Skiing Zermatt - Skiing area Zermatt

Zermatt owes its reputation as a unique winter sports area to its wonderful and extensive ski runs, vis-à-vis and at the foot of the lordly 4,000-metre peak.

On 14 July 1865, there was hardly a distance between triumph and tragedy on the Matterhorn: For the first time, the Englishman Edward Whymper reached the summit together with six companions. But climbing down, four members of his team died before his face. With the sensation of the first conquering of the unique mountain, as well as with the terrible news the name of Zermatt spread throughout the world – and attracted tourists to come into the remote valley in Valais.

Already 27 years before the disaster on the mountain, the surgeon Josef Lauber had opened a modest guesthouse with just three beds, in order to accommodate the first sporadic guests. Mostly natural scientists and mountaineers came from the south across the Theodul Pass or through the narrow Mattertal Valley. They wanted to crest the surrounding mountains and this was a surprise for the villagers.