soccerdad72
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2012
- Messages
- 7,919
Bumping this up, as we just got home last night. 
We had a great trip!
Obviously, the highlight of the trip was Zermatt and skiing underneath the Matterhorn. And it was as cool and we thought it would be. We booked a private guide for our boys, who didn't necessarily need instruction as much as info about the different lifts, parts of the mountain and tips. It worked out great for them - after the morning session, my younger son was ready to take on most everything up there and skied for hours more that day. My older son was exhausted, though (it's been a few years since he's snowboarded and was pretty out of shape). We also booked a private lesson for my wife and I. My wife learned a lot, as did I. I had a little more experience going into the trip than she did, so after the lesson and couple trips down a pretty easy run (e.g. piste), our instructor pointed a little harder piste out to me that he said I should be able to manage, while he stayed with my wife and helped her some more. I probably bit off a little more than I could chew, but eventually got my way to the bottom (5 or 6 falls later
).
That afternoon, my older son, my wife and I went up to the top of the Gornergrat Railway - it was amazing to look around. The highest railway station in Europe, apparently.
The next day, my younger son headed out early in the morning to get some runs in, then met up with the three of us to go up to the top of the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The goal of the afternoon was for the two of them to ski (and snowboard) down into Italy for some lunch and then head back up into Switzerland. We were so jealous getting pics of them with their bowls of pastas and beers and scenery from the other side of the mountain. My wife and I checked out the Glacier Palace at the top once they headed on their way. There was no way, however, my wife and I would have been able to ski that trip. Turns out, our older son didn't exactly handle it great - he said his legs were completely shredded from the day before, so he said it was miserable. Younger son had a blast, of course. After lunch, they separated - older son making his way to a lift to head back to town to meet up with us and younger son off skiing all over the mountain. He said at the end of 2 days, he ended up doing something like 42 miles of skiing.
The other parts of the trip were great as well. We did a city tour in Zurich for part of the day we landed, ending with a tour of the Lindt chocolate factory. And in Geneva, we toured the Patek Philippe watch museum, walked by the UN (no tours were available) and did a walking tour of their old town with a guide. Oh, and no lack of fondue, raclette and rosti, either.
![IMG_1790[1].JPG](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/932/932070-192bc012f7d9d1f581eaec881c996d6d.jpg?hash=6PrQTCLkAh "IMG_1790[1].JPG")
![IMG_2326[1].JPG](https://www.disboards.com/data/attachments/932/932080-47fee55bf3788e168791cb67cd59cebf.jpg?hash=7-3H3gtwLQ "IMG_2326[1].JPG")
We had a great trip!
Obviously, the highlight of the trip was Zermatt and skiing underneath the Matterhorn. And it was as cool and we thought it would be. We booked a private guide for our boys, who didn't necessarily need instruction as much as info about the different lifts, parts of the mountain and tips. It worked out great for them - after the morning session, my younger son was ready to take on most everything up there and skied for hours more that day. My older son was exhausted, though (it's been a few years since he's snowboarded and was pretty out of shape). We also booked a private lesson for my wife and I. My wife learned a lot, as did I. I had a little more experience going into the trip than she did, so after the lesson and couple trips down a pretty easy run (e.g. piste), our instructor pointed a little harder piste out to me that he said I should be able to manage, while he stayed with my wife and helped her some more. I probably bit off a little more than I could chew, but eventually got my way to the bottom (5 or 6 falls later
). That afternoon, my older son, my wife and I went up to the top of the Gornergrat Railway - it was amazing to look around. The highest railway station in Europe, apparently.
The next day, my younger son headed out early in the morning to get some runs in, then met up with the three of us to go up to the top of the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. The goal of the afternoon was for the two of them to ski (and snowboard) down into Italy for some lunch and then head back up into Switzerland. We were so jealous getting pics of them with their bowls of pastas and beers and scenery from the other side of the mountain. My wife and I checked out the Glacier Palace at the top once they headed on their way. There was no way, however, my wife and I would have been able to ski that trip. Turns out, our older son didn't exactly handle it great - he said his legs were completely shredded from the day before, so he said it was miserable. Younger son had a blast, of course. After lunch, they separated - older son making his way to a lift to head back to town to meet up with us and younger son off skiing all over the mountain. He said at the end of 2 days, he ended up doing something like 42 miles of skiing.
The other parts of the trip were great as well. We did a city tour in Zurich for part of the day we landed, ending with a tour of the Lindt chocolate factory. And in Geneva, we toured the Patek Philippe watch museum, walked by the UN (no tours were available) and did a walking tour of their old town with a guide. Oh, and no lack of fondue, raclette and rosti, either.
