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Related pages:

   The Walking Guide
   Walking Guide Map

   Map of the surrounding
       mountains

Photos from this walk:

Views on the delightful trail to Zmutt - 81 KB

A hot day on the trail - 135 KB

Zmutt Restaurant - 119 KB

Beautiful alpine wildflowers - 148 KB

The Matterhorn from near Zmutt - 80 KB

The Matterhorn looms majestically - 163 KB

Matterhorn North Face - 122 KB

A magic waterfall under the North Face of the Matterhorn - 111 KB

Matterhorn North West Face - 114 KB

The Dent D'Herens - 151 KB

Taschorn and Dom tower over the trail - walking back to Zermatt - 95 KB

 

   

The Walking Guide
Zermatt to the Schönbiel hut

Description: This magnificent walk offers constant views to the Matterhorn's most dramatic angles - particularly to the fearsome North Wall.  A delightful trail follows the remote Zmutt valley to the Schönbiel hut and climaxes with a magnificent view to the Matterhorn's little seen north west face, and across wild glaciers to the beautiful Dent D'Hérens (4171m).  This walk is also notable for additional reasons: firstly it follows a very long but gentle uphill gradient - which is something of a rarity around Zermatt. Secondly it enables one to penetrate deeply into a remote mountain region, far from ski lifts and habitation. If you have visited Zermatt in winter, this walk is particularly interesting because it offers uniquely beautiful perspectives inaccessible to downhill skiers.

Time required: About 7¼ hours of walking  (4 hours uphill at start / 3¼ hours downhill)
Difficulty:
***
  Long but mostly gentle     Popularity: ** Quiet after Zmutt
Begins at:
Zermatt (1614m altitude)                Ends at: Zermatt  (1614m)                 Goes via: Zmutt (1936m -1¼ hours from Zermatt),
Schönbiel hut (2694m - 4 hours)

Track Notes:
This is a good earth footpath with few rocks and a fairly gentle uphill gradient for the most part. There are fine fields of wildflowers in the pastures before and around Zmutt, especially mid-May to the end of June. This long trail receives a lot of direct sun; remember the sunscreen.
Nb. Schönbiel is pronounced 'Sh-urn-beel'

Variants: Stay at the Schönbiel hut for a memorable night before an easy walk back to Zermatt (80 dormitory bunk beds - sFr.28. Blankets provided. Meals available. Reservations and enquiries.  Phone 027 - 967 1354). 
This walk can also be combined with the walk to Zum See and Blatten, visiting these two lovely hamlets on the return walk from the hut. 

The walk begins at the “Gemeinde Zollhaus” (Customs office) at the southern end of Zermatt, just by the river and not far from the Matterhorn lifts (“Matterhornbahnen”). To get to the Zollhaus; find the river flowing north through the center of Zermatt, and take the road upstream and alongside so that the river is on your left.  Ie. You want to be on the west bank. 
The Zollhaus is about a fifteen-minute walk from the main train station of Zermatt, next to the river and the electric bus depot. A wooden footbridge crosses to the other side of the river and the Matterhorn lifts, and by the bridge is a big signpost indicating trails in all directions. We continue on the road upstream in the direction of Zmutt.

Walk further along the road to some park benches and a public telescope with a view of the Matterhorn. Just beyond this, pass to the right side of a quarry/gravel pits onto a broad footpath. A fenced path ascends gradually through pleasant pasture (photo left) in the direction of the Matterhorn. After five minutes take a right at an intersection (1645m) in the direction of Zmutt. The path ascends to the right through stands of trees and past barns to another intersection (1705m). At this one take the upper right on in the direction of Zmutt again. 

Fine views can be had behind to the Mischabel group of peaks (photo left) - the Täschhorn, and Dom.  Shortly the Breithorn can be seen over the village of Zum See to the left. The Matterhorn begins to fade from view as one climbs the path higher. A zigzag or switchback goes by a stand of trees before the trail swings west again and flattens out a bit. Pass a couple of pleasant chalets before reaching another intersection (1910m). At this stage the village of Zmutt is in sight ahead. Go straight on past the restaurant Edelweiss (not to be confused with the more famous restaurant Edelweiss on cliffs above Zermatt) and in five minutes the hamlet of Zmutt (1936m) is reached amongst very fine pastures and wildflowers. In the village can be found a charming little chapel, and two nice restaurants: the Jägerstuße and Zmutt. The hamlet of Zmutt features many fine old barns and wooden houses. Some old residents of Zmutt apparently never even visit Zermatt. They feel it is too much like the "big city"!

Zmutt to the waterfall:  In Zmutt turn right by the Jägerstuße restaurant and continue uphill on the path north out of  Zmutt. Shortly the path swings left (west) and a large dam can be seen straight ahead. Approaching the dam wall one reaches a four-way intersection (1972m). Continue straight on through. Walk along the path on a gentle uphill gradient until the north wall view of the Matterhorn is unobstructed in view - which is about when you are above the far end of the dam (photo left).

The trail continues its gentle ascent through beautiful rolling pastures of wildflowers another mile (1.6 km) to Chalbermatten/Kalbermatten - marked by a little summer restaurant (2105m altitude) superbly situated below the north wall of the Matterhorn. Continue from Kalbermatten on the path west as an enticing waterfall comes into view ahead in the distance. The trail rambles to the base of the waterfall for a mile (1.6 km), passing through some stony ground and delightful scattered larch forest.

At the base of the waterfall, follow any one of a multitude of tracks up to the right, until reaching the top of the waterfall where it pours over a ledge (photo). Anywhere by the waterfall makes a fine spot for a refreshing break, being one of the prettiest waterfalls in the whole Zermatt area. At this point one is almost directly under the north face of the Matterhorn.

Waterfall to the Schönbiel hut: From the top of the waterfall (2300m altitude) to the Schönbiel hut is a further 4km (about 1½ hours walk).  The waterfall itself marks the end of a moraine wall (rubble) carried and pushed by the Zmutt glacier years ago. The trail flattens and follows the top of the moraine wall almost the whole way to the hut.

The magnificent North Wall of the Matterhorn

A few hundred metres west beyond the waterfall the trail crosses the Arben brook. There are fine views up to the right (north) to the black pyramid of  the Ober Gabelhorn (4063m).

The trail continues west on a very gentle gradient for 1½ km (1 mile) to a series of small lakes. There are fine views to up above (north/right) to the fresh glistening ice of the Hohng glacier. Skirting past the lakes, the trail makes a short climb to the very top of the moraine wall of ancient glacier rubble. Not far below at the bottom of the Zmutt valley lies the vast glacial ice wasteland of the Zmutt glacier, although much of its lower reaches are difficult to distinguish due to its coverage in rubble. The path follows the edge of the moraine wall for another 1½ km (1 mile), as a superb view opens up to  the beautiful Dent D'Hérens (4171m). Soon the hut becomes visible 150m/500 feet above, and the trail makes the last climb by a short series of steep zigzags. 

The hut itself is beautifully located on a grassy sun-soaked terrace. A final reward is the superb 160° panorama to the Matterhorn (4478m), and across the Zmutt glacier to the Dent D'Hérens (4171m).  

The Matterhorn and Dent D'Herens from the Schoenbiel hut
The view from the hut. Available in Half Size 56kb or Full Size 208kb

Admire the view and perhaps enjoy a well earned picnic. Drinks and set meals are available at the hut (when it's open), but they are not cheap. Everything has to be brought in by helicopter. Fresh snow melted water is available at a faucet and trough outside the hut.

It can be a fine experience to stay at this remote climber's hut for the night (when open) and chat to the mountain climbers attempting the local peaks. Bring warm clothes for the cold evenings. Strangely, the hut is only open from the end of June to about the 20th of September. But the trail should be open and free of snow from early June. Even if there are patches of snow early in summer towards the hut, this is not a dangerous path, and it is an easy matter to turn back if you want to keep your feet dry...

Return to Zermatt in a pleasant downhill stroll the same way.

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