I want to climb mountains. So far this is the second time I’ve said this in a post. Having just moved to the UK and with a European winter fast approaching, I took the first opportunity I had to head to dig my heels into the cold white stuff. I’ve never been higher than Australia’s little Kozzy mountain at 2200 metres, so this intro to altitude was quite an adventure on my first 4000 metre mountain – The Briethorn Traverse.
Switzerland
I’ve posted another story on my overall trip to Zermatt HERE, but thought it best to cover off my climbing experience solely. This post covers what goes into a climb of the Breithorn, what to expect, what to prepare for and what I learnt for the whole experience.
s a back story, I’ve spent the last 2 years increasing my rock climbing skills, have introduced myself to alpine climbing and mountaineering through courses and trips with friends. Safe to say, I pretty much though I was Edmund Hillary at this point. So, naturally, I booked into a guided trip of the Breithorn traverse, one of the alps premier climbs, summiting 5 peaks over 4000 metres.
Altitude
Now, to frame up the escapade, I’ll first say that I’d never been at altitude. Didn’t know what it feels like but also underestimated the effect it has on the human body. I went from sea level to 3800 metres (top of Klein Matterhorn) in 30 hours thinking I would be completely fine.
Guides
There are many guiding companies to choose from, some more well known, others are independent guides working on their own. I chose Zermatters because of their offering, communication and very slick looking website (that matters of course). They offer guiding on just about anything in the alps you can think of.
The Breithorn traverse stood out to me due to it’s one day nature and because it seemed more adventurous then other more mainstream ‘my first 4000 metre’ group tours. A few conversation by email and I was booked on the Breithorn Traverse for a cost of 700 Swiss Francs.
Gear & Equiptment
This can be a tricky one, depending on the climb and the weather this can change quite alot. All of the technical gear you can hire in Zermatt, I got mine from Yosemite for reasonably cheap. Below is a list of what you’ll need and what you can hire.
Personal Items
– Socks, Underwear, thermals (if the forecast is cold)
– Climbing pants (soft shell)
– Hardshell Jacket
– Climbing shirt (sweat wicking)
– Mid-weight down jacket (should stuff down to go in your pack)
Hireable Items
– Boots & Crampons
– Ice axe & walking poles
– Backpack / rucksack
– Harness
– Helmet
Breithorn
My First 4000 Metre Mountain
My guide’s name is Alexander, a German man, who guides in summer in Zermatt and climbs on his own for the winter months in Germany. He checked my gear was adequate for the journey and off we set, on the Klein Matterhorn express. Firstly, I’d never been on a premium European chairlift before so this was an adventure in itself. Secondly, we covered 2 vertical kilometres in 15 minutes. I was shocked this could happen.
Hitting the Ice
Arriving at the top we set off on foot across the glacier, roped in typical glacier style with myself connected to Alex leaving about 10 metres between us. We navigated our way towards a gentle looking slope for 500 metres, before veering right into what looked like glaciated crevasses. We clipped on our crampons and started to traverse the Glacier coming down the western side of the traverse.
At this point I wasn’t feeling the greatest, unbeknownst to me altitude was having an extreme effect on my ability. What would be an easy walk, had me gasping for air. Where I would usually excel going uphill, I found I had no energy.
To make matters worse, when walking in crampons, you roll your ankles slightly when stepping to make sure all your points are in the snow. Having broken my ankle 5 months prior rock climbing in Australia, I found I had no strength in that ankle. My first 4000 metre mountain wasn’t going well…..
Time for a New Plan
We arrived at the hanging glacier below the traverse. A quick 150 metre climb would have us on the traverse, on our way to the Breithorn summit. We scaled about 30 metres of the 150 and I was feeling vastly out of my comfort zone. 2 years in between crampon session, a broken ankle and no acclimatisation to altitude was playing with my confidence in a rather exposed environment.
I told Alex how I was feeling. He offered to climb higher to put me on belay, which we did. Arriving 30 metres higher I was still feeling disproportionately uneasy about the circumstance. After a quick conversation we pivoted on our initial plan for the traverse and decided to scale down, cross the glacier again and summit the normal Breithorn climb. Something which would be more within my grasp.
To say I was upset was an understatement. How could I be so underprepared? The only shining light was that we could make a plan that meant I could still achieve somewhat of a goal
Summit Attempt #2
Climbing down from altitude is disproportionate to climbing up. It’s ant-agonisingly easy. Every step feels like a joy while more and more life enters your lungs. It propositions questions as to why you turned around in the first place. The internal battles multiplied for the kilometre of downward and flat gradient we covered. Until, we turned upward again.
By this stage I was exhausted of energy, I skipped my morning breakfast and caffein ritual (nothing opens early in Switzerland) and was feeling the effects. We started in the incline again to the main Breithorn summit. Now keep in mind, this is romantically called ‘my first 4000 metre’. It’s considered the easiest 4000 metre peaks in the Swiss alps.
However, after being on the climb for 5 hours already and feeling quite spent, to me it felt like a lifetime achievement. We trudged for an hour, and I mean trudged. Alex was a great sport. Climbing at what was obviously an incredibly slow pace for him, while I laboured behind. It wasn’t technical at all, just a lengthy uphill stride after hours already climbing.
Success!!!
We reached the top for a very windy summit at approximately 2:30pm. We stopped short by about 20 metres, dropping our gear down to prepare ourselves for the gusty onslaught as we popped our heads over the summit ridge into the full brunt of the wind. Sure, i was happy. However I could barely muster a smile. Alex had to tell me to look more enthusiastic so he could take a photo… Thanks alex…
The view…. the view was to die for. It is amazing. With an unobstructed die on view of the Matterhorn, silhouetted by a backdrop of the swiss alps and Mont Black in the distance. I truly has to be seen to be believed. I regret not taking more photo’s however I was still trying to figure out how to breathe.
After a a few minutes of respite we started our homeward journey. Once again, descending was a joy. Life was coming back to me and I was pondering what I could’ve done to set myself up for success before the climb. Unfortunately the list was endless and as a personal motivator to myself, you can find it below.
We cruised on back to Klein Matterhorn and took the speedy descent to Zermatt while sitting in silence. It was a palpable silence, even uncomfortable. I’m very sure Alex was out for a strong day of climbing and got stuck with me… poor guy.
Arriving back at Zermatt Alex and I departed ways and I ducked into the closest restaurant I could find, a pizza joint. I ate the best pizza of my life that day. I’m not sure if it was actually good or potentially my senses were swayed because I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours and climbed a 4000 metres mountain. Guess we’ll never know.
Learnings
As my little Motivator, here is my list of things I could’ve done to prepare better.
- Breakfast
- Coffee
- Nutrition for the day
- Researching the route
- Discussing the route in more depth
- Stretching and mobilising pre climb
- Training hill climbing with weight
- And last but not least – choosing a route within my experience level.
All in all, many lessons were learnt and it will make me all the better climber in the future.
