The Matterhorn

Having visited the guides office for a look at the forecast in the morning we found that the outlook was good for the next few days, and so we decided that it was time to put our fitness to the test and to attempt the Matterhorn. At the start of the holiday I had been a little uncertain as to whether I would be happy to attempt the mountain, however after the "training" over the last couple of week and a half I was happy that we had as good a chance as we were ever going to. Al, naturally, was as enthusiastic as ever. We left our appartment at just after 10:00 a.m. and there was a slight delay whilst I returned to collect my lunch, which I had left on my bed - my birthday gift from Al which was a t-shirt stating "I hate mornings" seemed as appropriate as ever! We got on the gondola to Furi, and then on to Schwarzsee, from where there are excellent views to the Hornli ridge of the Matterhorn which we planned to ascend the next day.

Al's original idea was to go around the base of the Matterhorn on the first day, to reach the Italian Ridge and then climb this route, descending the Hornli Ridge, but because of my level of fitness we decided that this would not be an appropriate chose, and we had more chance of success on the Hornli ridge.

We moved on from Schwarzsee at 11:00 a.m. with packs full of bivi gear for our night at the foot of the ridge. As usual the packs were heavy, but at the pace Al started off at you would never have known! I quickly fell behind him and simply took my time as I walked up to the Hornli Hut. The route initially passes above Schwarzsee, where the is a small chapel next to the lake, and from here it zig-zags up some steep ground before levelling off a little. Looking back from the zig-zags there are good views towards the Breithorn chain, where we had been for two of our previous days. The path had been well engineered, and as it passed round above the moriane of the Furgggletscher there were metal steps and walkways. From these there are excellent views of the Matterhorn ahead, and to the left you can see a photo taken from one of the walkways in 1993, when my parents brought me on my first holiday to Zermatt.

The route continued up to the right on to a ridge from where I could look across to Schonbiel where we had been for our first day out. Eventually the path steepened again as it rose up towards the rocks on which the Hornli Hut stands. Once again it was a very hot day, and by the time I reached the hut I was ready for lunch.

I reached the hut at 1:30 p.m. which is 30 minutes longer than the normal time to make the ascent, however I put that down to the heavy bag and the heat. I met Al and stopped for lunch and a coke, only to find that Al had already had his, thinking that I had stopped for mine on the way up - had I really been that long?!

After lunch we walked to the bottom of the ridge to see if we could pick out the line which we were to follow the next morning. Having done this we descended to the spot below the Hornli Hut which is signed "camping". We managed to find an area which was fairly well built up already, and spent a little time improving our shelter for the night before lying down in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. As the sun sank behind the Matterhorn at around 5:30 p.m. the temperature dropped significantly, and we had to put some clothes back on for our evening meal. As we ate I commented to Al that it was Swiss National Day, and that we might be able to see some fireworks later in the evening. His response was that I had to be out of bed early, and that I should concentrate on sleeping not fireworks!

We went to bed at 8:00 p.m. with plans to set off at 4:00 a.m. the next day and to follow the guided parties leaving the hut up the first section of the ridge. As we lay in our sleeping bags we heard the loud rumbing of a large rock fall on the mountain. Only a couple of weeks previously a large section of the Hornli Ridge had fallen down due to the heat. On that occaion over 70 people had been air-lifted off the mountain from above the rock fall. We hoped nothing like that was going to happen again. As 10:00 p.m. passed the National Day celebrations started at the hut with a few fireworks. A group we met the next day infomed us that they did not get much sleep, and it was time to get up shortly after they made it to sleep!

The next morning Al looked out of his sleeping bag, searching for the first sign of head-torches on the ridge, which would signify that guided parties were climbing. He was unable to see any, and so he disturbed me at 4:00 a.m. and we breakfasted. By the time we were ready to leave it was 4:45 a.m. We made our way to the Hornli Hut, where we roped up in the light from the windows, and then made our way to the foot of the ridge.

We found there were already a number of other groups on the ridge (my Mum has since been told by a Zermatt holiday rep. that non-guided parties are not allowed to leave the hut before guided parties) and we started off at a reasonable pace. As we climbed we could see why the guidebook recommends carrying out a reconitoire the afternoon before the ascent. The route is never on particularly good rock, and at the start it goes to the left of the ridge. The main route-finding difficulties involved deciding where to head up to the ridge itself, but with several other groups on the mountain and the light starting to arrive this was made easier.

As we climbed the dawn arrived. Shortly after the sun came up, and it started to warm up as we moved onwards. We were making good progress, and were overtaken by very few groups. We found that we were moving at a similar pace to another couple of English lads who were from the Sheffield area. It was their first time on the Matterhorn too. As we climbed the Moseley Slab just below the Solvay hut Al let this group borrow a sling for protection, and so we waited for them to catch us up at the Solvay Hut.

We waited for 20 mins at the hut, and when the lads arrived they stated that they were not fit enough for the climb and would turn back. It was 8:00 a.m. (just over 3 hours since we had set off), and with a guidebook time of 3-4 hours we felt we were doing well, and were hopeful of success. We continued on to the Upper Moseley Slab still moving well together. The rock was quite loose in places, and as in several places on the climb there were shouts of "stein". We caught up with a group of 4 who were climbing slower than us fairly soon after leaving the hut. Al asked politely if he could pass them, however the response was in the negative, and we were unable to overtake such a large group who did not want us to pass on such ground.

As we went higher I was starting to feel a little cold, especially with the reduced speed and put on my coat and gloves. As we carried on we were finding that the guided parties were on their way down, having been to the top of the mountain. At 10:00 a.m. it was clear that we would need to spend another night sleeping out at the foot of the mountain, since we would not be back to Schwarzsee in time for the last cable car down.

We reached the fixed ropes and the snow/ice line. We were slowed down further by the number of parties descending. I have not been as nervous as watching a guided man move towards me with his crampons slipping all over the place - Al had a close encounter involving his leg another climber's crampons! We were at the last fixed rope and I was getting colder and more tired all the time. We asked someone coming down how far from the top we were. His reply was under half an hour, and it was 11:00 a.m. We decided to continue until 11:30 a.m. or noon. At 11:30 a.m. we asked the same question again. This time we were told that it would have been 20 minutes if we had the mountain to ourselves, however with the number of people and the speed the queue was moving it would take over an hour.

We decided that the sensible option was to turn around. It was disappointing as we were so close, however we felt it was the only sensible decision to make. We were a little disgruntled with the large group ahead who had not let us pass, as we felt sure that had we continued at our previous pace we would have made it to the summit. We turned around at 11:30 a.m.

As is usual on descent I went down first with Al following. When we came to some more difficult sections we abseiled, using the fixed rings as anchors. We passed the snow line again and crossed an exposed section of the ridge, where I used a few choice words! I am by nature cautious when down-climbing, and as we continued down we were caught up by a German group who had been to the summit.

As the German group of 6 approached us I heard a shout of "achtung!". When I looked round I saw a rock bouncing off Al's left leg. It was only several days later that Al explained how lucky we were at that time. If the rock had hit his other leg then he would have been knocked off balance and we would most likely have both been killed in the resulting fall. At our next abseil the Germans asked if we wanted to join them to speed up the abseiling. We agreed and made good progress for a couple of rope lengths.

It was on one of the abseils that my foot slipped on the rock, and because of the angle of the rope I was swung in to a rock face which I hit with quite a force. At this time Al was a fair way below and didn't see any of this incident. I carried on abseiling, and only found when I had untied that I was unable to put my full weight on the left leg at any sort of angle other than straight - this was discovered when I tried crossing the next slab and came close to falling off it (It turned out that I had sprained / pulled a muscle in the upper part of the leg, and although it would be possible to walk down the high street, climbing down the Matterhorn would be a completely different prospect) I tied myself on using a sling and waited for the two Germans behind to catch up.

By the time the Germans had caught up I had managed to control my breathing again and was able to explain in basic German that I had hurt my leg and did not feel that I could carry on un-roped. The older of the two sent his companion down the rope, then tied me on and I descended in a controlled manner using the rope. This rather slow process continued for several rope lengths. Whilst we were descending the second German went on to explain to Al what had happened. Unfortunately Al's German is non-existent, and the message given to him was that I had had a problem with the rope. He thought I must have got the rope stuck, and there would be nothing he could do, so he carried on down.

The older German very kindly carried on assisting me down to near the Solvay Hut, where we met up with another of his companions for the traverse which lies just below the Upper Mosley Slab. Again the process was very slow, and was not helped by my knowledge of technical German not being good (I can speak coversational German, but this does not extend to climbing). We reached the hut just after 5:00 p.m. - it had taken us over 5 hours to descend what was a third of the way to the Hornli Hut from where we had turned back.

At the Solvay Hut I had a discussion with the Germans. They explained that at our current rate we would not reach the Hornli Hut until after midnight, and that they did not (quite understandably) wish to be that slow. They suggested calling a helicopter. At first I was reluctant to do this, preferring the idea of a night in the hut and seeing how I felt in the morining, however they rightly didn't consider this to be sensible. I went to the rail by the hut and shouted down to Al to come back up. I thanked the Germans for their help, and when Al arrived explained what we had decided. We sat in the Solvay Hut waiting for the helicopter which arrived just before 6:00 p.m. I was winched up first, then the helicopter circled round and winched up Al. Al later stated that the creaking of the winch cable made him quite nervous! We stopped off at the Hornli Hut, where Al got our bivi gear, before we were transported back to Zermatt.

I feel that it is only right to put in a few final words relating to our adventures on the Matterhorn. The first is to thank the German group again. The Matterhorn is a loose mountain, and is always prone to rock fall - the rock hitting Al was simply an accident. This group were a great help during the descent after my slipping. Also thanks are due to the Zermatt Guides and Air Zermatt who are responsible for rescue and air rescue in Zermatt respectively. They were understanding and efficient. It is worth mentioning that rescue is not free in Europe as it is in the UK, and insurance is essential as rescue fees are high. In Zermatt itself you can buy an "Air Zermatt Rescue Card" which covers all helicopter fees if your insurance doesn't cover them.

I was fortunate that my injury was not too serious. I was able to walk back to our appartment in the evening, but as I said above walking down the street is slightly different to descending the Matterhorn! The rest of the holiday was very gentle. I had four days rest which I call "tourist days" visiting attractions such as the Ice Cavern at the Klein Matterhorn (photo above) and the Gornergrat using the train. On the last day of the holiday I was able to have a gentle walk with Al (who had been doing some more strenuous walks whilst I was resting). This gentle walk is covered in the walks section.