Climbing the Matterhorn // Top of the Swiss Alps Unguided

The Matterhorn is the premier peak of the Swiss Alps and one of the most recognizable mountains in the world. I have known of it for most of my life but never thought that I would be able to climb it any time soon. After thorough research and a bit of childish self confidence pumping me up from Colorado 14ers, I set my sights on the Matterhorn as a certain short-term objective and bought tickets as soon as I had the chance to plan a trip. Joining me would me a long time friend and adventure partner Jacob.
Flying out to Switzerland the last week of July, confidence was at a low with fresh snow dumping on the mountain the day before my arrival. Upon showing up to Zermatt, the view of the mountain was obscured by thick clouds for the first day and a half. The bottom portion of the mountain showed fresh snow which was not promising. We kept our hopes up knowing that the weather forecast was set to clear up for the next few days leading up to our planned summit attempt.
Tuesday was the Riffelhorn, Wednesday the Breithorn, setting us up to hike up to the Hornlihutte Thursday. Once we made it to the hut and scouted the first bit of the route on Thursday our confidence returned seeing that the scrambling was easy and the snow was light. There were also many climbers successfully submitting that Thursday with many more staying at the hut that night preparing to climb the next morning. We also made a new friend with a German who we ended up climbing with the next day.
Up at 3:50am, we gathered our gear while scarfing down a bit of breakfast provided by the lodge. Neither Jacob or I slept well at all; in fact we woke up quite groggy after only a few hours of sleep at best. Out the door at 4:30am, we were already well behind the initial guided parties who got out in front of us. We made our way up the route steadily reaching the Slovak hut around 6:45am with no difficulties. Above the hut, the snow began to appear thicker and slow down our progress. The exposure was ever present but was not really an issue for us. We pressed up the steep slopes, scrambling along the ridge line and following a few parties ahead of us. Somewhere before the shoulder we stopped to put our crampons on. Onto the shoulder, up the fixed ropes, and slowly up the upper snow slopes, we made it to the Summit at 9:30am on Friday July 28. The exposure of the upper slopes is unlike anything I’ve experienced before and I definitely felt out of my element walking up the steep slope with crampons. The summit was unbelievable and the coolest peak by far I’ve ever been on top of.
The descent was painstakingly slow. We rappelled down most of the upper slopes which was slow. The fixed ropes we zipped down which was surprisingly quick. The remaining descent was one step at a time. The lack of sleep and calories caught up to us which significantly slowed our pace. There were no real troubles other than just moving much slower than we would have liked, weather was good. After 13.5hrs, 8hrs descending, we made it down around 5:45pm exhausted. Having missed the last lift down into town, we gladly decided to stay a second night in the hut and slept very deeply that night.
The experience was unbelievable and easily the most challenging mountain I’ve been on. Going unguided with basically no experience climbing on alpine terrain made things even more tricky. In the end it worked out. Thanks to Alex for making sure we were using the rope properly and to Jacob for joining me in the pursuit of such a legendary peak.

[@kennethfloyd7675]

Chris, congrats on summiting the Matterhorn !

[@last_minute527]

How much cost climbing?

[@dgmbss]

Amazing! How long did it take to the summit and back?

[@sunnyventura1603]

respect