I Attempted to Climb Europe s Most DEADLY Mountain Solo

This is the Matterhorn, Europe's most dangerous mountain. And I'm about to try climb it alone. Over 500 people have passed trying to climb this mountain, which is almost double the recorded fatalities of Mount Everest. The Matterhorn claims around 10 lives a year on average, making it one of the most dangerous mountains, not only in Europe, but on the planet. High altitude, exposed ridges, freezing conditions, loose rock, this mountain is no joke. Oh, and I've never done anything like this before. I know a lot of you think of me as a pro climber, but that's sport climbing. This is mountaineering. The two are totally different. I was stepping completely out of my comfort zone for this, maybe too far. So my journey starts here in Zermatt in Switzerland. It's already at 1600 meters. This little town is so remote, you can only reach it by train. So from there, I had to take the gondola and that took around 25 minutes. From where the gondola stopped, I had to hike to the Hornly Hut, which is the last civilization before trying to climb Matterhorn. Oh God, I'm carrying like probably like 35 kilos of weight. A lot of glass because I have a camera equipment of lenses. People are looking at me like I'm an idiot when I'm walking past them because everyone has like a little light backpack. I look like a donkey, you know. I'm starting to realize why people hire Sherpas. So the hike took a little longer than expected because of all the equipment I had to carry up. It took over four hours and I was feeling exhausted, not only because I had to carry all the stuff, but I think also because of the altitude. Okay, so I'm trying to figure out what to bring and what not to bring. And I don't think I'm gonna bring as much climbing stuff as I thought I would. Just bringing a few cams, Grigli, microtraction. I'm also bringing this for upcycling. And of course, a lot of camera gear, ice axe. The funny thing is that all this stuff is new. The ice axe, I just bought it. Never really used one of these before. Crampons, same thing. Probably should have tested this before coming here, but this was so last minute. It's just so hard to say what to bring, you know, because you definitely don't want to be heavy, but you also don't want to be cold. They also recommended a 40 meter rope. I only have 35, but I think that should be all right. Okay, so we're starting. It's an alpine start. It's 5 a.m. Did not sleep much last night. Probably, I mean, my watch said two hours, so that's not ideal. So just before I set off, I had breakfast at the Hornly Huts. There were a lot of nervous people around. People started asking me why I was there and who I was climbing with. And when I told them that I was climbing alone, people seemed very surprised. And that's when it started to hit me, like how serious this was. Okay, so I'm making progress. I'm about, I'm blinding myself completely now, but I'm about 200 meters up. This is like the easy part, but it's also the part where it's easy to get lost. So I'm trying to be a little bit careful, not go too fast. There's also a lot of other climbers starting at the same time, so it's pretty hectic, trying to pass people. Thanks. Magnus. Magnus Mitpo. Yeah. Oh, that's good to see you, man. Very good to see you, too. I check your YouTube. I always watch it. Oh, thanks, man. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, stay safe. Yeah, bye. Goddamn, it's so beautiful. Sun is rising behind me. I'm about 300 meters up. This is just the easy part, though. Most of the people here have guides, which says online, if you're not very experienced, you should have a guide. So I'm gonna give it an honest attempt. I'm not sure if I'll get to the very top, because the top is covered with ice, and I'm not an ice climber. I mean, look at this. So far, it's just been really beautiful. I haven't used my rope at all, but I definitely think I'm gonna have to use it eventually. Now it looks pretty steep, and yeah, I should be careful. I mean, especially if I get lost, that's my biggest concern, is getting lost, because there's a lot of loose rock here. This part above me looks pretty steep, too. Okay, that was the wrong way. I had been warned before by the guides that the route finding was one of the main challenges of this mountain, but now I could really see why. Because of all the loose rock, it was essential to not get lost. So what you see up there is the Solvi Hut. I don't know, you probably don't see it, but there's some red up there, and from there, it gets really hardcore. The whole point of that cabin is that you can use it for emergencies, like rescue someone. But now I'm at the Solvi Hut. Look at that. That's really cool. You're not allowed to camp in it unless there's an emergency. You're not allowed to plan on spending a night there. I wonder if we can go in and have a look, though. Something's stuck. There we go. So this is how it looks like inside. Pretty primitive, a lot of trash. I would not want to spend a night in here, but at the same time, it's so much better than spending a night freezing your ass off in the mountains. And Solvi, okay, so he's probably gonna put this up. So he put this up in 1916, but the Matterhorn was first dissented in 1865 by a British climbing party. Apparently, there was competition between the Brits and the Italians, but the Brits beat them to it, but not by a lot. And unfortunately, on the way down, a few of the men from that first expedition fell and passed. And that's what they say, that the most dangerous part is on the way down. So there's a line of people here waiting to climb. It's the last 400 meters, right? Yeah. Whoa. God damn, that was a big rock fall. So yeah, seeing that loose rock was really scary. It showed how climbing this solo just adds another dimension to this. No matter your climbing abilities, if you climb V17 or 9C, if you get hit by a loose rock and you're not attached to a partner or rope, you're going to fall. And on this mountain, you don't get a second chance. So even though I had a rope, I did not use it yet. You might think this is dumb, but you see, I just know that it would take so much extra time if I did use the rope, and spending extra time comes with its own dangers. The longer you spend climbing, the more chance of you getting trapped by a storm or hit by a rock, and so many other things can happen too. This is why you kind of want to minimize the time spent on the wall, because time spent equals risk. Oh, this is tiring. Everything is like a thousand times harder than it normally would have been because of this f***ing altitude. Okay, so I'm at 4,200 meters, I think now. 4,216. And yeah, it gets harder and harder. I have a pretty bad headache right now. I don't know if it's because of the altitude or because of lack of sleep. Yeah, other than that, amazing. Amazing place, amazing view. Just look at that. Part of me wants to take like a 10 minute nap, power nap, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. And also everyone walking past me will think I'm dead, so probably shouldn't do that. It looks like I've reached the first part where I need my crampons. So I'm gonna put on the crampons now. Wish I was in a better spot. It's not ideal to put them on right here, but I had actually just bought these crampons in ISEX. And to be honest, I didn't really know how to use them. I actually had to look up online the days before how to use them. My biggest fear for this upper part was for one of my crampons to come loose or undone, because if one of these slipped, that would be the end. So I was making extra sure that it was attached really well. I was also really starting to feel the altitude. Everything costs so much power, just opening the backpack, putting on the crampons, and even putting up the camera at this point took a lot of energy out of me. But at the same time, it also gave me a little bit of motivation switching to ice climbing gear, because I knew that the top must be somewhere near. Really cold, it's really windy up here. So as soon as I find some shelter, I think I'm gonna put on some more clothes. But now it's this part right here. It's very, very steep, way steeper than I thought it'd be. This is the steepest section on the mountain. And for this section, you have fixed ropes. It makes it a little bit safer and easier, but at the same time, it's very physical to pull yourself up. I did attach a small sling to the rope, but to be honest, I really don't recommend doing it like this. The amount of protection this gave me was very minimal. This was also the first time where I started to seriously consider turning around. I could feel the altitude really starting to affect my judgment. I felt like I could easily make some small mistake. And at this point, that would most certainly be fatal. It should be around a hundred meters, a little bit more from the summit. And yeah, now I'm really starting to feel it, the altitude and everything. And it's also really cold. I want to put on another layer, but there's nowhere. I'm just afraid of like everything flying off, like the jacket and stuff. So I'm gonna find like a better place to do that. Listen, I don't know if you can hear me, but the iceberg looks pretty gnarly. Jesus, that was a chaffy jam up here. The summit ice slope felt extremely sketchy, not just because of me and my lack of experience, but also because there were so many people surrounding me. Any slight slip from me or anyone above me could easily be the end. So at this point, the altitude was really taking its toll. I was really having to dig deep, but since I was so close, I just kept going, knowing the end had to be there. All right. So this is the top. Look at this. Oh my God. Feel like you're on top of the world. This is crazy. Never been this high before. And you can see Switzerland is that way. And then Italy is down there. Yeah, likewise. No, it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. Where are you guys from? Austria. Austria, okay, cool. Well, stay safe on the way down. Yeah, you too. Yeah, see you down there. So even though I look pretty happy here, celebrating and everything, inside, I was really not doing so well. The altitude and exhaustion was really bad. I was told 80% of accidents happen going down the mountain. So I knew the descent was going to be far more challenging and dangerous than anything I had faced so far. This is a little bit scary. I don't remember this being sketchy. So apparently, it's supposed to go up this guy's head. Saint Bernard, good luck. So it was around here that things got really sketchy. The altitude was really starting to eat away at me and I could feel myself making more mistakes. Now I could really see why this section was so prone to accidents. I knew I just had to try to keep my focus and nerves under control. I also decided not to use my rope for this section. There were just so many people stuck right here. Would most likely have added at least a couple of hours to my journey. You okay? So that was really terrifying. I wasn't attached to ropes or slings, nothing. Just a few centimeters to the right and that would have been the end. I would most likely have tumbled down the whole mountain. I actually had to take a break at this point and really gather my thoughts because I still had a long way to go. And below me, I had the whole fixed rope section, which is really physical. I was so exhausted. I basically had to stop talking and just solely focus on getting down the mountain at this point. But I then encounter a new problem. I'm not sure if it was exhaustion or confusion from the altitude, but I got really lost. I was finding it nearly impossible to find my way and caught myself straying onto some extremely sketchy new territory. The weather also started to turn, which was pretty worrying. Thick clouds started to form around me and I knew I didn't have a lot of time to get back to safety. Oh, it's this way. Oh, thank you. That's good. Saved. That could have been bad. I can see the hut finally. Oh yeah. So excited. Oh, f***. So I reached the Salvi Hut and I feel pretty safe. I'm so exhausted that I don't really have energy to talk to the camera, but I make it back down from there safely. And the next day, one of the guides who were up on the mountain, he texted me and he said that he's glad that I made it back safely. He said there were two accidents on the mountain that day. One guy ripped off a piece of rock and fell 10 meters. And then another person got a rock in their head or helmet. And yeah, just the whole experience though, in total, to sum it up, it's probably the first video I've ever made where I kind of regret making the video. And that's because of the lack of preparation. And yeah, I don't know. I think it was a little bit too risky. So I'm going to keep that in mind for my next adventure, if I do any similar adventures. And I also don't want anyone to copy what I did or anything that I do on this channel. But I want to thank you for watching and I will see you next time.