Luck and Fortune

Miles from Home - 5242.7
Firsts / Highlights - Matterhorn, big hike, fondue, raclette, Swiss chocolate and rosti
Miles Hiked - 10.0 miles
Vertical Feet - 3,513 ft.
Route - View Today’s Route Here
People - Just me.

This post is from June 28, 2009.



My Dad and I have discussed the difference between “Being Lucky” and “Being Fortunate”. The essential difference is that being lucky is something that happens to you, while being fortunate is something that happens as a result of your actions and decisions. I think those are good definitions, but I am not sure I can define whether the results of my trip so far are lucky or fortunate. I’m sure there are elements of both. What was it that Chris Diamond decided to allow me to take the time off that I needed to do this? What was it that allowed me to get on the train with my bike even though the conductor was certain that nobody was going to ride the train without the proper ticket that could not be purchased? What was it that allowed me to break into my hotel instead of sleeping on the street outside the gate? What was it that the weather in Zermatt was perfect today, in spite of the fact that it has been lousy for weeks and the forecast was marginal?

In each case, I can identify one or two things that I did correctly to create a favorable outcome, but even with those actions, the outcome could have been far less favorable. I don’t believe in the supernatural, so that is out as an explanation. I think it is a probability game, and I have been the beneficiary of the odds a number of times now, and the laws of probability say that in spite of my best efforts, I am due for some unfavorable outcomes.

For now, however, I will take the good as it comes.



Today was a perfect day in Zermatt. I stayed in Finale Ligure just long enough to wait-out the bad weather before coming to Zermatt. If I had come here directly from Bormio, which would have been more efficient, I would have been sitting inside watching it rain and snow. As it turned out, I had a great hike to Edelweiss, up a big alpine climb, to Zmutt, Furi and back to Zermatt. Hiking in Switzerland is something I have wanted to do as long as I can remember wanting to do anything. What a great first day for doing it. It was one of the best days they have had this whole summer in Zermatt.



The big headliner at Zermatt is Matterhorn. I have seen pictures of that peak my whole life, but seeing it in person is mesmerizing. I found myself sitting down on the trail and starring at it for minutes on end. It has so many shapes and angles that are different with every view. It looks like a number of things. It looks like a movie company logo, like a piece of fractured quartz and like a piece of hand-broken parmesan cheese (enough to keep Maurizio going for a very long time). Whatever it looks like, it is big and impressive.

The fact that I was obsessed with views of the Matterhorn means that you will be seeing pictures of it multiple times today. Sorry. Hopefully, these will be some views you haven’t seen before.

I won’t have my bike for about a week, but that didn’t keep me from getting a good workout today. I started out by taking a steep hike up to Edelweiss – a small lodge about 1,000 feet above Zermatt. It has no access that I could see other than the hiking trail to get there. That probably justifies the price I paid for lunch. 16 CHF for Rosti (pan fried potatoes), 2 for an egg and (this was the shocker) 6 for a ½ liter of water. Altogether, lunch was 24 CHF (1 CHF = .90 USD). I knew that Zermatt was going to be expensive, but that is why I am keeping my stay short. In spite of the price, it was a great lunch to keep me going the rest of the day and the view was hard to beat.

After Edelweiss, I continued hiking up. My intended destination was a small town called Zmutt. I eventually got there, but not without a substantial uphill detour. I suspected that I was on the wrong trail for some time, but I didn’t care because it was a nice hike. I eventually ran into 3 men in their 60’s and 70’s hiking down toward me. I was WAY above tree line, and they were hiking down to me. They spoke only French, but we spent a little time pointing at the map and figuring out where we were. They were obviously fit hikers, but they had no better idea of where they were on the map than I did. We concluded that I needed to turn around and take the low trail to get to Zmutt.

I hiked down the mountain with the gang of old men and eventually found a branch that lead to Zmutt. The detour meant that I climbed over 3,000 feet today. For those keeping score, the climb portion of today’s hike was about 3 miles at over 22% average grade.



Tomorrow I will hike again, but I think I will take advantage of the extensive cable car and mountain train system to get to the high country. Like everything here, using the lift system is very expensive. I think it will cost almost as much to ride the lift once for hiking as it would to buy a lift ticket to ski all day in the U.S. (a 3-day hiking pass costs about 180 CHF!). Zermatt apparently out-Aspen’s Aspen. I expect having access to the high alpine zone will make it easy to forget the pain of buying a 1-day ticket, although it is hard to believe the scenery could be a lot better than today.