The Summer Life of Ski Towns
August 3rd 2007 12:55
While most visitors frequent towns like Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Zermatt, Switzerland in the winter to carve up the slopes, the same slopes still draw tourism in the summer months, when they become the home of mountain hiking and biking trails rather than ski pists.
Jackson Hole , one of America's most renowned ski spots, is located in the Grand Teton mountain range, some of the most beautiful mountains in North America. Teton Village, on the outskirts of the national park, is home to summer activities for all kinds. Experienced hikers can enjoy treks of a week at a time on loop trails in the wilderness (check out the national park website for more information on obtaining a permit if you'll be staying overnight in the wilderness), families can spend countless days doing short day hikes with the kids, paragliding, and fishing, and everyone can enjoy the outdoors in style with fine dining and hotels.
Jackson Hole's summer calendar offers an impressive list of musical events, arts festivals, and outdoor sporting competitions, and culminates Labor Day weekend with the Jackson Hole Mountain Festival, which is a weekend packed with free events like fishing, cookoffs, movies, music, and stocking up for winter with the ski and snowboard sale.
Another perfect mountain town, Zermatt, seems just as buzzing with activity in the summer as it does in the winter (though we know that can't possibly be true). Tourists from the world over swarm in the streets of Zermatt in the summer months, when the same lifts that operate as ski lifts in the winter will take them to a huge variety of spots on a number of mountains surrounding the Zermatt valley. Most mountains have two or three spots where the lifts will drop riders, and from there they can hike up or down on one of the many trails published in a neatly organized guide. Some lift destinations offer entertainment all their own-- for example, the Kleine Matterhorn is the highest place a lift can take you, and when you finally reach the top of the multi-lift ride you can enjoy the world's most famous summer skiing, an underground museum of ice sculpture, wine and cheese tasting on certain days, and views of a dozen other beautiful mountains.
Like Jackson Hole, Zermatt offers a range of options for respite after a long day outdoors. Restaurants and hotels fill the small mountain town, and any choice is a good one in this classy locale.
Of course, Zermatt is above all a mountaineering town, and any time of year visitors will benefit from a walk through the old cemetery, where famous mountaineering deaths (like most of the first party to ever summit the Matterhorn) are memorialized, and visitors are reminded to respect the awesome nature that surrounds them on all sides.
The town of Zermatt, like Jackson Hole, offers many other attractions aside from those on the mountain slopes. Zermatt is home to a mountaineering museum, the Ricola herb garden, sporting events, a folklore festival, and much more.
Jackson Hole , one of America's most renowned ski spots, is located in the Grand Teton mountain range, some of the most beautiful mountains in North America. Teton Village, on the outskirts of the national park, is home to summer activities for all kinds. Experienced hikers can enjoy treks of a week at a time on loop trails in the wilderness (check out the national park website for more information on obtaining a permit if you'll be staying overnight in the wilderness), families can spend countless days doing short day hikes with the kids, paragliding, and fishing, and everyone can enjoy the outdoors in style with fine dining and hotels.
Jackson Hole's summer calendar offers an impressive list of musical events, arts festivals, and outdoor sporting competitions, and culminates Labor Day weekend with the Jackson Hole Mountain Festival, which is a weekend packed with free events like fishing, cookoffs, movies, music, and stocking up for winter with the ski and snowboard sale.
A view of the Matterhorn from one of the many trails
Like Jackson Hole, Zermatt offers a range of options for respite after a long day outdoors. Restaurants and hotels fill the small mountain town, and any choice is a good one in this classy locale.
Kids can play high on the mountainside at the Gnomes Paradise playground in Zermatt
Of course, Zermatt is above all a mountaineering town, and any time of year visitors will benefit from a walk through the old cemetery, where famous mountaineering deaths (like most of the first party to ever summit the Matterhorn) are memorialized, and visitors are reminded to respect the awesome nature that surrounds them on all sides.
The town of Zermatt, like Jackson Hole, offers many other attractions aside from those on the mountain slopes. Zermatt is home to a mountaineering museum, the Ricola herb garden, sporting events, a folklore festival, and much more.
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