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Jesus. I get all wobbly just looking at the Matterhorn. There's a very small part of me that would like to climb it. There's a larger part of me that would like to hurl myself off the north face and go 'Weeeeee!!!!' all the way down. They're overruled by the rest, which wants nothing to do with it, other than as a backdrop to a good lunch at Vis-a-Vis at Gornergrat.
Brommers-
It's basically a 1300m grade 2 scramble that you need to get up and down before the sun gets on it. Technically it's a piece of piss. It's being fit enough to beat the sun and not put a foot wrong when tired that's the problem. Weirdly, route finding is tough too. So easy to go a few meters either side of the route and find yourself in trouble...that's the main reason a guide is critical even for the most experienced climbers.
We did some cool stuff on the glacier under the East face in Janaury. There wasn't much snow and we could see dozens of bits of clikbing gear including packs and crampons that had fallen down from the ridge. Sobering.
Deep down I'm pretty scared of it too but every time we stand on a summit in that valley it just sorts of draws me in.
Stonehedge
Thanks chaps. Its definitely paying off. We managed 1500m up at just under 400 meters per hour today. My dream is the 650 meters per hour for 1500 that we need for the Matterhorn. Starting to feel like it might just be possible one day rather than totally unreachable. Just need to keep at it.