Ok so we planned to go climb the Matterhorn in September but recently found out the hut is closed from Sept 15th and generally the mountain is out of condition that late. Stupid really i should have done my research earlier.

Anyway given the fact we have flights and accommodation in Zermatt can anyone suggest a summit or two we could attempt instead. As a pair we climbing up to E3 rock or F7a sport but we havent got a whole lot of winter experience. As a result we wanted to do something AD or around there. We're confident Simul climbing and using our winter gear but just haven't done a whole lot other that in England a little bit in the Alps.

Suggestions on a postcard please for around Mid September.

Cheers

Tim

Dufour?

From my very, very limited experience...

I climbed the Matterhorn after the hut closed and the conditions were fine. The hut is accessible through a winter entrance so you can sleep there. You're so close to the end of the "season", I'd check conditions when you arrive and consider going and use other climbs as a plan b. If the weather works out and you think you can do it in the amount of daylight hours available (a few hours less than a typical summer climb...a consideration for me b/c I tend to be slow) there's a major, major advantage of having few other people on the route since rockfall is the biggest hazard.

We climbed Aiguille du Chardonnet near the end of Sept which was fun, short. I think Mittelligi Hut (Eiger) should be open through Sept if you wanted to try something like that which looks fun (but need to check conditions.) Anyway, I'm sure there are loads of people on this site who have more experience and can give better advice. Good luck!