The weekend we had Zermatt to ourselves

Zermatt in the run-up to Christmas is normally one of the busiest places in the Alps. One December, we had it almost to ourselves, and we did not understand why until lunch.

We arrived in the evening after work, walked through the nicely decorated streets, had a good dinner and went to bed. Next morning we were up early and on the mountain, and there were literally no queues. Piste after piste, and we were almost the only ones on them. I was clearly happy about it. We truly had not expected it.

At lunch we asked a lift operator whether something was going on. He explained: that very day Switzerland had shut its border to arrivals from Britain, with hotel quarantine at Swiss prices for anyone already in the country, so the British skiers who fill Zermatt in December had left the day before, over the borders into France and Italy.

Then we remembered the crowds when we arrived, and how silent the town had felt by evening. That was the exodus.

A bad day for them, and I mean that. It was also the emptiest I have ever seen Zermatt, before or since. We skied all day, came back the next morning and did it again.

I do not tell this one as a trick you can repeat. It happened once, for a reason that made a lot of people's holidays fall apart overnight, and a lift operator had to explain our luck to us. But if a famous mountain is ever handed to you empty, take the whole day. You will not get it twice.