The river from above
Ice lines and rock moraine like a frozen river.
Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · NOTE: This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in software. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form of digital manipulation. These manipulati — CC BY-SA 3.0 · NOTE: This image is a panorama consisting of multiple frames that were merged or stitched in software. As a result, this image necessarily underwent some form of digital manipulation. These manipulati — CC BY-SA 3.0
Never alone: glacier surfaces are full of snow-covered crevasses that can swallow a person, and walking on them requires a **certified mountain guide** and equipment (ropes and crampons). Guiding offices in Zermatt organise accompanied glacier tours for anyone wanting the experience. From the edge and the waymarked trails, however, viewing is safe, free and spectacular.
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The Gorner Glacier is **the second largest glacier in the Alps** after the Aletsch: an immense tongue of ice stretching some twelve kilometres through a high valley ringed by Switzerland's highest peaks, and seen at its best from the **Gornergrat** summit, which overlooks it directly from above — the grey and blue lines of ice and the rock moraine it drags along genuinely look, from up there, like a frozen river. Its view from Gornergrat is what makes the train ticket worthwhile even if cloud covers the Matterhorn: the glacier is a sight in itself and does not depend on a clear horizon. You can get closer on walking trails descending from Rotenboden and Gornergrat toward its edge. It is also a **silent lesson in climate**: the glacier has retreated by kilometres over the past century, and markers along the trails show where the ice surface stood in earlier decades — the difference is shocking and directly visible to the eye.
Ice lines and rock moraine like a frozen river.
Where the ice stood decades ago — a visible difference.
Gornergletscher, 3920 Zermatt