3100 Meters - The Gornergrat

This morning we travelled up a cog wheel train to Gornergrat. While the Matterhorn is the most famous site in Zermatt, the mountain views from the Gornergrat at 3100m (10,000ft) are absolutely amazing. Harrison thought he would catch a quick cat nap on the way up the mountain which took about 35 minutes.

The train rode right along the edge of the mountain in spots it was quite a drop down. This is the highest point we could safely take the children because the altitude is pretty tough on them. Tough on mom too because I got an instant headache once we stepped off the train. Since this stop is also the start of a ski run they have turn-styles that you have to go through.

It was -18 C at the Gornergrat but the sun was out and there was no wind. All was silent and peaceful looking out upon the mountainous panoramic view of the snow white ranges before us.

There is an observation building that housed the world's highest mall and a restaurant.

While Kevin and I checked out an even higher point, Addison stayed back with Grandma Sally and they pieced together this little snow man. Addison was all about making snow balls, since obviously she sees snow but no snow packs with it being that cold, but we were able to cut out some snow balls for her every now and then.

The restaurant was very charming. We had to wait for ages for our food and that is tough with two little ones who are really hungry and not to used to the lack of oxygen. Actually it wasn't as expensive as we thought it would be for being so far away from everything.

What a memorable day for us all! I don't know if I'll ever see more beautiful mountains in my life. This trip has been so different from anything else that we've done and it is so cool.

On our way back down the mountain we got to see one of the rescue dogs...the great big St. Bernards with the wooden jugs around their necks. I had only seen them in cartoons as a kids and they had stuffed animals like them all over town, but this was the real deal.

Lastly Kevin and I bounced off the train with Addison at Rottenboden where we rented sledges (wooden sleds). We thought we would take Addison on a little sledding ride down the mountain. They had talked about it taking a good 10-15 minutes to get down so it should be fun. Addie hopped on with Kevin and I took video has they headed down. I waited a few minutes and then I headed down only to find the two of on the side of the run overturned. Addison was crying loudly that Daddy was going too fast and she wanted to walk down and find Grandma Sally. She hopped back on with Kevin and headed down ahead of them. Oh my goodness, I don't think we really understood what we were in for on this thing. I flew down the steep hills and banks and worked hard to try steering my sled. I got out of control at one point and knew I was going to totally wipe out so I leaned over and prayed that the snow wouldn't break me. Well, luckily the snow was soft and not a rock hard ledge. Also I was glad that the post that I hit wasn't anchored in the grown, but just stuck in the snow. At that point braked the whole way down with my feet and Addison hopped on with me after my second wipeout. After the last big drop off, we were done. Kevin finally admitted to me that he feared for his life as much as I did and that we were probably pretty crazy to bring Addie down and that maybe we scarred her for life. Mike and Harrison walked over to meet us and I left Harrison sit on the sled for a bit as we walked to the train station there in Riffelberg. What was supposed to take 10 minutes to go down probably took us a half hour with all the stops we made.