Anne van Kesteren

Matterhorn Tour

28 July 2010

A few days before leaving on vacation to Switzerland we walked into a mountaineering store and found a book called Tour of the Matterhorn by Hilary Sharp. We skimmed through it and thought the seven stages it described could easily be done in the time allotted for our vacation. The evening before leaving we figured out it might be slightly tougher than anticipated, but still doable. Turns out — especially the first two days — walking in the mountains with an eighteen kilo or so backpack is quite exhausting. In fact, I can still feel my legs. Although somewhat shorter (estimated at about hundred forty-five kilometer rather than hundred seventy), the trail was quite a bit tougher than the Tour du Mont Blanc, which we walked a couple of years ago. Back then we did not carry a tent and cooking equipment either. Just like last time I kept some day-to-day logs.

Time (24h)	Location	Height (m)	Remarks
Day 1 — traveling and Part 1 of Stage 1
4:30	Utrecht		Time to wake up! (We had roughly two hours of sleep. Bah.)
4:45	Utrecht		Taxi.
7:20	Schiphol		Departure.
9:27	Aéroport International de Genève		Train.
13:30	Zermatt	1600	My Swiss watch tells me we are fifteen minutes late!
13:45	Zermatt		Acquired food and a map.
14:00	Zermatt		Heading to the start of the trail with an out in the open elevator.
14:20	Zermatt		Started walking!
21:00	Europahütte	2200	Finally arrived. We are both exhausted. A waterfall we went under just before arriving turned into a gigantic slide of mud just after we passed. Slept and ate in the hut because of the thunder and lightning outside. Overall a pretty exciting first day.
Day 2 — Part 2 of Stage 1 and a shortcut
6:45	Europahütte		Leaving with a slight headache.
7:30			Ate some breakfast.
9:15			Second break. Sun is coming up. Still a headache.
10:45			Third break.
13:45	St. Niklaus	1120	Fuck. It is Sunday and almost everything is closed. We manage to get some sandwiches and decide to sleep somewhere along the start of Stage 2.
15:00	Jungu	1998	We go up to Jungu with the Jungenbahn (CHF 10) as our legs no longer carry us and it was recommended by the book anyway. Quite nice.
17:00	Jungu		Ate some Rösti in a restaurant and read Pinball, 1973. Still a headache.
18:30	Jungu		Walking up the trail of Stage 2 to find a place for our tent. We think this might be illegal.
20:00			Sleep!
Day 3 — Stage 2 and Stage 3 with a shortcut
5:40			Waking up and packing up the tent.
6:20			Started walking.
9:20	Augstbordpass	2894	Yay!
9:50			Picked up a cat supposedly from the hotel we are going to. Carried the cat all the way down.
11:00			Cat jumps away.
11:05	Gruben	1822	Ordered a cola. Joël has an ice tea.
11:20	Gruben		The cat — not from the hotel — catches a mouse and lets it go again. Several times in a row.
12:00	Gruben		Schnitzel!
13:00	Gruben		Heading out again for Stage 3.
15:30	Meidpass	2790
16:10			Here there is a shortcut down to the valley for Saint-Luc. Not an official route. Not having much energy left after two passes we decide to take it.
16:30			Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. (This route stinks.)
19:00	Saint-Luc	1655	Just in time for the very last bus leaving Saint-Luc.
20:15	Zinal	1660	After having to wait in some other village for half an hour, finally there. Remy joins us here!
20:30	Zinal		A friendly lady points us to a hostel. There is no camping (it used to be there but was closed down; people suspect the hotels) and we have to stay in town to get fresh supplies from the supermarket in the morning.
22:20	Zinal		Finally sleeping.
Day 4 — Stage 4
6:45	Zinal	1660	Time to wake up and get breakfast.
7:30	Zinal		Supplies at the supermarket.
8:00	Zinal		Leaving!
11:30	Col de Sorebois	2835	Break.
13:00	Lac de Moiry	2127	Another break. With a cola this time. Also fetching a nail clipper from inside the tent.
14:00	Lac de Moiry		Time to leave.
16:00	Col de Torrent	2919
17:00	Beplan	2536	We decide to put up camp here next to a lake.
19:15	Beplan		Early night.
Day 5 — time to rest (due to bad weather and general tiredness)
4:30	Beplan	2536	Early morning.
5:10	Beplan		On our way.
8:00	Les Haudères	1450	We need to get some medical supplies so have to walk back (partially) to Evolène. Joël lost a contact lens we cannot get back. (Nearest place with a chance was Sion; too far.)
9:30	Evolène	1371	Big brunch here.
11:15	Evolène		Taking the bus to Arolla, from where the route continues.
11:45	Arolla	2006	Bought gas, food, and safety pins to patch up the tent.
16:45	Arolla		Cooked a nice hot meal.
17:50	Arolla		In the tent reading while it rains outside.
Day 6 — Stage 5
4:30	Arolla	2006	Up, refreshed.
~5:30	Arolla		Gone!
~10:00			On the Haut Glacier d'Arolla. This is very exciting. Also somewhat scary due to lack of crampons and sticks.
11:00	Col Collon	3087	Hello Italy.
11:45	Rifugio Collon-Nacamuli	2818	Got a pan of pasta with parmasan cheese to boot!
12:50	Rifugio Collon-Nacamuli		Leaving the hut.
15:00	Prarayer	2005	We put up the tent here. And we can take a shower! Yay.
19:00	Prarayer		Sleep.
Day 7 — Stage 6
4:30	Prarayer	2005	Wake up and pack up. Also an apple.
5:10	Prarayer		Start!
5:30			Rain. Bleh.
8:15			Ascent from hell. This is some fucked up terrain.
8:45	Colle di Valcournera	3066	Fuck. Descent from hell.
9:30	Rifugio Perucca-Vuillermoz	2910	Starts raining cats and dogs outside. Win. Great tuna pasta and some cheese and sausages for on the road.
10:50	Rifugio Perucca-Vuillermoz		Time to go down.
15:00	Breuil-Cervinia	2006	No camping in sight and not really able to walk much further either. Bah.
15:30	Breuil-Cervinia		Some food in the park. Fixing a cheap hotel. (Cheapest so far, admittedly.) Getting some supplies. Eating a pizza.
18:50	Breuil-Cervinia		Zzzzz.
Day 8 — Stage 7
4:30	Breuil-Cervinia	2006	Up!
5:00	Breuil-Cervinia		And away!
9:15	Theodulpass	3301	To get up here there was a lot of strong wind and snow. Tricky but fun. Patching up one of Joël’s shoes and re-attaching his glasses with tape. Not his lucky day. Also, hello Switzerland.
10:15	Theodulpass		Heading up the glacier. Whee! One of my legs slips through a crack and I hit the glacier with my knee. 1-0 for the glacier.
11:15			Off the glacier. Ugly-ass looking building. We decide to move on. Slightly jealous of the people who were skiing down the glacier.
14:00	Zermatt	1600	We made it. Drei bier, bitte!
14:39	Zermatt		Off to Lausanne by train. It’s all over.

The overall story is much longer of course.

(On Flickr I posted a Matterhorn Tour set.)