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Stranded no more: Tourists leave snowbound ski paradise

Train service resumed in Zermatt after two days in which the Swiss resort was only accessible by air.

 / Updated 12 PHOTOS
Image: Zermatt

The famed Matterhorn peak looms over the resort town of Zermatt, Switzerland, on Jan. 10.

More than 39 inches blanketed the region over a one-day period, coating railways and roads and stranding some 13,000 tourists. 

 

— Dominic Steinmann / EPA
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Image: Zermatt

Tourists arrive in Taesch after evacuating from Zermatt, just a few miles away, by helicopter on Jan. 10.

Railway service had been halted for two days because of avalanche risk but resumed later on Wednesday. 

 

— Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images
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Viktor Perren with Air Zermatt holds explosive material in his hand before throwing it out of the window at the ski resort "Sunnegga" in Zermatt on Jan. 10.

The explosives will trigger controlled avalanches to release snow buildup. 

— Dominic Steinmann / EPA
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An excavator clears snow where an avalanche has blocked the road between Taesch and Zermatt on Jan. 10. 

— Dominic Steinmann / AP
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Image: Thousands of tourists stranded in Zermatt due to weather

Snow covers the village.

— Dominic Steinmann / EPA
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Image: TOPSHOT-SWITZERLAND-SNOW-TOURISM-AVALANCHE

A helicopter brings in fresh linen for hotels in Zermatt on Jan. 10.

— Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images
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Tourists make their way to the heliport prior to their evacuation by helicopter on Jan. 10.

— Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images
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Image: Thousands of tourists stranded in Zermatt due to weather

A snow cloud rises from an artificially-triggered avalanche in Zermatt on Jan. 10.

— Dominic Steinmann / EPA
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Image: Thousands of tourists stranded in Zermatt due to weather

Tourists walk through the village on Jan. 9.

 

— Leander Wenger / EPA
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Young skiers enjoy the snow on Jan. 9.

Some visitors were more upset that nearby ski slopes were closed than getting stranded in the posh, picturesque resort town.

— Leander Wenger / AP
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Workers remove snow off a path in Zermatt on Jan. 9.
— Mateusz Bocian / AP
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Image: Workers attempt to clear snow from the railway tracks at the Zermatt train station

Workers clear snow from the railway tracks at the Zermatt station on Jan. 9.

— Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images
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