You're at the top of the highest ski lift in Europe,
with peaks from the Swiss, French, and Italian
Alps stretching in every direction. This is Zermatt,
Switzerland, and it takes about forty-five minutes
to ski to the village below. It's that far down.
It's only about forty minutes, however, to Hennu
Stall, and if you ski the Alps like the locals do,
you'll stop there first, for a mug of gluhwein.
From February 3 to 11, a group of 24 SKI BUMS
explored Zermatt, and within days, we were skiing
like the locals do.
But after schussing our way around those international
trails, it was in a place like Hennu Stall where the
culture and vitality of the Alps came to life. Skiers and
snowboarders from across the globe mingled outdoors
on their music-filled patio, still in their boots. The SKI
BUMS would meet there each afternoon, relay our
stories of our adventures up top, and toast one another
with those warm mugs of gluhwein: delicious mulled
sweet wine with fruit. We had a fantastic vacation in
Switzerland, and Hennu Stall became one of our most
memorable spots for the week.
And to find it, all we had to do was slow down.
Click here to view our Zermatt slide show!
Hennu Stall is the kind of place that you might happen to ski by
without noticing it, especially if you're the type who likes to get speed
at the bottom of a mountain, on a race to catch the last chair.
Americans are taught to ski and ride hard, after all. Get to the
mountain early, grab a quick lunch, and have a gangbuster afternoon.
Try to apply that mentality to a vacation in Zermatt, however, and
you'll fly by some of the greatest joys of a Swiss ski vacation.
Once we learned how to slow down and enjoy our surroundings, we
found ourselves knee-deep in a fantastic vacation like none other.
Our hotel for the week, the Nicoletta, was attached to the impeccable
Mt. Cervin Palace, which afforded us the unfettered use of its five-star
spa, complete with a pool and megasized indoor/outdoor hot tub.
Our meals were four-course productions each
evening, spanning the gamut of Swiss and
European fare, and even the lunches -- like the
cheese fondue atop the Gronergrat -- gave us a
worthy reason to sit down and relax.
Not that the mountains aren't what the town's really
all about. Despite less than stellar snowfalls, we
loved our days skiing and riding across the border
between Zermatt and Cervinia, Italy, hopping
gondolas here and trams there, continually
photographing Europe's most recognized peak, the
mighty Matterhorn. The views didn't disappoint!
Copyright 2006, SKI BUMS.
