The Kleine Zeitung, an Austrian daily newspaper, for example, writes in October 1950:
The cat on the Matterhorn. Cp.
A ten-month-old kitten from a hotel on the Hörnligrat, from which tourists are wont to set off for the ascent of the Matterhorn, recently started out one morning and followed a party of mountaineers. Towards evening, the animal arrived at the Solvay Hut. It continued to climb briskly the following day. On the third day, after spending a second night in a couloir, it reached the summit of the giant mountain, where a group of alpinists shared their breakfast with it. Aware that the descent is probably more dangerous than the ascent, even for cats, and unwilling to leave the animal unprotected, the mountain guide took the cat with him in his backpack to the Rifugio Principe Amedeo di Savoia hut on the Italian side. The unusual mountain tourist remained a boarder there until a party brought him back to Zermatt, where he has since arrived safely.
This story inspired the idea of creating an extraordinary mountain playground: the Wolli Adventure Trail.
A unique adventure trail with special play elements is being created along the lower high-altitude trail (Pensioners’ trail no. 4a) over a length of more than two kilometres. Linked to the trail is a puzzle game with mysteries for adventurers to solve. A mixture of audio, text and illustrative instructions plus information about flora, fauna and life in Zermatt rounds off the unique experience.
Facts and Figures
- Length: 2.2 kilometres
- Difference in altitude: approx. 95 metres (81 metre ascent/110 metre descent)
- 17 stops with puzzle exhibits integrated into playground elements.
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