Scroll Down For Full Story Its all about Pizza, Beer & Ski Movies! That’s what People Want when they’re at a ski resort thought Roger, the Matterhorn’s owner in the summer of 1988 while skiing the glaciers of Zermatt Switzerland and comtemplating someday returning to climb the famous peak of the same name. This Ureka Moment came to him as he stumbled across the North Wall Bar in Zermatt, Switzerland where cool people from all over the world drank big steins of brew, ate pizza and watched Greg Stump and Warren Miller films on a big screen. Zermatt is a mountain climbing and skiing mecca with hundreds of dangerous climbs, out of bounds powder chutes and …saving the best for last, Apres-Ski Haunts! So Roger finishes school, moves to Sunday River with his partner Patrice and opens the original Matterhorn Wood-Fired Pizza in downtown Bethel. It wasn’t that easy.. actually they needed money first, so they went to about ten banks and asked for a big loan (a Million Bucks). To do this right, the fearless founders wanted to build an authentic Swiss Chalet in a Pine Forest. The Bankers all laughed and said so “How many restaurants and bars have you managed or owned before? Well None, but we got a Great Idea!”, Roger and Patrice said! Finally, a Sunday River skiing Banker said “Yes, that is a Great Idea and Sunday River needs a place like that, but I still Ain’t Gonna Give You a Million Dollars.” If you scale this thing way way back, I might give you a little loan (about $900,000 less than a Million Bucks). So that’s how they ended up in a tiny little space in Bethel, that was about 4 failed restaurants before the Matterhorn got there.. Let’s just say the place needed a solid concept and some major renovations to get it ready. On December 5, 1995, the Matterhorn opened its doors to skiers and became an instant Sunday River Hit featuring their soon to be famous authentic Brick Oven “Wood-Fired” Pizza and Pastas, Big Beers and Little Beers and great homemade desserts. It snowed a lot that winter and there were lines out the door. That summer, Roger and Patrice traveled to Naples Italy, where pizza was invented in 1889 hoping to learn a few things… Turns out they spent the afternoon at Naples oldest pizzeria actually making pizza with the Italian Pizza Masters.. In Italy, Pizza Making is considered an art form and the secrets they learned are applied to the pizzas the Matterhorn creates today…. Nobody else can say that! Two years later after proving to the bankers that they could in fact run a restaurant, Roger and Patrice bought 16 beautiful acres at the base of Sunday River and opened their second restaurant “The Great Grizzly Bar & Steakhouse”. When the lease was up on the original Matterhorn downtown, they built a second floor and a new Brick Oven at the Grizzly and moved the place to where the action is…. Location, Location, …. Roger climbed the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland that same year fulfilling a 10 year dream and making the namesake bar and restaurant most appropriate. What you see today folks is 13 years of hard work and creativity expanding upon the Pizza, Beer & Ski Movie thing with sizzling steaks, a huge Mug Club, Glacier Bowls and Live Rock Bands. Roger and Patrice hope you enjoy the place as much as they enjoyed creating it. After all, when you’re at a ski resort, you want to feel like you’re at a ski resort. Have a good time in a great ski place!