Every Matterhorn climb is memorable, although some are more memorable than others!

After having climbed Mont Blanc earlier in the month, Jamie was back for more, this time an ascent of the most iconic of alpine mountains, the Matterhorn. Conditions have been on and off over the past couple of weeks, and we’d had a lot of snow recently, and so many people were assuming the Matterhorn would be unclimbable for a while to come after the heavy snowfall had coated the mountain.

By the time Jamie’s trip had come around, the mountain was getting climbed again by guides and reports were pretty favourable. Crampons would be required for a larger part of the mountain than normal, but the snow didn’t seem to be hindering progress. We had a three-day trip planned and a few options regarding an itinerary. In the end a few factors pointed us at an unusual programme, albeit one that I have used twice before.

We started off early in Chamonix and climbed the Cosmiques arete from the Aiguille du Midi to get some final training done, namely climbing rock whilst wearing crampons. Then we drove to Zermatt in time for the last lift up the mountain, where we stayed at the Schwarzsee hotel.

A 4am alarm had us up and walking towards the Hornli hut, looking up at the headlights climbing the Matterhorn above. We arrived at the hut as daylight broke, dropping some gear and getting ready for the climb. And a few minutes later we were off again, climbing the ridge alone, with the groups well ahead of us.

After about an hour and a half we arrived at the site of the old Solvay hut where we donned & checked crampons for the snow ahead and carried on upwards right on schedule. As we left the snow behind for a few meters of steeper rock, our progress came to an abrupt halt with what forever will be known as “crampon-gate”. In slow motion, Jamie’s crampon twisted from his boot, fell right off and landed in the snow below before tantalisingly bouncing end over end down the snow slopes. Out of sight and well out of reach.

A few moments of silence followed, then Jamie asked the questions: “what now, Ben”. Well, we certainly couldn’t go any further up. But we could safely get down across the snow we had just climbed via some careful rope work. So down we went back to the rock section where we sat down, ate some food and took in the view.

We still had plenty of time, and the weather forecast was stellar. It also felt like we had done an awful lot of climbing that day already and if we could avoid a descent followed by another climb tomorrow…. that was very appealing. So we sat tight for perhaps another half an hour, and then came the first groups of fast guides descending the mountain (by then having a pretty massive head start on us). A brief guide to guide appeal, and he took his crampons straight off and handed them over. What an absolute legend.

Maybe the snow would be getting a bit soft for us, but we would go take a look. Back up to the Solvay hut, then up around the corner, and it seemed fine. We were going at a good pace, and it looked like we were catching people who had set off from the hut this morning. We kept going and climbed past some teams on the fixed ropes before reaching the summit at mid-day.

After a quick set of photos, we turned tail, it was time for the long descent back to the Hornli hut. Again, passing various groups of guided teams and “amateurs”, passing on some directions and helping with abseils. Hopefully returning a smidgen of karma after crampon-gate.

We were back at the hut a couple of hours before dinner, feeling very pleased with ourselves and grateful for the lie in the following morning, where all we would have to do is eat our fair share of Swiss muesli and head back to Chamonix.

As a little technical postscript, we think Jamie’s crampon wasn’t properly seated at the toe end and had a large gap between boot and crampon. Despite us carefully checking the heel clip of the crampons and straps, we had missed the error. Hard to see from above, I guess. No harm done this time, thankfully.

The very final summit snow slopes of the Matterhorn and the Hornli ridge. Steep snow but a nice track and grippy snow this time around. Sometimes this section gets icy, although on the initial section there are a few metal posts for belays.

First time I’ve been to the summit of the Matterhorn only wearing a base layer, and Jamie in a cotton t-shirt!

After our climb on the Matterhorn and having just unroped. Nice to be back on level ground again!