Day 15: Europahutte - Zermatt 18km

Sunrise on the Wiesshorn as viewed from the Europahutte.

Today we're walking the second half of the Europaweg, which is the final stage of the trek. The group is really tired, as was evident from us all being really quiet at breakfast - apart from Paul who was on a dawn sugar-high. The path stayed high on the hillside for most of today, working its way along steep traverses, although nothing as exposed as the previous day. Where the hillside was particularly loose there were tunnels and sheltered sections of path that had been built, and, although a little claustrophobic, these enclosed stretches were much easier than loose hillside sprouting iron re-enforcement bars. We heard several avalanches and rockfalls, mainly on the far side of the valley, and one avalanche was clearly visible with a great white cloud of snow powder cascading down the glacier.

Most of today was dominated by increasingly spectacular views of the Matterhorn.

We stopped for lunch at a small place called Taschenalp - the first hamlet since Gasenried, and I gave into the temptation of Rosti (a potato dish), and had a good meal. The Matterhorn grew increasingly spectacular as we worked our way along the trail, and we had a group photo shortly after lunch. Eventually we dropped down into Zermatt through a lovely area of forest trails, and headed for the centre of the town by the church for a final photo before going to find somewhere to stay.

Another snack stop high above the Zermatt valley.

It felt very odd to be in a busy town, and not to be able to see the mountains properly. We were lucky to be staying in a rented apartment that was on the fourth floor, with a view straight across to the Matterhorn from the balcony. Colm and I have our flights booked for Thursday, so we have a day or so to sort ourselves out and recharge our batteries before heading back to work. This evening Paul and Tim hosted an awards ceremony, including the 'Stubborn B******' award for Paul for keeping going despite having a very damaged knee, Dav's 'Most Connected Man in the Alps' award for his unnerving array of telecommunications equipment, and the 'Duracell Battery' award for Colm (self explanatory).

I got the Kellogs Cornflake awards for 'not doing mornings'. Having said that, I've got lots of sunrise memories from this trip, even if I did sneak back to bed afterwards on many occasions! The adventure ends here, but the memories from such an amazingly beautiful, challenging and rewarding trip will take a long time to fade.

The hamlet of Findeln before the final descent into Zermatt.

Relaxing with some beers in Zermatt after a long walk. The full team clockwise : Dav, Jane, Toby, Margaret, Tim, Tarquin, Colm, Jo and Paul.