MySwissAlps.com includes ads, non-commercial links, and commercial Visiting the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise with a 2.5 year old?
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Hi friends,
I have seen conflicting information about Glacier Paradise in Zermatt. Some people, as well as what seems to be the official website, say that children under 3 years old are simply not allowed. Several other people say it’s fine. Our pediatrician says it’s not something that we should avoid and so I am leaning towards going (if allowed).
Does anyone have actual knowledge of this ?
Thanks very much ! 🙂
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Hi JFL,
Children under the age of 3 years are not allowed to go on the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise (https://www.myswissalps.com/activity/matterhorn/) due to the altitude. Should you go up with your 3 year old, the staff will stop you at the mid-station Trockener Steg and ask you to disembark.
I hope this clarifies the situation for you.
Kind regards,
Yolanda
Very clear, thank you very much Yolanda.
Hi JKL
Just FYI, your pediatrician is correct. Your 2 1/2 YO is no more at risk for altitude effects than an adult according to the medical literature. There have been fairly extensive discussions on this topic in this forum several years ago. Of course it is a moot point.
Mark
Hi Mark, thanks for your reply. I am sorry for reviving an old discussion lol 😛
I am wondering if the staff/management of Glacier Paradise changed their approach relatively recently or if the rules are applied differently depending on who is working because some people report that they were able to bring their 2 year-olds up there. All of those reports that I see however date from about 2016-2019…I don’t know if they ask for proof of age or anything…
In any case, we will still be going and we’ll see. If they indeed stop us, we will take turns my wife and I staying with the little one at Trockener Steg while the other goes up each with one of our older kids (13 and 6).
For the record, the only solid medical studies and recommendations I can find mention to be careful with sleeping altitude. Generally, it seems that having ”sea-level” babies sleep at altitudes of 2500m or higher puts them at increased risk for sudden death syndrome. That does make sense and is certainly something I would not do. Another thing is that we are (purposefully) planning our visit to Zermatt about 7-10 days into our trip to Switzerland. We are ”sea-level” people and I built our trip so that it begins at the lower altitudes and gets higher gradually.
It is a fairly common and sensible question on the effects of altitude on children and infants. In brief, full term infants and normal healthy children have lungs which are no more susceptible to altitude sickness than adults. The issue is they may not be able vocalize any symptoms they may have. Anyone may experience mild symptoms of headache or sleep disturbances. Severe symptoms of pulmonary edema or cerebral edema occur at higher altitudes than Matterhorn Paradise. Symptoms severity will depend mostly on hydration, level of altitude, and duration of exposure. A few hours at Matterhorn Paradise might cause a little dizziness or headache at most but is relatively safe for most anyone.
Mark
Thanks, that is exactly what I was thinking. Are you a medical professional ? I am a toxicologic pathologist so I do have medical training but these particular aspects are far from my areas of expertise !!!
I am an Ophthalmologist but researched the literature several years ago when participating in a forum discussion on this subject.
That’s great ! I have tremendous respect for you guys. I work in a large research organization and we do lots of ocular research and I see from afar these colleagues with their intravitreal implants and their subretinal injections and I am in awe (I have ZERO fine motor skills haha).
Anyway, I am straying way too far from the subject here. Thanks very much for the interesting exchange.
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