Page 72 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2019 PORTUGAL

Perhaps the most interesting exhibits are
housed in the Historic Alpine Museum, a simple
wooden chalet within the larger museum. It’s
filled with grainy old photographs and artifacts
from expeditions, including a frayed rope from
1865, in which seven climbers made it to the
summit for the first time, only to lose four of
their number on the descent when this lifeline
broke.
The adjacent Mountain Guides’ Hut includes
a model of the Matterhorn with buttons you can
push to light up various routes of ascent, as well
as plaques listing the names of climbers who
have mounted the crooked beast. Many of those
who did not survive are interred near the mu‐
cloaking device, I’m determined to get to the seum in the Mountaineers’ cemetery, a sobering
bottom (if not the top) of the mountain’s mys‐ memorial to those intrepid men and women.
tique. It is at the core of Zermatt’s allure, be‐ A short stroll away, a small fountain also
cause—although the resort is popular for skiing commemorates the life of Zermatt’s most fa‐
in winter and walking and cycling in summer—it’s mous mountain guide, Ulrich Inderbinen, who
best known as a base for mountain climbers died in 2004 at the age of 103, having climbed
keen on conquering the mighty Matterhorn. the Matterhorn a remarkable 371 times. From
For a better understanding of the mountain’s here, I’d suggest a wander through the “Hinter‐
magnetic---and sometimes lethal---appeal, I dorf,” the oldest part of the village, where a
head to the Matterhorn Museum, a five-minute handful of charming log structures date back
walk from THE OMNIA. The entrance resembles as far as the 16th century.
a little glass igloo, but like an iceberg, there’s You’re never far from the Bahnhofstrasse,
much more beneath the surface. Two subter‐
ranean levels include a theater, showing breath‐
taking footage of climbing expeditions, and a
recreation of Zermatt as it might have appeared
in the 1800s, with rough-hewn timber structures
lining a cobblestoned street.
There’s a cramped cottage, a church, and
several farm buildings surrounded by a zoo-full
of taxidermied animals, from an exotic ibex to
a humble chicken and even a mule. (If it stood
still long enough, they stuffed it).

(TOP) The Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt
may look hardly larger than an igloo, but like
an iceberg, it lies mainly beneath the surface.
Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.

(BOTTOM) Many climbers who have lost their
lives attempting to summit the Matterhorn are
buried in Zermatt's Mountaineers' cemetery.
Copyright Amy Laughinghouse.
(OPPOSITE) The Bahnhofstrasse, Zermatt's
main shopping street. Copyright Amy
Laughinghouse.
72 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE WINTER/SPRING 2024