The cycle of our Christmas trees

Every year, the 6 January marks the end of the Christmas time. With the three King’s cake this day is symbolically celebrated. Whoever finds the little king figure in his piece of the cake gets to put on the crown for this day. At the same time, the Christmas trees are also taken down and the decorations are stored away until next year. But what happens to the Christmas trees at the end of the Christmas time? At Zermatt Bergbahnen, this has been solved in a sustainable way for several years. 

In December 2022, a total of eleven Christmas trees appeared at various stations of the Zermatt Bergbahnen, giving the Matterhorn Ski Paradise a Christmas atmosphere. The smallest were about two metres, the largest up to three and a half metres tall. They were decorated without fairy lights, but with a lot of joy and attention to detail by our employees. 

The fir trees came from the Inneres Nikolaital forest district, which meant that long transport routes were avoided. The forest district is responsible for the forest management of the communities of St. Niklaus, Randa, Täsch and Zermatt. To close the circle of a sustainable use, the trees then come to the municipality of Zermatt, which is responsible, among other things, for safety on the winter hiking trails in the region. Thus, the Christmas trees are chopped up into fine wood chips and distributed on the snow- and ice-covered paths so that the danger of slipping can be minimised.