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!