Breithorn (4164m), Zermatt
29th July 2007
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The Breithorn is reckoned to be one of the easiest 4000m peaks in the Alpes mostly due to the fact that the Klein Matterhorn lift takes you all the way to 3870m so it’s a short climb of 300m or around 1000 ft to the summit.Really, I wanted to ski this back in April but I’d left it a bit late in the season so it was a chance to take a look at the route and have a day out.Google Earth File( private note : I know I said I’d post the GDB and GPX versions but I don’t have that MIME type set, email me and I’ll send them, likewise, I have more photo’s so I can send them)
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So, after meeting the guide down in the village of Zermatt we rode the lifts up to the Klein Matterhorn and set out. It’s a high glacier route so it’s pretty much obligatory to move roped up but initially there’s no need for crampons.
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After stopping to fix crampons (left) we were soon on the summit (right). The normal route is the SSW ridge but it was busy and the guide took the slightly steeper more exposed east ridge. I didn’t get a photo of the ridge but I see SummitPost have a great one : East Ridge. It’s actually a little exposed on that ridge and a fall on the wrong side would be nasty, a fall on the right side could well land you in a crevasse so it’s not much different.
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After the usual summit photographs, most capturing the surrounding scenery rather than the summit, we set of back down again using the SSW route and avoiding the groups still making their way up.
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If you click on the left photo’ (above) and look carefully you’ll see a guy casually strolling across the glacier on his own, totally unequipped and apparently completely oblivious to the nature of glacier terrain. His wife/girlfriend/mother/potential-widow was near the KL lift and had seemed to grasp the situation, by the time we saw her she was nearly hysterical waving and screaming at him to get back on the path. Really the warning signs were quite clear so what was on his mind is a mystery and why he thought everyone else was roped up laden down with kit is open to question. Finally he seemed to grasp his situation and got back to the path but it’s amazing people can be so unaware.
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Looking over to Italy and the glacier ski area.
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By this time the top of the Matterhorn was covered in cloud. We took a quick tour of the ice grotto and headed down.
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