Zermatt, Flyfishing at Stellisee
Sunday 19th July 2020
Going on a trip with my brother always means going to the most beautiful places and meet incredible people. This summer we’re heading to the mountains in Switzerland. Something very deep attach us both to the Swiss countryside and the same impression overwhelms our soul when we find ourselves surrounded by the mountains. Every time you finally get in sight of the mountains, it feels like you had forgotten how tall and beautiful they were. Every mile of the road, is like discovering a new angle to a loved face. There they are, immutable, impressive, gentle or dangerous. From the bottom of the earth, they reach for the sky.
Furka Pass
Our first stop in Switzerland is Zermatt where Derek has to meet a fishing guide on a high altitude lake. Everywhere along the road, farmers are busy making hay before bad weather arrives. Looking through the window I admire women powerfully pulling together the hay with their tanned and muscular arms using long wooden rakes. 12-year-old children, as proud as peacocks, drive small Aebi vehicles specially designed for the mountains. In a village, we pass a parade of tractors, coquettishly displaying a sheaf of wheat and flowers at the front. From the canton of Uri we decide to drive trough Furka pass which rises to 2429 m. The road is a thin ribbon that climbs along a mountainous amphitheater. Windows open, the alpine atmosphere is upon us like a wave of intense sensations. The road is all hairpins and sometimes only one car can drive front. Going down on the Valais side, you pass the famous Belvédère hotel, which forms the end of a sharp bend facing the Rhône glacier. After the pass, we still have an hour and a half before reaching the parking lot of the Matterhon terminal in Täsch. Zermatt is only accessible by train and we have to leave the car there.
Zermatt
When we arrive in Zermatt’s train station, the village is already in the evening shadows. After taking the key to our room at Carina, a neat and dynamic little hotel run by two young people, we stroll through the old center. When we walk up the Balade des Anglais street, I am looking for a view painted by my great-grandmother, a sportive woman who loved Zermatt, at the beginning of the 1900’s. I find it as I have seen it so many times on her painting. The cabins have multiplied and the streets are now covered with cobblestones, but the whole picture does not seem to have changed a bit. Facing each other, the dark chalets with weather-beaten balconies form a narrow corridor at the end of which you can see shades of blue darkened by dusk. But what catches the eye, right between the balconies, is the undisputed lord of this place. Piercing the sky with its sharp edges, snow clinging to the steep rocks, it is the Matterhorn that looks down at us from its 4478 m high. A soft pink hue lightens the old center and a church imposes its quiet mass in front of charming restaurants. In this corner everything is intimately narrow. With its shopping street, its huge ski area and many hotels, Zermatt is no longer an isolated village frequented by a handful of mountaineers, but the old center retains a lot of authenticity. Derek tries to find out how to hike to Lake Stellisee from the village. We are ready to get up at 3 a.m. to reach it at sunrise. Unfortunately nobody can tell us how long the hike takes and we are not sure to arrive on time. We will have to take the funicular to Sunnegga and then a gondola lift up to Blauherd. From there we will only have 15 minutes of walking left to reach Stellisee.
Monday 20th July
The morning sun touches the Matterhorn’s snowy top while the village sleeps in the shade. Trucks in the same toy formats as Zermatt’s little taxis, slide noiselessly with loads of food and fresh fruit everywhere. They supply the surrounding hotels. At 8 am sharp, we take the first funicular that goes up to Sunnegga. The first steps at an altitude of 2571 m take our breath away. Literally! The trail soon descends onto a lovely lake nestled in the hollow of grassy slopes. Typical Valais black-nosed sheep wander far above us. When we turn around, the mood is almost unreal. The snow-capped Matterhorn stands very close at the end of the lake. Its silhouette and the deep blue of the sky are reflected in the water as in a mirror. Kirk Tinham, the founder of Fly Fish Zermatt and his client arrive a few minutes later. Kirk is a fishing guide and since 2010 he has the exclusive fishing rights to this high altitude lake. Born in England and passionate about fly fishing, he tells us he had to work long before he got his dream: To tease the rainbow trouts in the idyllic setting of Lake Stellisee.
Kirk’s fly is a piece of wool attached to the hook. Pointing with his chin towards the sheep grazing on the slopes he tells us he collected it the day before. It’s 100% local craftsmanship. The fisherman positions himself close to the bank. By a supple rotation of the wrist, the fishing line forms a graceful arc, whistling above the head before landing on the water. Fluid movements in an expert hand sounds easy, but it requires a lot of patience and precision. It doesn’t take long for Kirk and his client to bring back sparkling fishes in their net. Around eleven o’clock, the rising sun begins to be blazing hot. A prey bird screeches far away up in the intense blue of the sky. The rising breeze has long blurred the surface of the lake, but tourists flock after a good night’s sleep to take a picture of the mirror effect now long gone. Kirk laughingly explains that some people spend the day there hoping to take the photo they saw everywhere on social media. Unfortunately, the mirror effect is only visible very early in the morning or late at night when the wind has died down… Of course all tourists are still sleeping or comfortably dining around those hours.
At noon, it’s time to say goodbye. A stunning spot in front of the Matterhorn offers a perfect quick picnic setting and we pull out of our backpacks the sandwiches Carina hotel’s manager kindly gave us early in the morning. The sun is now blazing hot but the air is still crisp from the altitude. It’s the first time in my life I see Edelweiss among these gray rocks. Zermatt’s location is stunning once you get at the top and its mineral views more impressive than anything I could have imagined but watching the busy posh village at my feet, I miss the rural simplicity of less popular villages. We slowly go back down the mountain constantly looking at the beautiful Matterhorn peak. I’ll definitely go back to Zermatt and explore more of it’s surroundings some other day.