Climbing The Matterhorn

Before dawn, almost every day we see lights flickering up high on The Matterhorn. The headlamps of cimbers, sometimes dozens of them, making their attempt to summit one of the most famous mountains in the world. 

Every morning we check our view of The Matterhorn. One day we thought, 'Today looks like a good day to go up the mountain.'

We took a gondola toward the mountain.

We walked a route that took us close to glaciers.

We saw The Matterhorn from a slightly different angle.

Then the track got steeper.

And steeper. Numerous stairs, and ropes and chains, and narrow exposed sections.

Half way up, there was a memorial to someone who had fallen and died.

I found it tough going. The altitude made me breathless and at times a bit light headed. 

Having a dizzy spell here would have been  very dangerous.

But we glimpsed our goal above the rocks. We kept plodding carefully upward.

The Hornilihutte, a refuge/hotel/restaurant perched at 3260 metres on a ridge of The Matterhorn. It is where the real mountaineers stay before climbing The Matterhorn.

They make goid coffee and delicious cake, good solid slabs, not fluffy sponge cake. And you cannot beat those views.

Only another 1218 metres to go. But not for the likes of me,  only for those with serious climbing skills.

But we were both very pleased with our effort. I never, ever thought I'd get that close and personal with The Matterhorn.

The cloud lowered and a shower threatened as we walked down. We have been unbelievably lucky with weather.

And we made it all the way up to here!

WOW!

Non-mountain-biking in Switzerland

Some non-mountain-biking things we did.

We rode the Gornergrat train from Zermatt to its station at almost 3,000 metres. The train line is steep and uses a cog system between the rails to drag the train up. There is a grand old hotel above the station with astronomical observatories in its roof and a 360 degree view of mountains and glaciers, and The Matterhorn.

Alpine choughs, smaller than crows with a musical song, red legs and yellow beaks.

Just one of about eleven glaciers visible from Gornergrat. Actually, I think this is two glaciers that join together to create one of the longer ones we could see.

Another day, we did a five hour hike. Early in the morning hoping to see wildlife.

Plenty of wildflowers, even at the end of summer.

One of two wild mountain goats that we saw.

A cheeky marmot, peering at us from his burrow only about 10 metres away. We saw quite a few. They have a loud chirping call to warn each other of approaching humans. They are rodents, about twice the size of a cat.

Reflections on Lake Stellisee. Looking away from The Matterhorn.

We mostly ate in our apartment but we went out for dinner on three nights.

And up the gondola for lunch at 2572 metres.

Discovered a kangaroo on the ceiling of the main church in Zermatt.

We saw paragliders landing in Zermatt every day and watched them launch from this mountain near the Rothorn cable car station at 3105 metres.

We also almost (not really) climbed The Matterhorn. I'll tell you about that in my next post.

More Swiss riding

Very few of the trails are purpose-built for mountain bikes. They are mostly gravel roads and walking trails which mountain bikes are permitted to use, which means many are loose, steep and rocky, while others are easy. And we sometimes have to dodge walkers.

Friendly cows with their musical bells.

Zermatt has a variety of transport options to get people up the mountains. This is a cable car.

There are also gondolas where bikes hang on hooks outside the gondola.

And a funicular train that goes up inside a tunnel at about an almost 45 degree incline.

And there is a regular train for rides along the valley.

And the heritage Gornergrat train which uses cogs to climb the steep iclines to 3089 metres.

The Gornergrat train passing through the avalanche shelter as we rode down.

There were five rock fall shelters beside one of the trails.

Sketchy narrow trails. Some sections just have to be walked.

And this suspension bridge, 100 metres long and just as high.

We are mostly riding downhill but we are peddling uphill in some places.

We have had quite a few picnic lunches on our rides.

And the Matterhorn is ever present.