climbing the matterhorn with a guide...have some questions
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:13 am
i am fairly new climber...i have climb real rock up to 5.8 on one full day occasion, i have climbed many times in the gym at 5.10, occasional rare 5.11 level. i have also spent two days glacier trekking and ice climbing(easy climbing), so i at least have familiarity with crampons. i am in great physical condition...i live away from the mountains and cannot climb often, i stay in shape by working out 6 times a week, hard cardio and strength training. also, later this spring i will fly to the rocky mountains to take a week long mountaineering course, with focuses on rock and snow skills. during this trip i will attempt and plan to complete at least one 14k+ summit.
for a variety of motivations, i wish to climb the matterhorn with a guide at the end of this coming summer. i plan to find a guide and do one preview climb in the alps before this. will i have adequate preparation to make the climb guided? i read conflicting reports...some say a guide could get a cow up and down the matterhorn, others say it is only for advanced climbers. my only goal is to make the climb safe.
please do not lecture about how climbing with a guide is not worth doing and i should postpone the trip for several year until i have the experience to climb it on my own. what i want to know is will i be able to do it with a guide safely, with my experiences i have listed above.
i have a few other questions:
is it better to get a guide from the zermatt mountain guide office, or the to hire a private guide who is unaffiliated with them? again, i have read conflicting stories...some say the swiss guides are better because they get to leave the hornli hut before everyone, other say they can be rude towards foreign clients and intentionally stop the climbing before the summit.
what is the best time period to climb, both for best conditions and smallest crowds? i know climbing season is mid july to mid sept, but is there a smaller window in that time i should aim for?
i read the guides short rope clients on the climb...is short roping really safe? i am sure this is not likely, but i would fear the guide slpping and pulling me off the mountain with him. for those of you have climbed the matterhorn, just how steep and objective dangerous is it? how many instances, if any, are there where you are really in dicey situation and unroped/unprotected where a minor bad step will mean certainly fatal falls?
thanks for any help!
for a variety of motivations, i wish to climb the matterhorn with a guide at the end of this coming summer. i plan to find a guide and do one preview climb in the alps before this. will i have adequate preparation to make the climb guided? i read conflicting reports...some say a guide could get a cow up and down the matterhorn, others say it is only for advanced climbers. my only goal is to make the climb safe.
please do not lecture about how climbing with a guide is not worth doing and i should postpone the trip for several year until i have the experience to climb it on my own. what i want to know is will i be able to do it with a guide safely, with my experiences i have listed above.
i have a few other questions:
is it better to get a guide from the zermatt mountain guide office, or the to hire a private guide who is unaffiliated with them? again, i have read conflicting stories...some say the swiss guides are better because they get to leave the hornli hut before everyone, other say they can be rude towards foreign clients and intentionally stop the climbing before the summit.
what is the best time period to climb, both for best conditions and smallest crowds? i know climbing season is mid july to mid sept, but is there a smaller window in that time i should aim for?
i read the guides short rope clients on the climb...is short roping really safe? i am sure this is not likely, but i would fear the guide slpping and pulling me off the mountain with him. for those of you have climbed the matterhorn, just how steep and objective dangerous is it? how many instances, if any, are there where you are really in dicey situation and unroped/unprotected where a minor bad step will mean certainly fatal falls?
thanks for any help!