Acclimatized from my climb of Mt Rainier, I hooked up with Jamie and headed directly to Zermatt for our attempt on the Matterhorn. For this trip we invited Vern Tejas to join us for the climb. Vern had been to the Alps once before, but had opted to climb Mont Blanc instead because the Matterhorn wasn't in condition at that time.

 

Again I chose to go on a guided climb with Alpine Ascents. This time our guide was Perren "Beni" Benedict. Beni is a 4th generation Swiss guide, and is a very accomplished European guide in his own right. He is UIAGM certified and has guided the Matterhorn more than 100 times. He has also climbed all 4000 meter peaks in the Alps.

Unlike the "slogs" I was used to on Elbrus and Rainier, we embarked on a 2-week "Matterhorn program" designed to get us fit, acclimatized and familiar with the kind of alpine-style mixed climbing we were going to encounter on the Matterhorn. With the ski lift and hut infrastructure that is in place in the Alps, we were able to do some peak bagging throughout the Valais. Our summits included Riffelhorn (rock), Castor (snow) and Pollux (ice).

On our planned day to climb the Matterhorn, we had excellent conditions. We tried to get some sleep in the Hörnli hut the night before, then headed for the summit in the dark at about 4:30 a.m. We started up the Hörnli Ridge (AD-) on rock, then hit some ice, before we finished on snow near the summit. After a brief celebration with Jamie, we repelled down the steep sections and down climbed the rest of the way. After the climb, we still had a couple of extra days left , so we spent the time climbing, bouldering and exploring Zermatt until it was time to go.

From my experience, the ability to climb during day, stay in nice hotels and eat wonderful meals in the evenings and then climb all the next day makes the Alps a truly unique and exciting place to climb. Something tells me I will need to return every few years to get another Alps "fix".

  See the pictures of this trip

  See recommended reading for this trip

  See a gear list for this trip