The Travelling Life of Silvan Colani
August 2002 - Climbing around Zermatt
After an absence of two years I undertook a trip to Switzerland with the primary goal of climbing some of the 4000 m peaks around Zermatt, including the famous Matterhorn.
Apart from my climbing ambitions there are obviously plenty of family obligations to take care of whenever I'm back in Switzerland. I rented a fancy Audi TT and caught up with my mum, dad, my brother, my godson, plenty of good friends as well as with my mother and one uncle (see pictures below and please also check out the Cho Dai Dee Gallery for more on that).
But back to the climbing. This was my first trip to Zermatt (1620 m), a car-free Alpine utopia at the foot of the Matterhorn. Its famous 'house mountain' is truly awe-inspiring and no matter where you go, its beautiful pyramid shape dominates your view. But the Matterhorn (4478 m) is only one of 38 (!) mountains of over 4000 m height in the vicinity (all of Europe only has 76 4000ers!), making Zermatt a true mountaineers' Mecca.
My initial plan was to do a three day high tour which would have taken in eleven 4000 m peaks, followed by an ascent of the Matterhorn to crown it all off. However, as happens so often in the mountains, the weather disrupted my plans completely. In the days before my arrival it snowed heavily (very rare for August), rendering the Matterhorn unclimbable for the entire week and also ruling out the various traverses on my intended high tour. I thus settled for an alternative program of one-day or two-day climbs out of Zermatt.
To start things off I signed up for a trip to the Breithorn (4164 m), the easiest 4000er in the area. You take the outrageously expensive cable car (SFr. 77!) from Zermatt to the Klein Matterhorn (3820 m). From there it's a straightforward two-hour snow climb to the summit.
I remember the climb mostly for two things: the crowds and the wind. Since the recent snowfall had rendered most mountains unclimbable due to avalanche danger, the Breithorn was the only climbable objective that day - and as a result almost everybody climbed it. It was a continuous train of climbing parties heading up and down the mountain. Far from the solitude and remoteness most mountaineers crave!
As regards to the wind, there was a fierce north wind blowing which, despite the blue-sky weather, kept temperatures well below comfort level. On the ridge to the summit, we were fully exposed to these strong gusts and my fingers and nose turned numb within minutes. We reached the summit at 11:00 am but did not linger for long given the intensity of the wind, which had almost blown one member of our party off the top. The view was however stunning, with mountains stretching from as far as Mont Blanc to the Italian Alps.
The next day I decided on an attempt at Pollux, at 4092 m slightly shorter than the Breithorn but more technically demanding across rock and ice. Since the mountain stands right next to the Breithorn, the tour also starts off at the Klein Matterhorn cable car station (another SFr. 77 up and down!) From there it was a two-hour snow traverse to the foot of the mountain. The snow on the track was well packed thanks to previous parties. However, to the left and right it was at least thigh deep, meaning that very little snow had melted despite the continuously good weather.
The standard route up Pollux includes one tricky section of fixed ropes (actually chains) which must be ascended and descended by all parties and as a result can turn into a serious bottleneck. And of course, all the crowds that were on the Breithorn yesterday were on Pollux today! We were fortunate to overtake a number of large climbing parties on the way to the summit and were thus not held up ascending the fixed ropes. On the way down, however, the congestion became obvious with dozens of climbers trying to go up and down the chains at the same time. The risk of accidents in such tricky yet crowded sections is considerable. Tempers heated up and nerves stretched to the limit.
The summit view was again spectacular, but with the crowds building at the fixed ropes we only stayed for 15 minutes.
I now felt fit and ready to attempt something a bit more challenging and decided on a climb of the Dufourspitze, at 4634 m Switzerland's highest peak.
Note: Whether the Dufourspitze is Switzerland's highest mountain remains a subject of much debate. While the peak itself is clearly in Switzerland, the mountain stands partly in Italy (see map). Some people therefore consider the Dom (4545 m) the highest mountain in Switzerland, as it stands entirely in the country.
The Dufour is climbed from the Monte Rosa hut (2795 m), at the foot of the Monte Rosa massif overlooking the Gorner Glacier. The thing to do is to reach the hut the night before the climb for an early morning attempt at the peak. From the Rotenboden train station (2819 m) it is a two-hour hike to the hut. Although the altitude of the hut is slightly lower than the train station, the trip is rather tiring since the track first descends to the glacier, then crosses it and then climbs up again on the other side. We arrived at the hut at 6 pm, in time for dinner and to meet up with our guide.
Huts in Switzerland, it must be said, are very well organized (like everything in the country). You check in (the night with half board is SFr. 56), are assigned a bunk space (room 3, no. 42) and are assigned a table for dinner and breakfast with your guide and party. Dinner is at 6.30 pm, breakfast for early risers (i.e. those heading for the mountains) at 2 am and at 7 am for the late risers (i.e. hikers and those heading down).
The sun sets at around 8 pm when all the early risers head for their bunk in the hope of catching a few elusive hours of sleep. Which is of course impossible in a room of 30 people, all snoring at various intervals, occasionally interrupted by a French kid which complains variably about being too cold or too hot. You are rudely awaken from your half sleep at 1.45 am, get dressed, tuck into a hearty breakfast buffet, put your gear on and head into darkness for the hill. It was pitch black at 2.30 am, apart from the small beam of our headlamps.
From the hut to the Dufour it is only up, up, up. There is no downhill section and no flat part to speak of. The initial hour is over rocks until you reach a glacier, which leads all the way to the foot of the peak. We trudged through complete darkness for three hours and the going was very tough. Step after step, a limb and mind-numbing rhythm up steep snow fields that made me question the entire sport: why on earth do I put myself through such torture? Why climb mountains if I could sleep in a warm bed? But the answers revealed themselves with daybreak, as a spectacular mountain panorama started to unfold and the sky turned from black to pink to blue at the horizon. There is nothing more magical than a sunrise in the mountains.
At 5.30 am, three hours into our trip, we had reached an altitude of 3900 m. I couldn't believe my eyes: we had already covered 1100 meters in altitude! This gave me some desperately needed new energy - only 700 m to the summit! But the climb continued relentlessly. I was constantly out of breath and panting like a dying horse, the effects of high altitude probably compounding the stress of my physical efforts.
Eventually, we reached the saddle at 4300 m. "Only another 300 m," I though to myself as I tried to catch my breath. But of course, the last part is often the hardest. The summit ridge was steep and fairly exposed. I had to concentrate variably on my steps and on my breathing, the latter of which seemed way out of control, sucking in and coughing out air. But the motivation grows with height and I kept telling myself: "It can't be very far now." With the summit finally in sight there followed a few rock climbing sections, which robbed me of my last breath.
Shortly before 8 am, 5 ½ hours after having set out, we stood at 4634 m - the highest point in Switzerland and the highest mountain I have climbed to date. All the hard work was rewarded with a glorious mountain vista to the north/west and a mystical sea of clouds down in the south/east.
Climbing a peak is obviously only half the trip and the descent often robs you of your last energy. Since the ascent was only up, the descent would be all down - with heavy pressure on knees and leg muscles. Plenty of concentration was again required since we were mostly roped up and every slip could cause a tiring chain reaction.
Coming down the glacier I was totally amazed how much ground we had covered on the ascent. Climbing in the darkness meant no sense of distance and dimension and I could simply not believe that we had come up this far! It took us over four hours to return to the hut, making it a 10 hour round trip.
The worst part of the entire journey was of course the final leg from the hut back to the train station, which required us to climb back down and across the glacier and then up again the dusty moraine in the sweltering afternoon heat.
Having finally arrived back in Zermatt, I was nothing but a Dead Man Walking.
With the Matterhorn still covered in plenty of snow, the 'Horu' was now definitely off my list for this year. But I figure that the mountain will still be there in the future for another attempt.
I would at this point also like to highlight the excellent services of the Alpine Center in Zermatt, which does a fantastic job in arranging your climbing itineraries.
Zermatt as a whole is obviously fairly popular with tourists from anywhere in the world (and particularly the Japanese) and as a result is always very busy. But nothing takes the magic away from its most spectacular setting, which is unique in the world. On top of that, the locals are pretty down-to-earth and pretty good fun - if you happen to understand their peculiar dialect!
