Introduction | The Climb | The Descent | Conclusion

In mid 2012, Markus Bachmann called me up and suggested we climb the Matterhorn. It had always been a dream of his and it was one of the five mountains that I had always wanted to climb (Everest, Ama Dablam, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn). I knew that my guide Yves led climbs up the Matterhorn and that he was one of the best and safest guides in the business. Having climbed Mont Blanc with him before, I booked him for the climb. After a year of training, which involved some rock climbing and hiking in South Africa, Markus and I travelled to Zurich and drove down to Chamonix in France. This climbing capital of the world was an ideal place to train a few days beforehand. Yves arranged the training which involved rock climbing (grades 14 to 16 in Chamonix) and mixed ice and rock climbing near the Aiguille du Midi at 3800m. We then travelled to Zermatt in Switzerland with Yves and Markus's guide, Jacqui. Both our guides are members of the prestigious "Guides des Hautes Montagnes de Chamonix" whose guides are probably the best in the world.

Lunch Break: Markus and Yves during Training Session in Chamonix
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Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc Massif, Chamonix: 3800m
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Yves and I started the climb at around 4.45 am on the morning of 22nd August, and Markus and his guide, Jacqui did the same. It was still dark and quite warm. In our headlamps we met our first fixed rope about 50m from the Hörnli (3260m) Hutte, where we had spent the night. It was a vertical face of about 10m and we were climbing with boots, backpacks and Gortex jackets. The jackets soon came off as it was too hot. The route flattened a bit and then the steepness increased. It was constant rock climbing at a grade of around 12 to 14. I was always tied to Yves who began to belay me almost from the start.

The Hörnli Hutte
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Near the Salvoy Hutte, 4003m
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The Matterhorn never lets up; it is total concentration and you cannot afford to make a single mistake. It is a monster climb, 1200m vertical height with some vertical faces especially 250m to 100m from the top. The exposure is frightening, the Hörnli Hutte itself being on a ridge with a 700m drop off on either side. So you can imagine as you get higher on the Hörnli Ridge, the drop offs are terrifying if you are not tied in (even if you are tied in, your stomach still feels queasy). We climbed the north-east ridge, also called the Hörnli ridge. It is a jumble of rocks and the east face constantly has rock falls on it – which you can hear in the dark! As it got lighter, I started to see how high we had climbed. We did about three traverses and some multi-pitch climbs with Yves leading and me cleaning and removing the quickdraws and Karabiners. We stuck to the ridge and I was already sweating like crazy. The first rest point would be the Salvoy Hutte, an emergency hut at 4003m. Yves and I had by now left Markus and Jacqui behind us and Yves thought they had already turned back. (We learnt later that they had got to the Salvoy Hutte at about 11 am and Markus had felt dizzy and tired, so they had decided to turn back at that point). We got to the Salvoy Hutte at around 9 am after climbing a vertical face of about 15m. There Yves let me have a short break (5 minutes!). Yves never let up the pace, if I stopped, he would gently give a tug on the rope. He gave lots of tugs and asked often if I was tired. If I said yes, he said, “Remember we still have to get down”.

I felt strong, though, at Salvoy and we carried on, another vertical face of 20m just around the corner from the hut was next. Pitch after pitch and scramble after scramble was the next 200m of climbing. There were some more fixed rope traverses and then we got to the snow area. We paused to put on our crampons and carried on. After another knife-thin ridge of rock and ice and some patches of snow, we came to the very exposed vertical summit ridge. Here there are some fixed ropes which take a lot of strength out of your arms, especially as you are now climbing with crampons which catch on everything if you are not careful! I managed the first few grade 15 or 16 faces of about 3m high, but was losing strength quickly. Even my training of 56 press-ups and 86 sit-ups a minute was not good enough as I got to the last face. I had no strength left and my forearms were “pumped”. Yves was above me belaying me and shouting “René, you are almost there, try again”. He could not see me. I had to rest and I hung on the rope with the north face to my right and the east face to my left with about 2500m of vertical nothing below me. Three Russians came by next and I watched how they got up the obstacle – I had not been watching Yves and was trying to climb in the wrong place. It seemed so simple. Another climber in boots (no crampons) and no rope (he was soloing) really upset me! How can you be so stupid? If he had fallen in front of my eyes, I would have aborted the climb and he would have spoilt it for everyone! He didn’t fall and I didn’t see him again, he probably traversed down the Italian side.  Luckily another guide who knew Yves well was coming down with his client and asked “Fatigué? I help you!” His name was Jean-Luc and I gave him a big hug that evening back at the Schwarzsee hotel. As I tried one last time, he connected my rope to a Karabiner he had set up and tightened the rope every time I made a few inches and I finally got up! I thanked him profusely, but the strength in my arms was absolutely gone. Yves was glad to see me and now it was onto the summit ice-field, dipping at around 45°. The going here was slow because about five teams who had summited were coming down and some two teams, whom Yves and I overtook, were still going up. We had been the last to leave the Hörnli Hutte that morning but we had overtaken about five teams and, before we summited, we saw about four teams coming down for various reasons, mainly fatigue. The summit snow was soft and the other teams had cut steps into the snow and ice so our ice-climbing training for the last 200m at the summit of the Matterhorn turned out to be unnecessary.

René - About 200m Above the Salvoy Hutte
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Summit Ice Field - About 30m to 40m from the Top
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The Matterhorn (4478m) with the Statue of St Bernard, the Patron Saint of Alpinists and Mountain Climbers
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I looked up and saw this strange black man standing near the summit and wondered why he was not moving. As I got closer, I saw that Yves was using the man’s neck to belay me and I realised it was the bronze statue of St Bernard on the Swiss summit! Yves welcomed me to the summit and said” Congratulations!” We walked a little higher to the highest point and saw the Italian summit on the Italian side which has a cross on its summit. It was 11.30 am. It had taken us 6 hours 45 minutes to get to the top. The summit was knife-thin with barely enough space to fit two cramponned boots next to each other! Again, frightening, with Yves belaying me with a rope in his hand! So, we had done it, we looked at the view – it was the most perfect day and weather! I must admit, some tears came to my eyes as I finally had a summit after failures on Everest and Ama Dablam. It is an euphoric feeling that you can only get and experience yourself; it really is the ultimate high! Yves then said, “Lunch time” and we sat on some warm rocks near the Swiss summit and had jambon and fromage which Yves had brought along. In front of me I could see Cervinia and much of Italy, 2000m below. Behind me was Zermatt, 3000m in the valley below. The beautiful peaks of Switzerland’s Alps surrounded us. The exposure was incredibly terrifying!

My legs were shaking when we got back to the Salvoy Hutte. Again Yves allowed only a short break of 5 minutes at the hut. The pressure to keep going was enormous. I drank my 2 litres of water sparingly during the day and had about ¼ litre left by now. Yves said, “Only drink if you can’t take the thirst anymore”, and I did. It worked; I had about 100 ml left back at the Hörnli Hutte. The descent from the Salvoy Hutte to the Hörnli Hutte is tedious; the Hörnli never seemed to get any closer! I watched my altimeter and the height came down painstakingly slowly. My legs were by now taking strain and it was an effort to take a downwards step. The ridge going down is more frightening than going up because you can see the drop off all the time. The concentration is also harder to keep up; because you’ve reached your goal and what you are doing now is just one big irritation! However, this is where nearly all the accidents happen in mountaineering – on the way down. I moved my feet slowly so as not make a mistake and pull Yves down with me, especially along the more gravelly and slippery sections. Yves suggested we go faster, but I replied that I couldn’t – “too tired”. At another point we had to down-climb a steep 14 grader; I said “I can’t, too tired...”. “Okay, then we try this side” said Yves, “there is no good belay point there anyway, and it is not safe if you think you will fall”. That’s Yves: safety first (or just common sense, I suppose). At last the Hörnli Hutte was coming closer, but painfully slowly. Another cliff and another abseil. I was looking forward to abseils now as they were much easier on the legs than down-climbing! We finally got down to the last fixed rope to the Hörnli Hutte and this was the final abseil. After a 6 hour descent from the summit, we reached the Hörnli Hutte and Yves said for the last time, “safe”. I shook Yves’ hand as he came down the last fixed rope and said a heartfelt “Thanks” to him. He really had had my life in his hands from 4.45 am that morning.

René Between the Italian and the Swiss Summits with Zermatt in the Valley (Middle left)
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The Descent - Taking off Crampons
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Another View of the Italian Summit with Cross
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At the Hörnli Hutte, we had a beer and took off harnesses, packed away ice axes and ropes, and repacked our packs. The Irish team that we had gotten friendly with was also there, as was Tom and his guide Jean-Luc who got me over the lip of the last fixed rope section before the summit - which could have been my nemesis! Everyone was congratulating everyone! A real festive atmosphere prevailed. However, the day was not yet over. We still had to walk down another 2 hours. At around a quarter to seven, I started my last walk down. I told the others to go ahead as I was very tired and off they went. I will never forget that peaceful (and painful) walk down from the Hörnli Hutte. Often I looked back at the Matterhorn. Once I actually stopped and sat on a Zermatt municipality bench and had some of the coke Yves had bought me at the Hörnli Hutte. It was so fizzy I could drink no more than a sip at that altitude. But the solitude whilst sitting there on my own was good for the soul.  The evening was still and it was just me and the mountain having a last moment before resuming downhill.

The 700m descent to the hotel cost me a few blisters as I couldn’t be bothered to tighten my boots – too tired. I stumbled in to the Schwarzsee hotel at 8.40 pm, dead tired. Markus was there to greet me and I saw Yves waiting with him as I arrived. Good old Yves, still looking out for me. The others had already had a few beers and Markus ordered some clear pear schnapps. The kitchen was already closed and I was offered a sandwich, which I couldn’t eat. After thanking everyone again, I retired and had that shower I had been looking forward to for the previous 48 hours!

The Schwarzsee Hotel with the Matterhorn in the Background
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Edward Whymper - First Ascent of the Matterhorn, 14 July 1865
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So, such is the epic of my Matterhorn climb, at the age of 55. I later found out that the Matterhorn is the most dangerous mountain in the world in terms of number of deaths, just because so many people try and climb it and because there are so many people jamming the one and only route up and down. One in five climbers make the summit. Around 20 people die a year on the Matterhorn. Four out of the seven in Edward Whymper’s climbers died on the mountain’s first ascent (after having summited).  It is a monstrous climb, it never lets up, the pressure is constant, the concentration total. To some, like me, it is the ultimate mountain.

Website designed & updated by Gail Hochreiter
E-mail: hochreiter@mweb.co.za
Page updated: 29/06/2015