as they say.