Matterhorn (German: Matterhorn, Italian: Monte Cervino, French: Mont Cervin) is the peak of the Alps on the border of Switzerland and Italy. The height of the peak is 4478 meters above sea level. The Matterhorn has a remarkable tetrahedral pyramidal shape with walls facing the cardinal directions.
Who doesn’t know about Mount Matterhorn?
The Matterhorn is Magnit Mountain and is perhaps one of the TOP 10 most beautiful peaks in the World. Its pyramidal shape is familiar to everyone; even Swiss chocolate depicts this majestic and charming peak.
This is the top of the collection. If you haven’t been there yet, it’s worth planning! Climbers and mountain climbers call this peak differently – picturesque, harsh, difficult.
Why should you choose ExtremeGuide when choosing who to go to the Matterhorn with?
- work experience since 2008;
- safety, you will have a personal guide during the ascent. This is the required standard of local guide associations, the guide-client ratio is not 1 to 2 and 1 to 3, but precisely 1 to 1;
- personal training plan and preparation for the mountain. After you submit your application, a guide will contact you to clarify your previous mountain climbing experience and tailor the training program to suit you as much as possible;
- thoughtful acclimatization and training ascents immediately before climbing the mountain;
- focus on results. It is important for us that you not only gain climbing experience, but fulfill your dream. If the guide sees that you are not ready to climb the Matterhorn, then we will recommend you a leading program of easier mountains;
- comfort. You will not live in tents. Below we live in apartments or a hotel, on the mountain in huts.
What experience is needed to climb the Matterhorn?
Those who want to climb the Matterhorn must already have climbed peaks 2B-3A grade tr. (PD-AD). The experience of Elbrus or Mont Blanc is not enough. To successfully climb this mountain, we suggest taking one of our mountaineering schools in the Alps or the Caucasus, in Egypt. The missing climbing experience can be gained directly in the process of acclimatization and you can understand whether you are fully prepared for the mountain.
Climbing the Matterhorn is fundamentally different from climbing popular volcanoes, and most problems on the mountain arise due to the fact that guests have insufficient skills in moving on rocks, in particular in boots, fear of heights, and insufficient physical and moral preparation.
We recommend that overweight people bring their weight back to normal. You rarely see heavy climbers on the mountain?
Читайте так же, заметки гида! Как взойти на Маттехорн?
Climbing routes to the Matterhorn
There are a couple of dozen routes leading to the top from different directions. The most popular route for tourists from Italy along the Leon ridge and from Switzerland along the Hernli ridge. Both routes are not easy and require certain skills and previous experience in mountain climbing to peaks of PD-AD difficulty (in our opinion, 2B-ZA), and extraordinary physical fitness.
Coming from Italy you will be faced with a series of climbs along difficult rocks, a lot of movement on ropes, and a total drop of 700 m (from the Carell Assault Hut). From Switzerland there is a drop of more than 1200 m, from the Hernli hut, but most of the route is walked on simple rocks and only in the upper part there is access to the ropes. On this route there is a Solway emergency hut, which allows you to shelter 6-8 people at a time in case of bad weather or other situations. The hut is in emergency condition; intentionally spending the night in it and planning an assault is prohibited.
Climbing the Matterhorn
Optimal season for climbing
The optimal time to climb the Matterhorn is July – mid-September. During this period, the mountain opens up to snow, there are no swells or ice on the route, there is practically no snow and dry rocks. Although there are periods of 2-3 days when it can snow on the mountain. Therefore, you need to understand that the Matterhorn can present an unexpected “surprise” in the form of thunderstorms and strong winds. Even in summer, on a wonderful sunny day, it is suddenly covered with fog and a gusty wind rises. It is very good to plan your ascent by studying the forecast on the mountain.
Comfort and safety on the mountain
It’s “bad form” for locals to walk up the mountain for two days, so there are a number of checkpoints on each route. The optimal time to climb the mountain from Italy is 4-5 hours, from Switzerland 3-4 hours. It takes about the same amount to descend. The total ascent and descent is 8-10 hours.
The standard on the mountain is a team of two people. Local guides work with guests in a 1:1 ratio. It is very important to maintain standards that are “dictated” by sad experiences on the mountain, and not just by business.
On both routes from Italy (at an altitude of 3800 m) and from Switzerland (at an altitude of 3260 m) there are huts where you can comfortably spend the night before the main assault. There is an emergency hut at 4000m on the route from Switzerland, making this route preferable.
How to train for the Matterhorn?
And yet, if there is only Elbrus and you want to go straight to the Matterhorn? It is better to start preparing for the mountains in advance. To be sure, we recommend planning regular training half a year before departure.
If you do not have experience in rock climbing, then plan to devote at least two months to the climbing wall (2-3 workouts per week), take a coach for the first month. This will help to immediately remove common errors. In addition to rock climbing, be sure to include running, at least 3 times a week for 8-10 km, optimally running over rough terrain with elevation changes. Part of the training is running at low heart rate, part of the training is interval running. In addition to running, you can add cycling, swimming, and functional training.
For girls, be sure to include pull-ups on the horizontal bar in your program.
Before going to the mountains, it is good to plan a trip to the rocks, where you will devote part of your training to climbing in boots and working with a rope: descent, ascent, and other basic things.
When training at a climbing wall, it is important to pay attention to natural climbing and descending by climbing. In the mountains on simple rocks in boots, it is important to practice the descent in boots facing the slope and with your back to the slope. In fact, people often climb well, but when it comes to the natural descent, they let their guard down. The maximum difficulty of climbing on the Matterhorn is 3b-4a. Therefore, what is important is not the complexity of the route on which you will train, but the volume, the number of routes, meters that you climbed during the training.
Watch a lecture about training before the mountains
The dangers of the Matterhorn
Основные факторы риска на горе:
- Ориентирование и поиск тропы
- Резкое изменение погоды
- Падание со склонов
- Камнепады
You are insured against the first 4 if you take an experienced, trained guide. All our guides are well versed in the mountain, know the safety standards when working with guests, and we always check the weather before climbing so as not to risk your safety and ours.
Rockfalls are a less predictable thing, but you need to be prepared for this in the mountains. Rockfalls often occur here due to natural processes, as sudden temperature fluctuations destroy the rock. However, sometimes rockfalls occur due to the carelessness of climbers, so we strongly advise you to abandon amateur activities and contact us so that a professional expedition can be organized for you. The Matterhorn is not a mountain that forgives a frivolous attitude.
When it’s impossible to climb
You need to completely trust your guide for everything to be successful and, most importantly, safe. If our specialist has reasonable doubts about the weather, this is a compelling argument to delay setting out on the route. This mountain is not one where you can go in any weather and in the absence of visibility. Very often people do not manage to climb at the control time and are left without the summit.
Guides to the Matterhorn
We place the highest demands on the guides who work with you on the Matterhorn. Since this is not Elbrus and the risk of falling, loss of balance on this mountain is greater, besides, skills in working with a rope and moving on rocks require previous high sports experience, skill in working with the short leash technique, and completing a training course at a guide school.
In this program, we invite you, under the guidance of our experienced guides, to climb one of the most famous and beautiful peaks on the planet. The program also includes a number of training climbs in Chamonix, France, we will do a number of climbs of 2B – 3A difficulty categories, and we will undergo training on natural rocks.
For more information about choosing a guide for climbing, watch the short video:
Video about the Matterhorn
A little bit of history
Due to the extreme technical difficulty of the climb, as well as the fear instilled at the top, the Matterhorn became one of the last leading mountain peaks of the Alps to be conquered. Until 1865, various groups of climbers made more than 10 attempts to climb to its top, mostly from the Italian side. The first successful ascent occurred on July 14, 1865. It was made by Edward Whymper’s group, which also included climbers Francis Douglas, Douglas Robert Hadow, Charles Hudson and mountain guides Michel Cros, Peter Taugwalder (father) and Peter Taugwalder (son). The group was able to climb to the top from the Swiss side along the Hoernli ridge. Four members of the group (Croe, Hadow, Hudson and Douglas) died during the descent as a result of a rope break. Three days later, on July 17, 1865, Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bic were able to climb the Matterhorn peak from the Italian side along the Lyon ridge.
Climb the Matterhorn with ExtremeGuide!