We spent the week of March 13-20 skiing in Zermatt, Switzerland, the village at the foot of the Matterhorn.  (Here's the official Ski-Zermatt web site.)  Zermatt is in a steep narrow valley at about 5000 feet above sea level.  There are no cars in the village, only electric carts and buses and horse-drawn carriages.  You have to leave your car at a town farther down the valley and take a train the last few miles up to Zermatt.  The main street has lots of touristy shops and restaurants, but there are also many older wooden buildings and chalets, and the Matterhorn looms over everthing, nearly ten thousand feet higher.   The conditions were great:  sunshine every day, warm temperatures, and plenty of snow from the blizzards a few weeks earlier.

We stayed at the Hotel Parnass, a very pleasant pension-hotel (hotel+restaurant) in the center of town next to the river.  Here's the view from the balcony of our room.
More Matterhorn views from our hotel room:  dawn, dawn closeup, late morning, sunset, wearing a  hat (supposedly a sign of more good weather to come).
Here's the dining room where we ate breakfast and dinner--we had our own table, and they served an excellent five-course meal every night.
We made friends with a German girl named Rike who was also staying in our hotel.  Here we are walking back to the hotel after a day of skiing.
Every morning at 7:45 a flock of sheep came out of an old barn across the street from the hotel and went for a walk down the street.
You also see St. Bernards everywhere:  they won't rescue you or offer you a drink of brandy, but you can pay to have your picture taken with one.

There are three main ski areas above Zermatt:  Sunnegga-Rothorn, Gornergrat, and Klein Matterhorn.   Here is the official trail map (287K) showing all the areas and trails, which we carried with us everywhere to find our way around the mountains.   (It doesn't all fit on one screen--slide to the right to see the Matterhorn.)  You get to the ski areas by taking trains or gondolas up the sides of the valley.  There's an "alpen metro" (funicular) train that goes through a tunnel up to Sunnegga, a cog railway train that goes to up Gornergrat, and gondolas that go up to Klein Matterhorn, plus lots of other gondolas, chair-lifts, and t-bars on the higher slopes.   The highest trails (on Klein Matterhorn) are at around 12,500 feet, and there are ski trails that go all the way back down to the village from all the ski areas.

Here we are on the ski slopes above Sunnegga.
Here's the view of Zermatt from the trail to the village below Sunnegga.
Here we are getting ready to ski at Trockener Steg below Klein Matterhorn.
This is the view from Trockener Steg looking back down the valley toward Zermatt.
The picnic area at Trockener Steg. (That's the Matterhorn in the background--it looks different when you get up close to it.)
Here's the view up the mountain toward Klein Matterhorn from Trockener Steg.  Klein Matterhorn means "little Matterhorn":  it's right next to the "big" Matterhorn but about 2000 feet shorter.  It's the craggy peak at the left in this picture.  The gondola goes into a tunnel bored right through the mountain at the very top, and you ski down the other side.  In the picture, you can just barely see the hole at the top of the mountain (on the right edge of the sharp peak) and the gondola cables leading up to it.  Here's a shot of the gondola ascending to Klein Matterhorn--almost straight up!

Here's the view from the top of Klein Matterhorn:  the Italian alps are in the distance at the left and the Matterhorn is at the far right.  (This is a big picture:  you may need to use the sliders to see all of it.)  You can also ski down into the Italian resort of Cervinia from here.  The Testa Grigia station at the top of the Cervinia lifts is at left-center in the picture.
Another view from Klein Matterhorn, a little more to the right, looking back toward Trockener Steg and Zermatt.
One more view from Klein Matterhorn, a little further to the right, toward Breithorn and Gornergletscher.  (The Gornergrat Hotel is barely visible in the distance at far-left-center in the picture, at the top of a rocky slope above the glacier.  Behind it are the ski areas at Sunnegga.)
Here we are on the trail from Klein Matterhorn back down to Trockener Steg.   This was our favorite place to ski.  (That's Jane at the left.  The kids are way ahead as usual.)

Becca and Amy also spent two days snowboarding instead of skiing.
Here's Becca snowboarding near the Matterhorn. (Not quite as near as it looks:  the peak is still almost a mile above her head!)

There are lots of quaint restaurants and even a few hotels on the mountainsides:
Cottages and restaurants on the slopes at Findeln, below Sunnegga, where we had lunch on our first day.
The Gornergrat Hotel at the top of the train line.
The restaurant at Riffelberg below Gornergrat--a great place to bask in the sun and have a drink.
The hotel at Riffelberg looks like it's on the edge of the world.

Some of the gondolas are small cabs, others are huge cars that hold over 100 people.  Here's the view from inside--they pack you in like cattle!
We saw lots of mountain goats on the hillsides while riding the gondolas:
A bunch of goats on a rocky ledge, seen from the Blauherd gondola.  (How many can you count?)
A goat grazing in the snow. (The dots at top-center are skiers on a distant slope.)

We also went sledding on the sled trail on Gornergrat:  you can rent sleds at the Riffelberg train stop and sled back down to there from Rotenboden.  It's a narrow winding trail like a bobsled run.
The view from the Gornergrat train.
Becca and Amy heading down the sled trail.
A fast turn at the end of the run.

On the way home, we saw lots of castles on hilltops and vineyards on hillsides.