Zermatt - Geography

Geography

The village of Zermatt lies at the southern end of the Matter Valley (German: Mattertal), which is one of the lateral branches of the great Valley of the Rhone. The village is almost completely surrounded by the high mountains of the Pennine Alps among which Monte Rosa (or Dufourspitze), Switzerland's highest peak at 4,634 metres (15,203 ft) above sea level. It is followed by the Dom (4,545 m ), Lyskamm (4,527 m ), Weisshorn (4,505 m ) and the Matterhorn (4,478 m ). Most of the Alpine four-thousanders are located around Zermatt or in the neighbouring valleys.

Zermatt is traversed by the main river of the valley: the Matter Vispa, which takes its sources from the glaciers located at the feet of the highest peaks; the Gorner Glacier on the east side near Monte Rosa and the Zmutt Glacier on the west side between Dent d'Hérens and Dent Blanche.

The village of Zermatt, while dense, is geographically small. There are three main streets which run along the banks of the river Matter Vispa, and numerous cross-streets, especially around the station and the church which forms the centre of the village. In general anything is at most a thirty minute walk away. There are several "suburbs" within Zermatt. Winkelmatten, which was once a separate small hamlet, lies on a hill (1,670 m ) on the southern side. Steinmatten is located on the eastern bank of the main river.

A many hamlets are located in the valleys above Zermatt, however they are not usually inhabited all year round. Zum See (1,766 m ) lies south of Zermatt on the west bank of the Gorner gorge, near Furi where a cable car station is located (1,867 m ). On the side of Zmutt valley (west of Zermatt), lies the hamlet of Zmutt (1,936 m ) north of the Zmuttbach river. Findeln (2,051 m ) is located in the eastern valley above the Findelbach river. It lies below the Sunnegga station (2,278 m ). Located near a train station of the Gornergrat railway, Riffelalp (2,222 m ) is one of the highest hamlets with a chapel.

Zermatt has an area, as of 2011, of 242.7 km2 (93.7 sq mi). Of this area, 9.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.7% is settled (buildings or roads) and 85.6% is unproductive land.