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Tour du Cervin Jay 5: Zermatt - Europahutte

This walk is part of the trek The Matterhorn Tour.

An easy climb reaching part of Zermatt ski slopes, extending to an uphill-downhill balcony trail leading to the famous Europahutte (Hut).

Watch out: The Himalayan footbridge just before Europahutte is currently out of service. You'll need to head down to Randa valley along the second blue marked trail on the map before heading back up to the hut (allow for 2 extra hours).

Technical sheet
No. 4098301
A Zermatt walk posted on 31/03/15 by Tamtraductions. Update : 23/09/16
Calculated time Calculated time: 9h05[?]
Distance Distance : 10.43mi
Vertical gain Vertical gain : 4892ft
Vertical drop Vertical drop : 2697ft
Highest point Highest point : 7720ft
Lowest point Lowest point : 5253ft
Average Difficulty : Average
Back to starting point Back to starting point : No
Walking Walking
Area Area : Alps
Location Location : Zermatt
Starting point Starting point : N 46.022096° / E 7.75115°
Arrival Arrival : N 46.105858° / E 7.80591°
Download : -

Description

Locate the Tour du Cervin trail in Zermatt, head east and rapidly gain the forest (D). The trail gently weaves through to the ski area and the lower station at the place called Patrullarve (1).

Leave the station to the left heading down a trail due east then north. Once you get to Tufternhutte you'll come to a joint trail "Tour du Cervin - Europaweg" (2). Stick to this level trail all the way to Ottafe Village (3).

Before the village, cross the stream and head north-west, first flat, then slightly downhill then through a forest (4) above Tasch Village. A scree splits the forest up: you can cross easily through the tunnel, a headlamp is useful at this stage. Shortly after, the slope gets steeper and once you get out of the forest the huge himalayan footbridge (5) comes into sight, crossing the valley stretching from two summits, Gross Haupt and Chli Haupt.

Cross it, start a short hike down, then another uphill, reaching Europahutte (6) and that's it for today.

Waypoints :
D : mi 0 - alt. 5253ft
1 : mi 0.31 - alt. 5620ft
2 : mi 1.22 - alt. 6624ft
3 : mi 2.26 - alt. 7602ft
4 : mi 5.35 - alt. 7208ft
5 : mi 6.66 - alt. 6785ft
6 : mi 9.91 - alt. 7208ft
A : mi 10.43 - alt. 7448ft

Useful Information

Water supplies at the Ottafe fountains.

Watch out the Himalayan footbridge that we crossed was put in service in 2010. It replaces the tunnels that were used to cross this area where landslides are frequent. There are rumours of a landslide which may have damaged the footbridge, therefore having to cross using the downstream trail.
If you have any recent information regarding this, please let me know.

Visorando and this author cannot be held responsible in the case of accidents or problems occuring on this walk.

During the walk or to do/see around

Zermatt and other villages in the valley:
- Tasch where atmospheric engine cars stop,
- Randa, where a huge landslide isolated the upper valley for several months.

Other walks in the area

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Warning: Taking into account the cable car transport, the positive altitude isn't 2156 m as indicated but only 1380 m.

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Think about correcting the distance indicated by points (5) et (6) : you need to deduct 10 km.

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The GPS track and description are the property of the author.