The Matterhorn // The Most Recognizable Mountain in the World

I have to pinch myself. I can't believe I'm about to embark on the Matterhorn. Big question is on snow. You can see there's a little bit of dusting of snow, but I thought there'd be more actually. Danny seems to be a little bit more concerned in terms of thinking that there might be too much snow. I've heard so many times from different people that you just don't climb the Matterhorn when it's got snow on it. My confidence level's at 45%, but we're just going to poke our way up there, see what we find, and keep going if we like what we find. It should be 6,000 feet, a couple miles, and a lot of fixed line between us and the summit. It's going to be a good day, I think. We're doing it. It is Matterhorn day. Couldn't be more psyched and wanting to do this ever since I knew it existed. Maybe first time I got a Toblerone chocolate bar. I'm guessing we've got eight hours to do this to get back to the tram. Otherwise, we've got an extra 3,000 feet of descent. That's a pretty good motivator. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully, we summit and every Toblerone chocolate bar from now on will be that much more sweet. This came together in such mediocre amateur fashion. We were supposed to be doing Blanc today and at around 10 o'clock last night, Daniel realizes that we don't have the right tickets to do the MIDI and we can't get them. We called an audible about 10 o'clock, drove two and a half hours to Zermatt, found what I think is the last hotel in the entire town. Then six hours after we checked in, we started heading up the Matterhorn. What could possibly go wrong? We are at the Hornly Hut. Got here in an hour or less from Schwarzy to the Brighthorn behind me. It's going to be interesting. I still have my doubts, but they've been reduced as we've gotten closer, which is always a good sign. Made it to the Hornly Hut. This is what half of a $10 water looks like. Remember to fill your bladders before coming here if you're going to make your way in this direction. But it is good. Tastes like a $10 water. We are at what looks like the start of the actual Matterhorn. The very first technical node. Looks pretty spicy. First couple fixed lines. I'm sure the first of many, many fixed lines. We're at the Savoy Hut, rescue hut. 13,000 feet-ish. Supposedly, we've got like 1,500 feet more to go, but also the most dangerous 1,400 feet. After we summon, I'll say whether or not I think we've made all the right decisions, but so far we've made some really good ones and they deserve recognition. Does smell like a giant human turd at this hut, but small price to pay for a little bit of warmth and shelter. Close to 14,000 feet. Summit push, the steep part, the ropes course all above us, as well as a large crowd of people, but I do think we'll have the summit to ourselves because this is probably that group of people that slowly plotted up since early this morning. Everyone who's come down has had this real beat look on their face and shouted angrily about the cold and wind. Right here, it's nice, but man, it does look windy up there. It's going to be great character building time. See all the parties that just passed us. Looks like the route is almost pretty party free. I'd be surprised if we passed more than one or two other folks. We just suited up, have all our warm layers up, got our crampons on, ready to give this last push a go. At this point, we have to get on the right-hand side of the ridge or the north face. The wind is whipping, so it's going to be nice and cold. Summit of the Matterhorn, looking down into Italy. Those people we passed prepared me for the chill and my body subconsciously just warmed itself up because I am not that cold. We are above 14,000 feet here in the Swiss Alps on one of the most iconic peaks in the entire world. We talk about Switzerland having this Disneyland mountaineering feel, but really, Disneyland has the Switzerland mountain feel. They have the Matterhorn. We're going to eat here in this wind shadow with these amazing views of Brighthorn and this range. Aaron is so high right now on Mountain Spirit. I am feeling the Mountain Spirit like I've never felt it. I don't know if it's just the fact that we're on the Matterhorn. I think this is the highest I've ever been, 14,700 feet. I honestly don't know how I got up here. It was purely on adrenaline. It certainly wasn't on rest and sleep. Honestly, there was a part of last night when the jet lag caught up with me. I was wide awake. I'm like, I don't think I'll be able to do this tomorrow, but I felt pretty good. I was stoked on how I felt actually. At the risk of stating the obvious, the thing that makes the summit so awesome is the same thing that makes it look so cool from the valley. It's so steep on every side. It just drops off in every direction. It's unreal. So freaking awesome up here. Top of the Matterhorn, feeling the summit spirit. We are on top of the mountain that is on every bar of chocolate, every screensaver, and every little kid's dream. It's incredible. Clouds are starting to form quickly, so we might want to get off this thing, but it has been incredible. We are in this wind shadow. We cannot feel the wind at all. It's warm. It's sunny. I thought it might be another summit up here, just another summit, but it is so much cooler than I could have imagined. The position up here is incredible. The view is incredible. I am so stoked to be here. I cannot believe we're here. Woo! And off. Back at Schwarzsee. This is where we started, but unfortunately we can't end here. We missed the last gondola, not because of the slow roped up parties in front of us, but kind of because of the slow roped up parties in front of us on the way up and down. I thought this would happen, so I stashed a pair of comfortable shoes rather than my approach shoes. And now we get the long three mile walk into town down like two or three thousand feet of vert after doing the Matterhorn. There are many things I've done that just I never expected to do, but climbing the Matterhorn is up there. I was blown away when we got to the summit. I don't know what it is, but I just thought I never thought this was in the cards. And you look at it and I'm like, there's no way that I could climb that. There's no way. And so definitely stoked. The whole thing was just unbelievable. We had perfect weather and the scrambling is so fun, like good rock for the most part. Now all that's left is to find some delicious fondue. That was a full value adventure. Kind of had everything, the views, the snow and the ice, the great scrambling, great weather and just such like a high priority bucket list mountain.