When I was 19 years old, I promised my dear friend Kate Mannle
that I would climb the Matterhorn with her (4478m/14,692ft). Last summer, I
went on a climbing trip in the Italian Dolomites with Jim Gilchrist and it
seemed like the perfect time make good on my promise to Kate. I made the
excited call to Kate. It was time to climb the Matterhorn, I told her.
Kate said yes, promptly watched a You Tube video of climbing the
Matterhorn, vomited and decided the Matterhorn wasn’t for her. I would go solo.
During my time in Switzerland I would be traveling with my mom and
my goal was to climb the Matterhorn as efficiently as I could so I didn’t take
away the opportunity to spend time with her. First, I would take the
railway to Gornergrat (3100m) with my mom and all my gear. After site seeing,
my mom could take the train back to Zermatt and I would traverse over to the
Hornli Hut (3260m). On the map it looked perfect. In reality the traverse
from Gornergrat wasn’t so feasible. Glaciers and a huge rift separated me
from the Hornli. I took the train back to Zermatt with my mom feeling defeated
before even starting.
Back in Zermatt, in the late afternoon, I raced to the tram that
takes you toward the Hornli Hut. The lady was closing the ticket office and I
begged her for a ticket. She caved, and sold me a very overpriced tram ride. By
6pm I was at the Hornli Hut debating what to do. Break the bank and stay in the
hut? Bivy around the hut? Or start climbing? I didn’t want to follow guides up
the route and the lower mountain looked free of crowds so I decided to start
climbing. I would climb until dark and then bivy on a ledge.
I started by emptying a Starbucks Via into my Nalgene, shaking it,
and having three quarters of my only liter of coffee water spray all over me.
As it happens the only liter of water I bought in town was carbonated. A
liter at the Hornli Hut was 10 Euros, so 300mls would have to do for the next
10 hours.
At dark I found a small ledge to scramble to off the main route
with an old piton to clip into. I clipped in and settled into my summer down
sleeping bag. Within minutes a pssssh of air signified the deflating of my air pad
and I was laying uncomfortably on the rocks. It ended up being a very cold and
sleepless night.
A show of brilliant stars and glowing moonlight filled the sky.
Soft white shadows of moonlit glaciers glowed in the distance. I listened
to a choir of gneisses and other sedimentary rock fall and explode down steep
slopes through the night. At times I felt the presence of friends recently lost
and the souls of the ill-fated and disastrous Whymper party in 1865. The plus
about shivering all night is you are ready for an early alpine start.
After several sleepless hours, I was awoken by the clatter of
carabiners and the wondering serpent of headlamps. My plan was to start
before the guided groups but the guides in anticipation of a warm day started
early. I packed up my gear as quickly as possible and started climbing. I was a
few parties from the lead group. Apparently, I hadn’t gotten the memo
that private climbers (unguided parties or soloist) are expected to be behind
all the guided groups. I instantly found myself in a very hostile situation at
13,000ft on the side of a vertical rock face smeared in verglas. I was
sandwiched by an angry Swiss guide in front of me and an angry Swiss guide
behind me screaming . At one point, the guide directly behind me got within 6
inches of my face and yelled “You have no right to be here……” In a bottle neck
of fixed lines, high on the route, I saw a line to the left and quickly
scrambled around the guided groups and away from the yelling Swiss guides.
Those Swiss guides; like caricatures of themselves- chiseled
faces, perfect tans, pressed Gortex jackets, neat mountaineering coils and
chests sticking out farther than their noses give the Matterhorn some serious
character. The Matterhorn is a scene, a beautiful one, but still a scene.
After tiptoeing across the summit knife edge ridge unroped with heart
thumping, I reached the summit iconic cross. Hours later I was in the streets
of Zermatt enjoying block party food for Swiss National Day with my mom.
