The Matterhorn; Top of the world

45°58'35.1"N 7°39'29.8"E Matterhorn, Switzerland Guest Blog; Renee Hine

“Been thinking of climbing the Matterhorn” John said.

“Lets do it” I agreed. Seemed a good idea at the time, on a casual rock climbing afternoon in the gentle Jersey sunshine.

Fast forward a year, its 4.30am, at an altitude of 3260 meters, and we are ready to start our ascent of what has been described as ‘the worlds most dangerous mountain’… who’s idea was this anyway?

We’d done the training but this was it, a final wake up call, a final gear check and a final “what the heck am I doing” moment!

As a queue forms at the start of the route we are tied to our guides, it’s a strict 1:1 guiding ratio here. We are a small cluster of head torches glowing with anticipation of what lies ahead.

From the moment we start it’s a relentless pace, not too quick, not too slow, but constant and ascending at altitude it’s enough to feel the need to catch your breathe, without the possibility to stop and do so!

Stopping is not advised. We have been instructed The Solvay Hut, two thirds of the way up, needs to be reached in no more than 2 hours, otherwise its game over. You are racing the weather as you need to be off the mountain before the afternoon thunder-storms roll in and you lose visibility from incoming cloud, previous climbers have lost their lives from being struck by lightening while climbing the Matterhorn.

You also don’t want to be waiting for other climbers on the top ropes nearer the summit, nor do you want to be trying to descend with too many other climbers, especially at the top where its icy, narrow, steep and more technically tricky with your crampons being taken on/off, top ropes being navigated and space being limited. A decent nudge in the wrong direction by a passing climber could be fatal!

Our ascent was done in 3.5 hours which we felt pretty good about. Preparing for the climb I had a fairly repetitive thought process ‘train like your life depends on it, because it does’. It was physically hard work, mentally too it was really challenging and a couple of times heading up I did wonder if I could make it? But putting one foot ahead of the other is always a good rhythm and when the sun starts to rise over the mountains, if the climb hasn’t already taken your breathe away the view will. The views alone are worth it!

Once the Solvay Hut was reached we were about a third of the way from the top, we hit the snow and our crampons are tied on and the top ropes are mastered with all the upper body strength you can muster, a small reprieve for the legs.

The final steps up the snowy ridge to the summit, tantalisingly close to the top, ice axe in hand, navigating a steep edge were definitely a highlight for me.

Standing on the summit at 4478 meters, was a feeling like nothing I’ve experienced before.

You’re standing on top of the world! Above the clouds, above the sky, above all the hard work to get yourself up there and a true appreciation for what your body and mind can do when it needs to.

Our group managed to summit all within a few minutes of each other, to be up there all together was pretty special.

“Worked through that mid-life crisis yet” I tease John.

It’s about now you realise you’re only half way there, the descent is yet to come.

Ultimately, I found the descent was all about concentration, with tired legs one wrong step could be fatal. Our descent took us 4 hours and was real team work, lots of rope work and some much welcomed abseiling.

The descent felt unrecognisable from the ascent, we could have been on another mountain. You definitely need to know where you are going, it would be extremely easy to get lost or off course and the experience of my guide is 100% necessary. There’s no ‘track’, no markers, no signs and to the untrained tired eye the rocky mountain face can start to look very same same.

Our total time for the climb, ascent and descent, was 7.5 hours, it’s great when a plan comes together. Average climb time is 9 hours so we were pretty pleased with ourselves.

Finishing felt unreal, I felt like a badass! Strong, exhausted, wired, tired and very happy all at once!

Cold beers were ordered… We’d never deserved one as much! It was a high that would last for a very long time.

”So you up for climbing the Eiger” John said, “Sure, why not” I reply, seemed like a good idea after a cold beer…