My Matterhorn

Saturday. The sun rose on a clear blue sky. The Matterhorn stood pure: no clouds around the peak, no white trailers. This is the day to climb the Breithorn.
Gianni, the guide, was waiting for us at the bottom of the lift. We got to Klein Matterhorn by 9 AM, putting on our climbing harnesses on the aerial tramway. Roped together, dressed warmly, we headed across a snow-covered plain, with skiers and climbers like dots close and far. The horizon to the east and west was filled with white-topped mountains, Mount Blanc prominent in the direction of France.
The walking surface was wonderful. The powdery snow had softened and refrozen, so that we could walk without slipping. After a bit more than a kilometer we got to the foot of the Breithorn. The walk was getting steeper, and at about 30% slope we put on our crampons. There were several groups, mostly going up but some already descending. Gianni took us on a traverse to the east, so that we were by ourselves. The surface was still excellent: crampons were grabbing the surface, and Gianni kept telling us to walk in his steps. He adjusted his stride and speed to the slope: I was working hard, but was not stressed. After a while, we turned left and Gianni shortened the rope so that I was practically up against him and had to concentrate on my steps. It took me a while to realize that we were going along the Breithorn ridge, a thin cliff about 600 m long leading to the peak. I kept looking at my feet: the trail was covered with hard-packed powder, and seemed to be less than 50 cm wide with steep drops both ways. I can't tell whether I looked scared, but Gianni kept telling me to relax.
The peak is an oval hump, some 10 by 20 meters. There were three groups there, with more arriving and leaving. We took some pictures and headed down the 'easy' direction, the way all other groups were coming. After descending the steep part we removed the crampons and returned to Klein Matterhorn at about 11:30.
The Breithorn is the easiest crampon peak in the Alps. I had no trouble going up, but got some criticism from Gianni on the way down. I lost my balance a few times, and was not well coordinated. He told me that my muscles were not strong enough; not flattering, but something to work on.
Conditions were ideal: the sun was shining, the wind was moderate most of the time, it was below freezing so that the surface stayed firm. There were many more people while we were descending. It was an interesting mix: lone climbers, pairs, amateur groups, guided singles and multiples. There were some people on trail skis. Some individuals covered the whole way on crampons.
I don't quite know why we did the Breithorn ridge: it was not on the planned agenda, and we were the only group that did it. Maybe Gianni did it as a treat for us: we did avoid the crowds on ascent. Maybe he did it to promote mountain climbing for Frederic who is going to write an article about this for a Lausanne journal.
Today was the day of the Zermatt marathon, though I missed all of it. Renata saw some runners at Sünnega 400 m above the town. The town is more crowded and festive than a week ago. I guess the vacation season is picking up.

Friday. The departure was at 8 AM. The guide's name is Gianni. There was also Tony, a fiftyish investment banker from New York, who runs marathons to stay in shape, and a journalist from Lausanne who wants to write an article about alpine climbing completed the group. The plan was to take lifts to Klein Matterhorn and from there to go up the Breithorn, a 4164 m peak about a mile away. This is the easiest 4000m-er in the area. However, as we were going up the lifts, the weather turned bad; Gianni suggested that we postpone the climb till Saturday, and we agreed.
We spent some time talking at the restaurant at Trockener Steg (2800 m). Swiss guides go through a two-year training program, and less than half of the 79 that start qualify. Gianni told us that the most difficult part of his job is judgment: when to go and when to stop. Considering what I've seen, it would be sheer folly to climb in the glacier areas without a guide.
I decided spend some time on the mountain. Klein Matterhorn (3900 m) was in clouds, below freezing, in gusty winds. Walking on the level or downhill felt normal, but I had to slow down going uphill or walking up stairs. In the Trockener Steg area there are patches of snow on rock and on ice. The Gondegg Hotel is at 3000 m, a half hour walk from the ski lift. They have a fantastic view of a glacier from their balcony, and Breithorn along with Klein Matterhorn loom above while the ridge one ascends to climb the Matterhorn is seen in profile. Would it make sense to stay here to get acclimatized to altitude? The other guests on the balcony were a pair of Swiss Germans that were putting away a bottle of kirschwasser.

Wednesday: It was raining, so we went to Sierre.
The mother of the southern Alps is the Rhone river. It flows from East to West at an altitude of 500 m and has carved two mountain ranges over 3000 m high: the southern range, where Matterhorn lies, is dark, split with north-leading tributaries of the Rhone. The northern range has slopes facing south, and near the river they are covered with postage stamp vineyards. Sierre, a town on the northern bank, is the center of Valois viniculture. The wine center in Sierre has 500 kinds of wine made by local vineyards. Few of them are shipped elsewhere, and many are fine and have a character of their own. There is a vineyard walk just North of town.
On coming back to Zermatt, I went to the Alpine Center and tentatively booked a climb of the Breithorn on Friday.
Thursday: Zermatt has one of the oldest cog railways, the Gronegratbahn starting in town and rising to 3100m. I explored trails leading in the same direction. One part led along the Groneschlucht, a remarkable gorge 10 feet wide and 50 feet deep. The trail led up to Riffelalp, a development with a luxury hotel and two churches. Above the tree line the trail leads to the Riffelberg stop on the cog railway. On the way down to town one passes the Mark Twain trail.
I stopped at the Alpine Center: the trip up the Rothorn is on for Friday!
There's more snow on the mountains. The skiers are happy, but many favorite rock climbing venues are not viable. Looks like the Matterhorn climb will not be open next week.

Tuesday, quite a day.
It was raining Monday morning, but the Alpine Center called me in the afternoon: Weather is good for Tuesday, the Pollux climb is on! I met my fellow trippers before 7AM at the lift terminal: Helmuth the guide, Miles from London and Toni from Austria. The lift area was chockfull of skiers: European national teams, groups of kids from ski clubs, young and old die-hards. Zermatt is the only place to ski in Europe during the summer.
The proposed excursion would go from Klein Matterhorn, across several glaciers, and terminate with a 300 m climb up Pollux, which is a peak on a ridge that stretches east from the Matterhorn and includes Castor (the other twin peak), the Klein Matterhorn (the top of a gondola) and many other famous mountains. This ridge defines the border between Switzerland and Italy, so that the peaks have multiple names: Cervino is Italian for Matterhorn. Our route, on the South of the ridge was, in fact, in Italy!
We started at about 3750 m. This is a world of rocks, ice, and snow, but the sky was blue, the temperature was -10 °C, the wind was moderate, and spirits were high. The way to Pollux is about 4 km and we covered it in two hours. It snowed at this altitude and the surface was covered with up to two feet of fresh powder snow, so that walking required some effort. It did not take long to find out that I was the slowest member of the group. We started ascending Pollux around 10 AM and the way up was quite difficult: 45° grade with fresh powder snow. After ascending to about 3900 m I was ready to stop and let the group go on without me, but a cloud cover started developing. So, our guide Helmuth made some calls and recommended that we head back as soon as possible. The way down the snowy ridge requires a crampon technique that I have not quite mastered, and my thigh muscles started cramping up. We proceeded a maximal clip along the hill-and-valley of the glacier. As a reality check, we crossed a glacier crack that was not visible on the way out. Things got cloudier, snow-hail started to come down, and we entered a white-out. Helmuth was using GPS for navigation, thank goodness. All this was tiring but fun until the wind picked up driving the hail horizontally. For the last 100 m before reaching the gondola building the wind was so strong that I could not walk upright. If it were not for Helmuth's help, I would have had to crawl. It turns out that they clocked 190 km per hour gusts (only 120 mph, thank goodness).
The weather on the north (Zermatt) side of the ridge was moderate. By the time we got down to town there was no trace of the storm. The team stopped at a bar for beers. It turns out that Toni from Austria is heading to Kenya to climb Mr. Kilimanjaro, and Miles is between jobs as a lawyer and taking a couple of months mountain climbing. Helmuth is a treasure of information about local and general mountaineering. I did not have the courage to ask him if I was ready to attempt the Matterhorn, but he volunteered that the mountain is still to snowy and they don't expect to start guiding groups there until next week, when we will be back in Philadelphia.
It was fun! Too bad about the Matterhorn climb this year. For all who care: I assert, from my own observation, that the weather in Italy is snowy!

Sunday. The plan is to rest for the qualifying hike on Monday. Went up to Sünegga, again: it took 1 hour an 15 minutes. I'm getting better! Went down a very scenic way, through larch forests.
The day started nice and clear, though it started clouding up at noon and rain arrived at 4 PM. The young man at the Alpine Center told me that rain is forecast for Monday, so that the climb to Pollux is rescheduled for Tuesday.

Saturday. The plan was to take the undrground cable car to Sünegga, and to climb Rothorn from there. Much of the day was taken with chores, and I got to the top of Sünegga at 2:45PM. The last cable car descends from Sünegga at 6 PM, so that I did not quite make it to the Rothorn - I turned around at about 3000 m.
There is a gondola between Sünegga and Blauherd (2571 m), and an aerial tramway from there to Unterrothorn (3103 m). The areas above Sünnega are all meadows, with mosly wildflowers, though the way above Blauherd is so steep that you don't look further than a few feet ahead of you.

Friday. Stephan, an Austrian graduate student I met in Philadelphia, arrived for a day trip. We decided to visit Schwarzsee (2552 m). The Schwarzsee is a small artificial lake near the head of a ski-lift.
For the easy ascent of the Matterhorn you take the lift to Schwartzsee, then climb to Hornli hut (3260 m). The final ascent starts at 2 AM with the peak at 4477 m as the goal!
Stephan, a hiking companion from Germany and I went on from Schwarzsee along the Hörnli hut trail to a branch (2931 m) that led to Stafelalp (see Tuesday). Our total ascent was more than the way from Hörnli hut to the peak, and we did it in about 3 hours, though the way is much less steep and at lower altitude. The weather was top-noch! At times, the Matterhorn was clear of clouds.
Renata's sister Charita arrived today, after flights from Toronto to Prague, then to Zürich, and a train ride from there to Zermatt. Sounds much tougher than climbing the Matterhorn...

Thursday: This is the day to ascend Sünegga (2258 m), which is at the top of an underground cable car ski lift. On the trail there is a sign inviting you to time yourself as a trial for ascending the Matterhorn! Of course, I did it. Very discouraging. The 'qualifying' time was 25 minutes, and it took me 40 minutes. Can I improve 37 % in one week? The trail went through the forest, up the fall line, quite steep — a scramble.
The climb to Sünegga consists of a network of trails, most of it through a larch forest. Near the top are open meadows. One has a marmot exhibit, on other meadows graze the Zermatt black-and-white goats. Had to rush to town because Renata arrived earlier than expected.

Wednesday. I sucessfully navigated the Triftbach trail! It's much steeper than the Zmuttbach valley: go through a number of cutbacks in the woods, and emerge at the Edelweiss restaurant at 1964 m. From there, a steep trail along the narrow Triftbach valley, ending at Trift, a shoulder on the same stream, which is surrounded by tall mountains on three sides with glaciers lurking to the West and Hotel du Trift at the trailhead. It started to snow so I stopped for a warm vegetable soup and hot chocolate. The dining room had a friendly host and a warm atmosphere.
Today's travel was much shorter, since I had not yet bounced back from the first day.

Tuesday. Beautiful weather for the first conditioning hike. There are about five "brooks" converging on Zermatt, and I meant to go along the Triftbach to the west of town. Turns out that I went along the Zmuttbach to the southwest. I meant to ascend 600 m (Zermat is at 1600 m), but went to 2472 instead. Had lunch at the Stiffelalp Hotel - what a view of the Matterhorn! The walk lasted about 6 hours, including lunch.

Monday. Finally, at Zermantt, the Matterhorn village! The weather is partially cloudy, but the Matterhorn is visible from the apartment balcony.
I can't quite recall the instant when I decided to attempt to climb this mountain, but a key moment was a year ago when Renata and I came to Zermatt for a day. It was raining and the cloud cover was quite low, but the hillsides were beautiful, and the Alpine Center (www.alpincenter-zermatt.ch) had flyers that provided a plan: go on a qualifying climb, then the guide decides whether to let you attempt the Matterhorn.
After leaving my baggage at the apartment (rental arranged through Mario Fuchs at the local Re-Max office), I went to the Alpine Center to 'register'. The guide at the desk told me to that the Matterhorn is too snowy for ascent, and suggested that we plan the main ascent on Friday, July 6. We scheduled to climb Pollux on Monday, July 2nd to test. The flyer says "The climb over rock and ice demands your full attention." It is to last 6 hours, and the guide fee is CHF 302 (Swiss Francs).