....whatever did you guys do in the days before mechanical aids like cable cars?
Are you really justified in thinking of this a "problem" when you are relying on something which has no business in the mountain environment in the first place?
Not being confrontational or (I hope) overly negative here - just putting the point forward for discussion.
well, two days later we walked up/climbed Dom, which is the 4.000'er in the Alps with the most climb from valley to peak, 3.200 meters!!, so we do not always take the cable car.
That being said, I would off course prefer to do the climbs without cable cars, but living in Denmark that has no mountains at all means we only have limited time, when we finally get to the mountains. Taking the cable car allows me to maximize the time spent in true alpine environments and skip some of the more boring part of walking up through the forests (which I surely have done plenty of earlier).
The large number of cable cars in the Alps provides an easy access to high altitude mountains - but is probably also the reason we see so many accididents in the Alps.
So to answer your question, cable cars are present in the Alps and plenty of climbers use them, so missing the cable car is a problem in your planning.
Summit fever can be a very evil thing! I've done my fair share of stupid things while under its influence. I'm glad you've thought about that day and analyzed what mistakes were made. It will hopefully help you and others reading this make better decisions in the future.
I like this report and there is a lot to learn from this. I climbed the Pollux via the same route two days ago and also found out that the way back on the glacier is more strenuous than one would believe. Firstly, the snow is soft later in the day, and it is uphill. It took us 1.5 hours in the morning from Klein Matterhorn to the foot of Pollux and 2 hours back in the afternoon (around 12 PM to 2 PM).
But I think it is overdramatizing to make such a big fuzz about missing the last gondola. One is pretty safe in the Klein Matterhorn station. Stealing a pair of skis to get down to the valley would be justified if you were in danger, but that was not the case, so it would be kind of criminal to just take someone's skis. They might even belong to Lara Gut, and you would become infamous for stealing the skis of one of the biggest stars in the alpine ski world cup circus. ;-)
Compared to what some people go through if they have bad luck in the mountains, your problem was rather minimal.
I agree, back at the cable car we we "safe". The main problem was when we standing at Pollux with thunder above our heads. Being stuck at the cable car was just annoying since people were waiting for us down in Zermatt.
And don't worry, we would only have "borrowed" the skies if we has been in real danger - and anyways I doubt it was Lara's skies, though I wouldn't mind having had to return them to her the next day ;0)
vancouver islander - Nov 18, 2008 4:01 pm - Voted 10/10
Nice report but........whatever did you guys do in the days before mechanical aids like cable cars?
Are you really justified in thinking of this a "problem" when you are relying on something which has no business in the mountain environment in the first place?
Not being confrontational or (I hope) overly negative here - just putting the point forward for discussion.
Cheers,
Martin
damgaard - Nov 19, 2008 2:39 am - Hasn't voted
cable carswell, two days later we walked up/climbed Dom, which is the 4.000'er in the Alps with the most climb from valley to peak, 3.200 meters!!, so we do not always take the cable car.
That being said, I would off course prefer to do the climbs without cable cars, but living in Denmark that has no mountains at all means we only have limited time, when we finally get to the mountains. Taking the cable car allows me to maximize the time spent in true alpine environments and skip some of the more boring part of walking up through the forests (which I surely have done plenty of earlier).
The large number of cable cars in the Alps provides an easy access to high altitude mountains - but is probably also the reason we see so many accididents in the Alps.
So to answer your question, cable cars are present in the Alps and plenty of climbers use them, so missing the cable car is a problem in your planning.
cheers,
Jesper
SarahThompson - Nov 20, 2008 3:00 pm - Hasn't voted
Glad everything turned out OK!Summit fever can be a very evil thing! I've done my fair share of stupid things while under its influence. I'm glad you've thought about that day and analyzed what mistakes were made. It will hopefully help you and others reading this make better decisions in the future.
geirole - Aug 16, 2013 5:51 am - Hasn't voted
Nice report, but...I like this report and there is a lot to learn from this. I climbed the Pollux via the same route two days ago and also found out that the way back on the glacier is more strenuous than one would believe. Firstly, the snow is soft later in the day, and it is uphill. It took us 1.5 hours in the morning from Klein Matterhorn to the foot of Pollux and 2 hours back in the afternoon (around 12 PM to 2 PM).
But I think it is overdramatizing to make such a big fuzz about missing the last gondola. One is pretty safe in the Klein Matterhorn station. Stealing a pair of skis to get down to the valley would be justified if you were in danger, but that was not the case, so it would be kind of criminal to just take someone's skis. They might even belong to Lara Gut, and you would become infamous for stealing the skis of one of the biggest stars in the alpine ski world cup circus. ;-)
Compared to what some people go through if they have bad luck in the mountains, your problem was rather minimal.
Cheers,
Geir
damgaard - Aug 17, 2013 3:41 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Nice report, but...I agree, back at the cable car we we "safe". The main problem was when we standing at Pollux with thunder above our heads. Being stuck at the cable car was just annoying since people were waiting for us down in Zermatt.
And don't worry, we would only have "borrowed" the skies if we has been in real danger - and anyways I doubt it was Lara's skies, though I wouldn't mind having had to return them to her the next day ;0)
cheers, Jesper