“I have never seen such clear sky”
Mountaineering in the Himalayas, I think I just do not realise enough I am going there. Since I do not have a lot of experience in Alpine style climbing, I decided to get some training. The first plan was doing Mont Blanc, no too far away and only 4810m. Straight forward climbing with only use of crampons on summit day. Succes not garanteed, but a rather modest introduction to winter mountaineering. It is an icon and the highest mountain of Western-Europe (I did not say Europe!), so it would be good to have on your palmaras. But I was a bit worried that it would not give me enough satisfaction. I dropped the Monarch of the Alps plan.
After Everest, the Matterhorn must be one of the world’s most famous mountains. It towers above the Swiss town of Zermat and basically, there is no easy route to the summit. A lot of technical parts, grade UK Severe and minimum Grade II ice experience required or you are not even starting this expedition. And it reminds me a lot of the Ama Dablam, my absolute favorite mountain. Although she is only 4478m high, it will be quite an undertaking. I made up my mind and realised that a technical difficult but rather lower mountain, would give me more satisfaction than a straight forward trekking peak that is 400m higher. Check. So, Matterhorn it is.
It will be a 7 day expedition in the heart of the Swiss Alps with preparation in France. After 2 days of acclimatisation in Chamonix we’ll be doing a classic long Alpine multi-pitch route to test and refresh our rope knowledge. This will either be the Chapelle de la Glière or Aiguille de l’M.
Day 4 & 5 will be more technical on the Aiguilles D’Entrèves. After that, more rock climbing and glacier travel on The South Ridge of the Moine. Excellent.
Day 6 we’ll be travelling to Zermat, and scramble up to the The Hornli Hut. A short night sleep cause we’ll need to get up at 3:30 am to start the ascent of the Matterhorn via the Northeast route. I’ll make sure I’ll get my tea ready.
I will not have a GPS device on me like on Kili, but I’ll be sending regular Twitter updates where possible.
Although the moderate altitude, I will not underestimate this mountain and always remember:
- It’s always further than it looks,
- it’s always taller than it looks,
- it’s always harder than it looks.
I just gotta get home.
