Climbing The Matterhorn is SCARY!

Matterhorn, Matterhorn, look at some pretty Matterhorn. Hello and welcome to Doozer Cruiser Studio. Doozer TV, I don't know what I call this. This is just where I edit. And it happens to also be right next to my bed. You like my big D? So this year I've been cranking out YouTube videos like crazy. Filming, editing, filming, editing. And it's been a lot of fun. I love it. I'm sharing a lot of stories. I'm not really making any money doing it. But at the end of the day it's fun to be like, Wow, I created something new today. This is awesome. I'm going through a lot of my old hard drives looking at footage. And usually if I film something, I edit it. It's pretty much automatic. It's very rare that I go film an adventure and never create anything out of it. But there was one time, one time long ago, I did film something that I never edited, never put out into the world. Two years, actually a little bit over two years ago, I went to Switzerland. The Swiss Tourism Board were kind enough to send me all the way to Switzerland to cover the 150th anniversary of the first climb up the Matterhorn. And I said, well that sounds like a pretty awesome trip. I'll do that. I didn't know anything about the Matterhorn. I'm not really a mountain climber, but I figured I could do it. You know, if I put my mind to something, I accomplish it. I accomplish it. So I did a little bit of research about the Matterhorn. And I was like, okay, cool. It's about 14-ish thousand feet. No problem. I've been up to 19,000 feet in Nepal. You know, it said you're going to need to do some ice climbing. Okay, cool. I've done some ice climbing. Mountaineering is not my specialty, but I figured I could, I could pull it off. So I said, yes, Swiss Tourism Board, send me to Switzerland. And I will climb your Matterhorn. So off I go to Switzerland. And Switzerland, by the way, this was my first time. The entire country is absolutely stunning. The mountains, the views, the houses, the people, everything in Switzerland is beautiful. The train ride into the town of Zermatt was incredible. Toward the end of the train ride, I can start to see the Matterhorn. And it looks scary. It looks unclimbable. And this is the first point where I'm like, oh boy, this is going to be a challenge. Zermatt, by the way, is probably one of my favorite little towns in the world. Why? There are no cars allowed in Zermatt. Once we get to Zermatt, we meet up with the entire crew of journalists from around the world. We've got Italy and Germany, American, Swiss, and a whole gaggle of Japanese ladies. And they were probably my favorite. Japanese people are just always so cheery. I love them. During our first initial meeting is when they tell us that this has been a horrible summer in Europe in general. Very wet. So it's like winter-like conditions on the Matterhorn. No Swiss guide had even attempted it. And this was the end of the season. And so they're telling us this might not happen. It's just too dangerous. Because the conditions are very difficult. There's lots of snow in the Matterhorn. And at the end, it stays a decision of your guide, of your personal guide. After the training session, if you will climb the Matterhorn or not. Oh, great. An already dangerous mountain is even more dangerous. The first thing on the agenda is to do a practice climb. And we do a practice climb on the Breithorn. Right over there. You can see it, right? This is where I start to realize that maybe I'm in over my head. It is incredibly beautiful out here. I've never seen anything quite like it. We broke through the clouds and now it is pure beauty. Mother Nature is putting on a show. The beginning part is fine. It's easy. We're just treaded through some snow. And then we put on our crampons and start going straight up. I've never done anything like this before. Really? Never. It's exciting. I'm tied up to my guide and to this Japanese girl. And we're just tic-tacking up these rocks. And we're scraping by with our crampons. And I feel very uncomfortable. And then we start to have this exposure on both sides of us. Like this thousand foot drop-off. And I'm just paralyzed with fear. Like I can barely move. I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. And right now my guide is like, who is this guy? I thought they invited climbing journalists to Switzerland. This guy is not a climber. And it became very apparent, very quickly, that I was in over my head. Do you not feel safe? It's your home place here. The Japanese chicks are like taking selfies and taking photos of each other. And they're totally comfortable. And I'm like, I am not totally comfortable at all. We're on the top of the Brighthorn. 4,100 meters something. I've been a lot higher than this. In my life. But this has definitely been the most scary climb of my life. By far. Times 10. After the Brighthorn, I'm thinking, there's no way I can do the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is even harder than the Brighthorn. Richard Branson's son actually had been rescued off the top of the mountain just a week before we got there. So I'm looking at this like suicide. Like this is not smart. I'm an inexperienced climber. Conditions are not good. And you suck at heights because you freak out. The Matterhorn is actually more deadly than Mount Everest. I did not tell my mom that little fun fact. There it is. Right behind me, the Matterhorn. This is the first day where you can actually see it. It's kind of been hidden in clouds for the past few days. Lo and behold, the sky is clear. And we have like a one day window where they think the Matterhorn is safe enough to give it a shot. So here we go. Here I am getting ready. And check this out. I was going to put on one last little bit of deodorant. Oh, man. The adrenaline version. And look at that guy. Doing exactly what I'm going to be doing. Oh, I look like a speed skater with this hood on. We travel up the day before to get to base camp. And it's really easy. It's just a hike. But I keep looking at the Matterhorn thinking there is no way. I mean, I've done some 14ers in Colorado and stuff. But essentially you just hike to the top. You don't even need to climb. Matterhorn is very technical climbing. You look awesomely silhouetted right there. We get to base camp, and it's bizarre looking. They have all these metal tents all set up. It looks like something that you would see in a sci-fi movie on the surface of another planet. What do you think about our digs? Pretty sweet. I've never stayed in a metal tent. Here's our metal tent. This is the best view I've had of the Matterhorn the entire week. It's just right there. It looks like a big middle finger just saying, **** you, Ryan. Come and get it. I mean, peek out my tent. You can just, it's right there. It's just, it looks like the most intimidating thing I've ever seen. I'm hanging out with my Japanese buddies. These ladies are helping my nerves a little bit. They're funny, they're cheery, they're smiley. I need this type of energy, and the Japanese girls are providing that. Why are you so excited? Why? Because I can go to Matterhorn! I'm scared. I'm scared of the Matterhorn. Yeah, me too. Are you scared? Yes, a little scared, but I'll do my best. Yeah, exactly. I meet my guide. So this is my guide. You're my guide. High five. I just have to go for a pee. Okay. We each had our very own guide. We're always tied into the guide. So I feel safe enough. The guide's not going to let me die, but still, I'm scared. This is my good luck rock. In this random moment up there, I met this little girl who was up there with her parents, and she was so sweet, and she was running around collecting rocks and giving everybody a little good luck rock. And I was like, you know what? You are my angel, little girl. You are my angel. I'm going to take this good luck rock and see if I can get it to the top. Are you on camera now? So tell me about these rocks. They're good luck rocks? Yeah. They're shiny. They're special. They're beautiful. They're special and beautiful? Go see you. So we just had dinner. We met all of our guides. I have a new guide named Fabian, and he seems pretty cool. And he's kind of giving me the lay of the land. He says we'll go as far as we can, as far as I feel comfortable. If we can't do it, then we'll go down and drink beer. They're calling for some serious wind, though, tomorrow. Usually it comes from the east, and it gets blocked by the mountain. But tomorrow they're saying it's coming from the north, and we're going to get slammed. So I think the guides are going to make a call about it tomorrow. But right now the plan is to go to the top. We'll see what happens. Here it is. Well, good morning. It's early as hell. And it's beautiful. Full moon. The Matterhorn is kind of illuminated. The wind has died down. It's nice and calm. It actually feels warmer now than it did last night in the windstorm. Let's do this thing, baby. The footage isn't very good because it's pitch black. And it's just, you see, like, the shine of my flashlight flailing around. And my guide, he's essentially just pulling me up the mountain as we go. As we get higher and higher, it gets a little bit lighter, but it's still pretty dark outside. It gets harder and harder and more and more steep. And all the rocks are freezing cold, and a lot of them are covered in ice. And the crampons, and it's just an awkward movement. Like, I just, I'm flailing around like a fool. But I'm making progress. I'm getting higher and higher. And we make it to one of the huts up there. I forget which hut it was, but we make it to a hut. And then we hit this wall, and I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying. I don't know if I can do this. My guide's like, the weather's getting worse. It's getting windier. When my guide says there's no point, it signals the end of the ascent. We're not going to get to the top of the Matterhorn. But it also relaxes me. It gives me permission to stop, because I don't know if I would have stopped if he hadn't said no more. And in this situation, I'm happy, actually. I'm happy that I'm alive and going down, because that is the most important part, going home alive. On the way down, we see this amazing sunrise. Through the clouds, and it's all misty and orange. And it was really a fun moment to be part of, because if I had gone to the top, I wouldn't have seen this magical orange cloud. Okay, I will repel you. Oh, we're repelling, okay. All the way down onto the snowfield. Which way? Just straight down. It was a total relief to be heading down in one piece. But going down didn't necessarily mean that it was easy. It was actually pretty sketchy going all the way down this super steep mountain. And now that it wasn't dark, I could actually see what I was doing. And I was like, wow, I am on the side of a freaking cliff right now. Oh, there it is, those ones. Those red ones? The coolest moment going down was when these fighter jets flew by. They were on some sort of a training mission. Wow, that's cool. As the clouds began to disappear, I got to see the landscape around me. And it was stunning. You know, Colorado is pretty awesome in the high country. But this definitely beats anything that Colorado has. These mountains are out of this world. And a few steps later, my Matterhorn adventure was over. So let's talk a little bit about failure. I failed. I didn't make it to the top of the Matterhorn. I went all the way to Switzerland, and I didn't do it. And in the moment, I was pretty bummed out. But soon after, I didn't really care. Because the experience was so amazing. I mean, that's what adventure is all about. You're not always going to win. And that's okay. It's all about the people you meet and the culture you get to learn about and these amazing life experiences you get to have. I will always think of this experience as one of the highlights of my life. Because it pushed me so far. It pushed me mentally. It pushed me physically. And I got to the very edge of where I felt I was comfortable. And I went a little bit past it, but I didn't go all the way past it because I wanted to go home alive. I'm extremely grateful for that experience. It teaches me a lot about myself. It teaches me about being humble. And it teaches me about having to be prepared, better prepared in the future for an adventure like this. And check it out. This is the jacket I wore on the Matterhorn. And look what is still in the pocket. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. My magic rock that that little girl gave me. It will always be very special and important to me. So, Matterhorn, thank you. I love you, Matterhorn. Maybe I'll see you on top another day. Boom.