We decided to climb Breithorn, which at 4164m is the easiest 4000m peak
in the
Alps. Breithorn is 'easy' because the lift up to Klein Matterhorn
takes you up to 3820 meters within about a mile of the Breithorn.
Kent and I saw signs in Zermatt indicating guides wanted over 250 CHF
to guide you up the Breithorn.
8:00am
Kent is on a mission to bag a 4000m peak.. no sit down breakfast on
summit days! :)
8:04am
Top of the Matterhorn is visible
08:21am
Most of the Matterhorn is shrouded in clouds
8:29am
8:38am
Klien Matterhorn is directly ahead of the cablecar, shrouded in clouds
Breithorn is to the left, also shrouded in clouds.
The weather looked like quite a mess. At the top the winds were
absolutely howling.
Kent's pic
One guy coming back from his hike said he turned around just short of
the peak of the Breithorn, and he doubted anyone would be able to
summit today.
Kent and I put on our gear and ventured out into the blustery
whiteout.
Very shortly after an English speaker asked us if we wanted to partner
up.
Kent blew him off.
Kent was much more sure of himself than I was... what else is new...
9:24am
9:24am
I had serious doubts I would get very far in this weather and didn't
want to hold Kent back.
After a few minutes I cut him loose and let him go for the summit alone.
I proceeded on alone, following the path in the snow.
I made slow progress wandering along the snow path in the 40mph winds.
After about half an hour the path in the snow split into two, and I had
no idea which way to go.
I had seen almost no one since Kent left.
After a few minutes at the junction I decided to turn around.
I turned on the GPS on MotionX for grins.
10:01am
I backtracked for less than 5 minutes before running into a large
guided party headed up the Breithorn,
While the entire guided party was roped up, there was an unroped solo
hiker tagging along, as well as a few skiers.
Didn't take me too long to realize that if these people can ski uphill
I surely can hike up this hill.
I started to follow the guided party back up the Breithorn.
I was easily able to keep up with the relatively slow pace of the
guided party.
The other solo climber and I both went on ahead of the guided party for
a while.
10:29am
Guides are helping their clients with their crampons.
I felt downright competant since I know how to put on crampons myself.
Many of the tourists looked pretty scared.
At this point these were steady streams of guided trains of tourists
headed uphill.
10:34am
It started to get a little steeper - nothing dangerous, but steeper
than I was comfortable with alone in a whiteout.
I stopped and considered my options for about 5 minutes.
I turned around again, this time for good.
I later found out that my peak elevation was 12891' or 3929m.
Part of me says I should have at least gotten to 4000m... the other
part of me says I turned around when I wanted to without getting hurt.
On the way back I caught up with another guided party and followed them
for quite a while.
We made excellent time downhill.
After about 35 minutes we stopped underneath the ski left for a break
and I got out my GPS again.
One of them walked over to me and told me they were continuing on to
Gandegg Hut.
He wanted to make sure I knew where I was.
I pointed back down the ski lift and confidently said 'Klien Matterhorn
is that way'.
He decided I was ok to be left alone.
I followed the ski lift back and after a long ten minutes or so alone I
could see Klien Matterhorn.
11:19am
I somehow ended up on the wrong side of the ski run fencing and was
looking down the top of the Klein Matterhorn Glacier
11:19am
Klein Matterhorn
11:19am
Klein Matterhorn
11:30am
56km/h windspeed = 40mph
11:30am
I changed out of my winter gear and Kent arrived. He was pschyed
since he had summited, and he also seemed happy to see me still alive :)
He changed too and we headed down hill.
12:24pm
Reasonably interesting(?) 3-1/2 minute video of most of the gondola
ride down from Klien Matterhorn
1:24pm
This house was too perfectly Swiss, I had to take a picture.
1:42pm
We had one last Zermatt beer at The Brown Cow and then made our way
back to the hotel where we'd left our gear.
The gear had been moved downstairs. I found an open restroom
downstairs and
quickly changed out of my snowgear, put on fresh clothes and felt like
a million bucks.
Kent was happy to have summited and told me he'd go whereever I wanted
to spend the evening.
I was torn between Leukerbad and Saas Fee. Leukerbad was simply
heavenly, but I'd seen it, and I was dying to see Saas Fee, so we
headed to Saas Fee.
We took an extremely full train down to Stalden and got one of our few
pictures
together while waiting for the bus.
3:40pm
3:47pm
3:48pm
The road to Saas Fee goes up the right side of this canyon.
3:57pm
From the bus, looking north up toward Visp
4:24pm
From the bus, looking south toward Saas-Grund
At one of the later bus stops near Saas-Grund about 30 Russian speaking
kids and teenagers got on the bus. Clearly they'd been on a hike
on their own. They stayed on board all the way to Saas Fee.
Apparently Putin's cronies spend their summers in Saas Fee. I
would too!
4:24pm
Saas Grund from the bus
4:33pm
Walking into Saas Fee.
We walked a few minutes down the main street looking for a cheap room,
then walked back to the TI at the parking lot. The TI told us the
Hotel Popcorn had the cheapest rooms, which was the same thing
TripAdvisor told me.. It seemed a little cheesy, but the room was
fine and the view from our balcony was the essentially the same
gorgeous view you see above. I was worried because the room had
earplugs, clearly intending to let you sleep while the bar on the main
floor stays open until the wee hours. We never saw another person
in the bar, and we may have had the entire hotel to ourselves.
4:33pm
Hotel Popcorn is right in front of Kent through the trees.
5:31pm
Kent and I wandered all over town before deciding on a very Swiss place
to
eat. I got pizza and beer, and Kent got the best chicken wings in
the world. He shared a few with me - they were amazing!
It rained on us a little as we made our way back to the hotel.
We collapsed and fell asleep shortly after dinner.
Previous
Saturday July 5, 2014
Hiking from Trient to
Le Tour, then bus & train to Zermatt
Sunday July 6, 2014
Zermatt, Breithorn, and
Saas Fee
