Your “mandatory” Matterhorn climb

OK, of course, it’s not mandatory. But one thing’s for sure. If you’ve gotten your hands dirty with [TAG-TEC] mountaineering [/TAG-TEC] and were under the impression that “OK, I want this stuff,” then sooner or later you’ll want to nail one of the most emblematic peaks on the Planet: the big, bad [TAG-TEC]Matterhorn.[/TAG-TEC] Am I right?

Seriously. No matter if you’re a young titan or a 40-ish dude with a small beer-belly who started climbing a bit too late, you probably want this mountain – or have it already – on your list. (Or you ,may have scaled it already.)

Pretty high up on the Hörligrat

If you’re a Brit or a Euro, don’t think you’re the only one crazy about this peak. Check out the “toplist” on the most visited climbing social site on the web, summitpost.org. Here you’ll see that on the list of “most searched for mountains”, the [TAG-SELF]Matterhorn[/TAG-SELF] comes in at no. 2 outside the American contintent (the most popular is Mt. Blanc). And it’s the sixth most popular peak all-in-all on Summitpost.

Thus ariseth the question: what do you need to climb the Matterhorn?

OK, you probably can’t give an answer to this question. There’s just too many parameters involved. You can’t have a checklist by which you could tell your “readiness” for the mountain – like if you cross off 10 out of 12 items, you could say you’re ‘ready’. Not in this sport, my friend! Things are a bit more complicated than that.

But what I can do is give you a few pointers on what how to get yourself ready for this hill.

Climbing the Matterhorn: Route Selection

First off, you definitely have to decide on which route to go for. There are over 25 variations up Matterhorn, out of which Hörnligrat is the most popular on the Swiss side. And probably the easiest, for that matter and is thus the route which most guides choose. Here are some of the popular routes up Matterhorn (credit to summitpost.org):

1. Hörnligrat: the normal route on the Swiss side. Difficulty: AD-, sometimes III-, IV+ rock
2. Liongrat: cool stuff, the Italian normal route. A whole lot less crowded but a bit more difficult. What you get: AD, grade III rock.
3. Zmuttgrat: A classic route without fixed ropes (the above two routes have some fixed ropes). Here, you”re looking at D difficulty stuff, grade IV- rock and 50 degree firn terrain.
4. Furggengrat: The most difficult of the ridges. Difficulty: D+/TD, helyenként V+, with some grade VI sections thrown in for you.
5. Da North Wall: a true classic in the Alps. Difficulty: TD nehézség with steep ice and grade IV-V rock.

Picture: above the lift, under Hörli hut. Zsolt, our friend and fellow mountain guide showing off his communist-era ice axe. (He took this thing on Everest and all his other 8000ers!)

Since the crowds are on Hörligrat, this route tends to be more dangerous in high-season.

At this point, it would be nice to give a brief historical overview of the climbing of Matterhorn, but so many others have done so before me, that I’ll just refer to a good summary I found on Wikipedia. So, now let us turn our attention to what you have to consider before hitting this 4478 meter hill.

• Experience: here’s a frequent question that we mountain guides get:

Dudes, is it really such a bad ass mountain? Do I really need a guide?

• Well, honestly, if this question crosses your mind, then the answer is a firm YES. And you probably shouldn’t attempt it on your own at this point.

Those, who climb Matterhorn without a guide will have scaled some of the other notorious peaks – unguided. Stuff like Breithorn, Pollux, Castor, Dom and some of the more technical routes on these.

If you don’t know what a grade V or VI- stands for, then again, please, consider a guide. Have a go on Castor or Pollux before you put the cash down for Matterhorn. Most guides will require you try one of these mountains with them anyway.

Now, on to some specific stuff…

• Equipment: When going in the summer, be ready for temperatures down to -10 Celsius, or around 14-15 degrees Fahrenheit. Afternoon snowstorms, thunderstorms are a regularity on this mountain. That is one of the reasons you need to be real fast – but we’ll get to the issue of climbing speed later. So, you won’t need extremely warm feather jackets – but a good rainjacket with fleece sweaters.

Since you’ll be likely to deal a lot with crampons, I would have strong mountaineering boots, rather than trekking boots. They just go better with crampons and they climb better due to stiffer soles and sharper edges.

You’ll find fixed ropes in a lot of the places, which will free you of some ropework, but if you go unguided, you’ll need cams just in case.

• Stamina: on this mountain, speed is everything, man. Guides will turn you back at 8 am if they decide, you are too slow. How do you know, whether or not you’re fit enough? Well, there are places like routes like the Stüdlgrat on the Grossglockner (the highest peak in Austria at 3797 meters) where if you go from the refuge to the cross on the peak in 5-5.5 hours, it’s a good indication that you have “something to look forward to”. This isn’t, of course, a sound indicator, just a pointer.

• When should you climb? If you are inexperienced with tough winter climbing – if you are climbing Matterhorn with a Guide – then summer is the time to go; main season. That means: end of June to mid-September.  Yep, that’s when you have the biggest crowds and rock fall is a considerable risk on the Hörli route. Avalanches should be considered also, especially if you go in the off season. Avalanche risk, of course, depends a great deal on the conditions of the given day, but you should know that avalanches on the Matterhorn are responsible for several deaths.

• How much time should you spend on this trip? The climb itself, from Zermatt to Zermatt can be done in two days, with just one night spent at the Hörlihütte. You will, however, need to acclimatize before your climb – remember, this is a tall mountain.

It’s a good idea to give yourself some time in Zermatt – like a week and a half to two weeks. After all, you probably don’t have a chance to make an outing to the Swiss Alps any weekend you want to. So, it’s worth paying a visit on top of the many 4000 meter peaks in the area: Pollux, Castor, Dom, Jungrau and so on… You’ll need to acclimatize on one of them anyway and it’s a good idea to get into things fitness- and skill-wise on several other peaks. Then, when the weather and your mojo are up for it, attack the Matterhorn from Zermatt in two or three days.

When you’re done and you still have a couple of days until you’re flown home, you can always go for the more technical climbs in the region. You may want to try a more difficult route up the Matterhorn or have a look at Dufourspitze a few valleys away.

So, is the Matterhorn climb on your to-do list? How much time do you need to prepare? Or are you put off by the hype and the crowds? I’d love to hear from you.