ZERMATT - High glacier runs and a wider set of pistes opened in the second week of December, enough to sell a proper ski week to people who do not need a white street to feel they have arrived. Village-level snow remained thin. Electric taxis still rattled on visible cobbles.
Hotels reported a mixed early December: British and German guests, fewer long-haul names than the strong-franc years. Staffing in kitchens remained the squeeze.
A valley that remembers May
Valais does not ski in the Loetschental this month the way it used to talk about snow. Blatten is a reconstruction file now. Zermatt is the postcard the canton still has.