After our successful ascent of Gran Paradiso, we were keen to get back to the Alps and get up some more snowy peaks in 2024. We’d always fancied getting back to the Swiss Alps after an excellent trip there back in 2015. We’d also fancied visiting the iconic Zermatt valley and Matterhorn, even if the latter was not on our radar……just yet! 😊
We arrived at our campsite in Tasch on the 20th July after a comfortable journey by plane and then train from Geneva, although the last section from Visp to Tasch was by coach following the recent nasty floods which had damaged sections of the railway and road within the valley.
On the sunday, we enjoyed a pleasant stroll up to Zermatt and back (around 8miles) given the rainy conditions, but to also allow us to get information on conditions from the information office and plan the next few days. Paul and Helja arrived that evening, and a plan was hatched to climb the Riffelhorn the next day, an ideal acclimatisation and training peak at around 2,928 m. So on Monday we caught the train into Zermatt, and then the superb (but expensive!) Gornergrat train up to the Rotenboden station. From here, it’s a short easy walk to the base of the Riffelhorn, an impressive looking lump of clean rock extending from the ridge. We all enjoyed the climb to the summit, which is really made up of a series of easy scrambles which allowed an excellent chance to practice some moving together on the rope. For the descent, we followed the ridgeline and made use of fixed bolts for a series of fine, reasonably short but airy abseils back to our starting point. It was a great objective just to sharpen up a few Alpine skills before we headed to the higher peaks. We then went to find Helja who had been off for a walk up to the higher train station before returning to the valley for a few ‘holiday’ beers and nibbles!
Given the great snow conditions and excellent forecast, we decided to make the most of it and head up the Breithorn on the Monday. A cablecar from Zermatt to the Klein Matterhorn station at just under 3,900m allows you to tackle the Breithorn very easily as a day trip. The cable car is very impressive in itself, offering incredible views of the glacier, Breithorn and the mighty Matterhorn. We decided to do a traverse of the west and central Breithorn summits, which is graded F (Facile) and allowed us to find our feet again with basic footwork with the crampons ahead of slightly harder objectives later in the week. We caught a cable car at around 9.30am which had us starting the route by around 10.30am. The start of the ascent is easy, across fairly flat ground, before the start of the climb to the west summit. This followed a well established track in the snow, and is never steep. It wasn’t too long before we were at the summit at 4,160m enjoying the marvellous views. Being an easily accessible summit it was reasonably busy, but not too bad. We then carried along the excellent and very aesthetic, narrow summit ridge towards the central summit which was quickly reached. Again, this was more exposed than the ascent to the west summit but on a good path in the snow. From the central summit, a straightforward route with one steeper section re-joined the route we had taken earlier and we enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the cable car station. It had been a great day, and a great opportunity to practice footwork, moving together on the snow/glacial terrain, and also very good acclimatisation.
A plan was hatched that evening to make use of the cable car again on the Thursday, but this time heading to Pollux (4,089m) – a superb peak located around 1.5hrs walk from the Klein Matterhorn cable car station. And so Wednesday became a holiday day, so we were well rested for what was going to need to be a slick day, as we needed to climb the peak and get back to the cable car station for the last cable car down the mountain at around 4pm. Another option is staying in the Valle d’Ayas hut at just under 3,500m close to Pollux, but this was booked up.
We (Steph,Paul and I) got the first cable car from Zermatt at around 7am (which was very busy for the skiers), which had us putting our crampons on and heading out on to the snow by 8am. It was a delightful morning, clear blue sky, light winds and firm snow. The initial 1.5hrs walk to the base of Pollux was great, essentially traversing around the side of the Breithorn and with fabulous views. A couple of crevasses allowed us to stare deep into the depths, but fortunately good snow cover meant that not many were exposed, and snow bridges would be good given the cool conditions and firm snow.
Soon enough the route up Pollux’s SW ridge came into view and we were quickly at the base of the ridge preparing for the climb. The route is graded PD (Peu Difficile), and began with a steep ~45deg slope up a gully, again with good steps cut into the snow. This soon joined with the rocky ridge proper, and the next section was easy scrambling on rocks. The crux then follows which is a couple of steeper rock sections, but equipped with thick steel chains, which meant that the normally VDiff terrain was made much easier. Quickdraws could be clipped into the chain for protection, and once at the top of each climb I could belay Steph and Paul. This was the only problematic section really with lots of people, but two separate chains helped and just communicating with fellow climbers, although the Swiss guides weren’t the most accommodating I must say. From the top of the final rock climb, a lovely snow ridge beckoned us on to the summit. This had been a climb on my radar for a long time, so I was very pleased to have made it to the top. We soaked in the stunning views, before starting on the descent, which went quickly enough. We abseiled down the short rocky sections, and then scrambled our way entirely down the rocky ridge to the base of the route, thinking the snow in the gully might be a bit soft by now. All that remained was the trek back to the cable car station, which was a little more arduous with softening snow in the midday sun, but not too horrendous.
An easier day was planned for Friday, and Steph and I enjoyed a walk from the Rothorn cable car station (at just over 3,000m) down to Sunnegga, which is serviced by a funicular railway from Zermatt. There were excellent views of the Brethorn massif, Pollux, Castor, Lyskamm and round to the Monte Rosa massif from Rothhorn. The walk down was mostly on rocky vehicle tracks, and then smaller grassy paths, but with fine views and the wildflowers were incredible. Many stops were had to photograph them all.
The weekend plan was an ascent of the Dom – the highest mountain entirely in Switzerland, and at 4,546m one of the highest summits in the Alps. An excellent 2-day adventure can be had by climbing to the Dom Hut on day 1 (located just shy of 3,000m),and then ascending the Dom via the north face which is graded PD/PD+. The ascent starts from Randa, located only a 5-10mins bus journey from our campsite, and ascends initially through forest to the very impressive Charles Kuonen suspension bridge – roughly 500m long and hanging 85m above the ground below. From here the path carries on up to the start of the via ferrata section which was great fun. All pretty straightforward, with steel cables and ladders for trickier sections, and winding a way through huge cliffs that looked impassable from a distance, at least to hikers. A more gentle path on scree then zig-zagged its way up to the hut, which was positioned in a stunning location with the Dom looming behind, and beautiful views across the valley to the Weisshorn. Arriving at around 3pm we had plenty of time to relax, eat, and enjoy sitting outside looking across to the Weisshorn and other peaks. The hut was very nice inside, and we enjoyed a filling meal before eventually turning in at around 9pm – it was going to be an early start the next day!!
Alarms rudely woke us at around 2am and we were back in the dining room for breakfast. Fortunately we both managed to eat plenty before kitting up and getting out of the door by around 2.45am. It was a calm night, and worryingly warm….we could have left in t-shirts. As we started along the rocky path, we could hear rubbles in the distance of various rockfalls from the surrounding peaks. The path was a little tricky to follow in places, and we think we did end up slightly too far to the right at one point on loose terrain, before reaching the glacier and getting crampons and rope on for the next section. Fortunately, a cool breeze blew down the glacier and therefore kept the snow in good nick, and we made good progress up the glacier on easy slopes. We could see teams ahead on the Festjoch, which we soon reached the base of. This is a short rock climbing section (Diff standard), which leads up to a col. Route-finding can be a little tricky to begin with, but once on the right route the going is pretty straightforward, with some fixed bolts along the way for protection or to belay from. We lost a little time here waiting for groups ahead of us to get clear, as there is plenty of loose rock around to knock down onto people if not careful.
From the col, crampons were back on, and a short descent of a steep snow slope, across a bergschrund, dropped us back onto the glacier proper and the start of the long snow-plod up the north face of the Dom. Initially easy, and passing under some dodgy seracs and through avalanche debris, the route soon started to steepen although the path was easy to follow. Good progress was made up the steep face, but we both commented on how the clouds were whizzing by over the summit and the wind was starting to pick up where we were too. We met a couple of groups of climbers who had turned around at the col above us (~4,450m) as it was too windy. We continued up a bit more until around 4,440m, but given the winds, and the fact that the sun was now baring down on the north face starting to soften the snow, we decided to call it a day and head down. Sadly Paul hadn’t be able to join us on this climb, and with the three of us, the winds might not have been so daunting, but for two of us we thought what looked like 40mph+ winds on the exposed summit ridge could be a bit much. It was a shame to turn around, but its just one of those things, better to be safe than sorry, and the mountain will be there for another time!
We made quick progress down the face, and back to the top of the Festjoch, where there was some hold-up waiting for people to abseil back down (one of whom had never abseiled before!!). The glacier back down to the Dom hut was now very soft, and we noticed a couple of holes had opened up over crevasses, and I did lose my foot into one at one point. Back at the hut we enjoyed a good lunch, before packing up and continuing the 1,500m descent down to Randa which we reached late afternoon/early evening. It’s quite a descent from the summit back down to the valley of around 3,000m! All that remained was a quick pint, wait for the bus back to Tasch and then a meal out in the village.
We now had just a day and a half left, and so some R&R was enjoyed before departing Tasch for home. It had been an excellent trip, reaching 4 out of 5 of the summits we attempted, and more importantly getting to build on our Alpine experience. Even though we didn’t make the summit of the Dom, we still did 95% of the route and enjoyed a lot of the 2-day adventure, the views, the via ferrata, the impressive north face, the cosy hut and getting to a new high-point for both of us, at just over 4,400m. We both managed well with the altitude, and our enthusiasm is high for a return to the Alps in 2025 to tackle some more big snowy peaks!
Skills practiced included basic crampon and ice axe work, moving together on the rope (as party of 2 and 3) both on glaciated and rocky terrain, and we have certainly improved our confidence and experience on F and PD graded routes. Zermatt proved very expensive, as expected, but buying a swiss half-fare card did help a lot and is highly recommended. I think next year we will head back to Saas-Fee which should be a bit cheaper than Zermatt.
Roll on2025!! 😊