County Climber Winter 2019

Page 52

The Spaghetti Tour Phil Behan

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tanding with the great and the good of the European ski racing circuit Clare and I were waiting for the Glacier Paradise lift up to the Klein Matterhorn. It wasn’t the middle of winter though: this was August in Switzerland. This probably wasn’t the oddest thing about Zermatt. That award goes to the town itself; it’s a cross between a normal Swiss town and Disneyland, complete with droves of sight-seeing tourists from all over the world, electric cars and inflated prices. The Klein Matterhorn happens to be one of the few places with yearround skiing in Europe and also the dropping-off point for the Breithorn and the real beginning of our holiday. We quickly found out that getting on the first lift is as much of a fight as the Midi lift: only for 100CHF return! Many skiers in Lycra, with multiple sets of skis and huge bags, took the first couple, but eventually we found our way up to the top of the Klein Matterhorn. After kitting up and with a coffee and croissant in hand we were fit to set off on our adventure: a traverse of the Monte Rosa aka ‘The Spaghetti Tour.’

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