Monday November 19 2007
E and I went on his first train adventure to see the Matterhorn. It was spectacular. It took 2 regular trains to get to Zerrmatt, the ski village at the base, and a third cogwheel train to climb the adjacent mountain to see the view.
E and I went on his first train adventure to see the Matterhorn. It was spectacular. It took 2 regular trains to get to Zerrmatt, the ski village at the base, and a third cogwheel train to climb the adjacent mountain to see the view.
This track is the steep ascent of the cog wheel train.
The scenery on the ascent was spectacular – glaciers, mountain streams, half frozen waterfalls, tiny villages nestled into the mountain side.
The tiny cloud at the point of the Matterhorn seems to form at mid morning and then remain all day. There is some sort of atmospheric phenomenon at work that we are trying to research. Maybe I will send an email to “ask Tom” in Chicago, our favorite meteorologist.
We couldn't stay up too long, though, because of the altitude , but the view was just as lovely from the base.
Another interesting feature of our visit was the cemetery in the town center with graves of people who had died climbing the Matterhorn. All ages, nationalities, eras, some with their pick axes embedded into the headstones. Very sobering and way too many.
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1 comment:
Hi Joanne and co.,
What you saw on the Matterhorn is a smallish altocumulus standing lenticularis cloud. These clouds are formed by warm, moist air being pushed up the mountain where the water droplets condense and form a cloud. As the airmass falls on the leeward side, the air warms again and the cloud evaporates. Us glider pilots call them "lennies" and they're great indicators of mountain wave soaring. A 10K' mountain can produce secondary and tertiary waves up to 25K' high. Check out this link for some stunning pictures of lennies:
http://www.crystalinks.com/lenticular.html
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Dan, Uggie, Sophie and Claire.
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