I am always impressed when a guest descends from the Matterhorn summit to attend my Mad Hedge Zermatt Strategy Seminar.
That was the case when Marc, a thirty-something hedge fund manager from the Czech Republic triumphantly marched into the meeting in his heavy socks and burnt face. The hotel asked him to leave his boots at the door. He had summited at 8:00 AM, and after a brief respite at the Hornli Hut, made it down by the Schwartzee gondola.
The event was well attended, with wealth managers, hedge fund players, and high net worth individuals making their annual pilgrimage to Zermatt. My usual Russian oligarch went missing this year for obvious reasons.
When I told them I thought I had a shot at a 100% gain this year, up from 56% so far in 2022, one guest ordered a round of schnapps for all.
There were more than the usual number of Americans in Zermatt. With the US dollar at parity against the Swiss franc for the first time in 20 years, how can they afford not to come to the idyllic mountain community? The Chinese were mostly absent, the 50-strong tour groups are a thing of the past.
The Russians were also gone, but not their money. Switzerland has been the weak link in the Russian sanctions. As a result, there is an unprecedented building boom underway in Zermatt, with ten hotels under construction, financed by Vladimir Putin’s buddies.
And there was the usual handful of Japanese, who I always take pleasure in shocking by asking them in their language who they are.
The verdant Alpine village suffered its hottest summer in history, with temperatures regularly topping 80 degrees. That's better than the 110 seen in London or the 115 in France.
The high mountain glaciers were melting at an unprecedented rate. The little creek outside my chalet rose some five feet to a raging torrent by the afternoon. Rivers in town came within a foot of breaching their banks. Indeed, there is talk that the ice holding the Matterhorn may melt, causing the majestic peak to crumble.
Making my rounds on the steep trails, I sadly learned that several of my favorite mountain restaurants did not make it through the pandemic and were shuttered. The bratwurst mit zwiebelsauce, weinerschnitzel mit pommes frites, and fine Valais chardonnays would have to wait.
The Swiss and cantonal governments provided the same sorts of stimulus we did here in the US. But with the borders sealed for two years, they couldn’t get the cheap foreign workers to make a go.
Indeed, it was a visit to the past for a lot of Swiss businesses, only catering to the much smaller market of their own countrymen.
I took off an afternoon to try something new. I hired a pilot and paraplane to jump off the Matterhorn base to glide 3,000 feet down to Zermatt, from 9,000 feet to 6,000 feet. The weather was ideal, the scenery spectacular, and our wing partially collapsed only once. My pilot skillfully steered clear of the many gondola cables and transmission towers along the way.
To watch the full unedited video please click here at https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/mhft-para-zermatt/
The wind died at the last minute so we had a crash landing. No broken bones this time.
Building Boom
There Will Always be a Switzerland
Didn’t Make it Through the Pandemic
There Will Always be a McDonald's
Gliding Off the Matterhorn
