Zermatt 2024 Day 4: Schwarzsee

The weather forecast was promising, and the morning dawned bright and cheerful.  The north window on the hotel stairs on the way to breakfast gave us clear views of the Taschhorn, usually wreathed in cloud.

Gondola Ride

To get to Schwarzsee, we had to walk about 20 minutes (1.3km) to the gondola cable car at the south end of town, which takes you up to Furi, Schwarzsee, and Trockener Steg.  There you can get another cable car up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise on the Kleine Matterhorn, and thence onwards to Testa Grigia in Italy.

As we glided in the gondola over Furi, the meadows were painted with flowers, yellow, white, blue and lilac.  By the edge of the woods deer lingered.

Gornerbach valley

We had spectacular views from the gondola, both back down towards Zermatt behind us, and northeastwards up the Gornerbach valley to the glaciers and the mountains above.

Schwarzsee

On our exit from the cable car, we were immediately captured by the views down to the lakes at Schwarzsee, two permanent, one which is probably only a damp depression in summer.  When we were there, these still had banks of snow running down into them.

The surface of the main lake, the Schwarzsee (“black lake”) is often very dark. Beside the lake, which lies in a small hollow, stands a chapel dedicated to “Maria zum Schnee” (“Our Lady of the Snows”). According to legend, two people from Zermatt lost their way in the fog near the Theodul Pass. They pledged that if saved, they would build a chapel.

There is an old building beside the gondola station, which seems to have been preserved.  It made an excellent foreground for the view.

What an amazing panorama we had from up here.  Boards named and gave heights for all the mountains we could see.

Gornergrat train

We could peep round the corner and down to Zermatt, or follow the line of the Gornergrat train all the way up to the hotel and astronomical observatories at the top.  But of course, the reason you come to Schwarzsee is that it offers a magnificent, close-up view of the Matterhorn.

Gentiana brachyphylla

The flowers start as soon as you get out of the gondola.  The grass underneath the cables taking the cars up to Trockener Steg was dotted with the blue of Gentiana brachyphylla, violet of Viola calcarata, and the yellow flowers of Potentilla aurea.

Many Routes to Explore

From Schwarzsee, a trail runs westwards along the top of a little ridge, and then climbs steadily up towards the Hornli hut, and thence the Matterhorn. Small patches of snow were still blocking this path.  But in any case, we wanted to descend past the statue of the Virgin Mary on the main path, between the lakes, and head northwest, until we were overlooking the now largely deglaciated Zmutt valley.

Pulsatilla vernalis

At the top of the ridge, before we had even started to descend towards the lake, we were distracted again by flowers – the wonderful white ‘boiled egg’ flowers of Pulsatilla vernalis, with carpets of Salix serpyllifolia growing over the rocks.

Viola calcarata

Everywhere we looked there were Viola flowers, in wonderful condition, and showing interesting variation.

Loiseleuria procumbens

I soon discovered that if I walked down the slope to the west of the path towards the Schwarzsee, there were huge mats of Creeping Azalea, Loiseleuria procumbens, with buds just opening, not yet in the full flush of flower

Gentiana acaulis

A little lower down, nearer the lake, where the soil would remain damper through the summer, I found the turf was dotted with the deep blue trumpets of Gentiana acaulis, in places forming large clumps.

Silene exscapa ?

Among the gentians were big cushions of Silene acaulis.  Or was it ?  Flora Helvetica lists two cushion-forming Silene species in the area, Silene acaulis and Silene exscapa (which Plants of the World treats as a synonym of S. acaulis subsp bryoides).  The two are distinguished by size; S. exscapa is smaller in all its parts.  I didn’t have a ruler with me, but some of these clumps felt tighter and more congested, so maybe this is what they were.

Breithorn

Halfway down the slope, we could look back to the ridge, where tourists were silhouetted against the snowy cap of the Breithorn, taking photos of themselves with the Matterhorn behind them.

Gentiana brachyphylla

Among the trumpet gentians, we found good clumps of spring gentians, in this case Gentiana brachyphylla.

Androsace carnea

Crossing the path to the flooded depression still half-full of snow, we started to see little clumps of the charming pale pink Androsace carnea.

Gagea fragifera

Also here in the damp turf, we saw Gagea fragifera, and a few very compact plants of Pulsatilla alpina subsp apiifolia.

Ranunculus species

There were some lovely compact buttercups.  I am not sure whether this was Ranunculus montanus or not; the leaves don’t look quite right.

Ranunculus kuepferi

However, these yellow buttercups were easily overlooked.  The damp grass beside the pools was covered with the pristine white cups of the early-flowering Ranunculus kuepferi.  The flowers seem to only last a day or two before they lose petals and start to look tatty.

Pulsatilla vernalis

Slowly we moved on, reaching some drier banks.  Here I found a  perfect, beautifully lit flower of Pulsatilla vernalis.  I am frustrated now that I didn’t spend the time to do some ‘gardening’ and remove the grass strands which lie across the flower, but I was already lagging behind the others, and had been proceeding very slowly.

Draba dubia

Near the Pulsatilla was a little white crucifer.  This time, I think it may have been Draba dubia, which I have seen previously in the Dolomites.

Potentilla aurea

These drier banks were yellow with Potentilla flowers.

Pinguicula alpina

On the other side of the track was another little lake, surrounded by a very damp marshy area.  These wet tussocks sparkled with lilac Viola calcarata, pink Primula farinosa, and a mass of little white Pinguicula alpina flowers.

Viola calcarata

The Viola kept mainly to slightly higher, drier banks, where it was accompanied by Androsace obtusifolia and Gentiana brachyphylla.  We were delighted to find a solitary white-flowered Viola specimen.

Draba aizoides

On the righthand side of the track the ground was higher and better drained, and here there were a few plants of Draba aizoides.

Gentiana verna

The Draba was growing in the midst of a huge bank of spring gentians.  Most of the plants I can identify from the photos have winged calyxes and rather straplike leaves, which suggests they are Gentiana verna, including a rather attractive deep indigo specimen.

Tussilago farfara

Eventually, we reached the point where our path crossed a mountain stream.  This would entail either a leap or a paddle, depending on preference, and we stopped for lunch before deciding whether to proceed.  It looked as though there had been mounds of snow here until very recently, cleared from the track, and the snowmelt turf held a few flowers of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara).

Gentiana bavarica

Exploring while the others finished lunch, I came upon some more spring gentians which appear to be Gentiana bavarica, with rounded leaves and no obvious basal rosettes.

Pulsatilla vernalis

Eventually we decided we would cross the stream, each at their own speed.  By the time Helen had crossed, I was already focused on other things.  The bank in front of us, which I had been observing through lunch, was liberally scattered with the white goblets of Pulsatilla vernalis.

Pulsatilla alpina subsp apiifolia

It was hard to tear myself away, but further up the slope were some lovely specimens of Pulsatilla alpina subsp apiifolia.

The whole slope was a carpet of flowers, with the mix of species changing as I climbed higher.

Ranunculus kuepferi

Between the Pulsatilla, the hillside sparkled with the little white saucers of Ranunculus kuepferi.

Soldanella alpina

Exploring a little further, and rounding the shoulder of the hill, I came across another patch of snowmelt, with a few stems of purple bells – Soldanella alpina.

Geum montanum

Higher up this bank, beyond the Pulsatilla, the yellow flowers of Geum montanum became dominant.

Silene acaulis

Here there were cushions I was more confident were Silene acaulis.

Minuartia sedoides

I found just one plant of Minuartia sedoides, with its little green star-like flowers just starting to appear.

Pulsatilla vernalis

Before we left this slope, I had to take a few more photos of the Pulsatilla vernalis.

Ranunculus kuepferi

The stream we had crossed ran alongside the track for a while, before rolling over the edge of the plateau and down towards the valley below.  Its banks glistened with Ranunculus kuepferi flowers.

Leucanthemopsis alpina

A few clumps of white daisies proved to be Leucanthemopsis alpina.

At this point the track also reached the edge of the plateau, and tipped sharply downwards.  From here we could see to the north-east, across Riffelalp and Sunnegga, to the Monte Rosa group of mountains looming above them.

But we could also see down the track, along the Zmuttbach valley to the west, and study the post-glacial features of the landscape, beneath the cloudy tooth of the Matterhorn.  Two young runners with their dog jogged casually past us and down the slope.  To us, it looked a long way down, and a long way back up.

Linaria alpina

Returning towards the Schwarzsee gondola station, we found a few plants of Linaria alpina in great condition beside the path.

Walking in this direction, there were spectacular reflections of the Breithorn in the lower lake.

James Bond

Trudging back up the slope, we got great views of the deep snowbanks on the Breithorn, with the sharp point of the Kleine Matterhorn on the right, and the Trockener Steg cable car station below, looking like it belonged to a James Bond villain.

There were a few more plants we hadn’t seen on our way down: the silver leaves of Senecio incanus, and the white crucifer flowers of Hutchinsia / Pritzelago / Hornungia alpina.

Gentiana acaulis

I made a short detour to visit a bank I had seen down by the Schwarzsee, covered in Gentiana acaulis.

The light falling on the preserved building back at the gondola station was better now, and the mountains of the Monte Rose group, particularly Lyskamm, loomed over it.

Return to Zermatt

As we travelled down in the gondola, I took more pictures of the spectacular view past the Riffelhorn and up the Gornerbach valley.

The last section of the ride took us straight down into Zermatt.  From there it was straightforward to walk back through the town, admiring the valley slopes above us, and the view of the Matterhorn along the river.

Although Google would tell you that this walk was just over 1 km each way, with around 100m descent / ascent, our path was far from a straight line, but rather the zigzag of a questing hound in search of rabbits, up and down the banks, and around the lakes.  And of course, it was 1.3km each way to the gondola station.

Helen’s fitbit recorded 12,250 steps, and 5.25 miles for the day.  That didn’t feel far from the truth.