sjarelkwint wrote:MVS i've seen you did the "non-glacier-haute-route" Zermatt-Chamonix
I was thinking about doing something like that ...

mvs wrote:Understood. My comment about risk is more in response to the original poster's declaration that he wants (very emphatically) not to risk his life. Not in response to your pointing out that you can take a cell phone. But while I'm here I'll talk about that too...

I'm just not a big fan of cell phones in the mountains. They have their use, and yes, if I had a broken leg I would really, really want one. When I do bring one, it's turned off, in the bottom of the pack and would only get turned on if I'm helpless in a life or death situation. I know a few climbers that walked out / abseiled down with broken arms, and I admire their example. Additionally, I have seen cell phones used in ways I think are lazy and that provided only confusion to would-be rescuers in the valley. The mountains become much smaller when the phone is right there, ringing, you are talking, etc. I guess I like thinking of a phone as something like the "rescue beacon" you mention above: activated only in dire need.

I want to enter the mountains like entering a special, magical place where older rules apply. I believe there is a culture of mountaineering, and this attitude should be part of it. So I put it out there, recognizing it's an increasingly "Luddite" point of view.

But this is hijacking the OP's thread. I'll pipe down about such things.