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Zermatt / Ski schools & guiding
© copyright Penny Kendall
Off-piste training and guiding
Zermatt’s Alpine Center offers a comprehensive programme of off-piste training, guided itineraries and day tours. Beyond the in-bounds off-piste itineraries are more day tours than you will have days in your week, many of them involving high altitude peak-bagging. They are best left towards the end of your stay – when acclimatised to the altitude – and are only for fit and adventurous skiers.
Notable for a lack of climbing – more a long traverse – and some of the best skiing in the whole region, is the Schwarztor, a 3,731m (12,241 ft) col the far side of the Breithorn. A huge steep descent of the Schwaerze glacier brings you onto a broad, flat section of the Gorner glacier and back to Zermatt. Depending on the state of the snow, there’s a more or less sporting drop from the snout of the glacier, deep in a rock cleft, which involves sliding down a rudimentary fixed rope. One way or another you can be sure of a day you’ll never forget.
Other peaks on the Alpine Center’s regular day tour list include: Pfulwe, Cima di Jazzi, Fluhhorn, Fillarhorn and Breithorn. These are mostly well over 3,000 m (9,843 ft) but by using the nearest, highest lift access, most ‘only’ involve around two hours climbing on skins, followed by long descents – in some cases to Tasch, one village down the valley from Zermatt. For guided off piste skiing not on this list, guides must be booked individually, so going with a group is helpful to spread costs. The only ‘turn up and go’ groups are the tours.
Heli-ski drops are made on the Alphubeljoch (descending either to Tasch or Saas Fee), Monte Rosa, Äschihorn, Testa Grigia and the Rothorn, giving vertical drops of up to 2,600 vertical metres (8,530 vertical feet).
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