I was perusing Secor for info on Matterhorn Peak's N. Arete and noted the Double Dihedral ( 5.8 ) route.

Curious to know if it's good, and how much actual 5.8 is on the route ... I see it seems to start from the vicinity of the West Couloir.

I've read up on that somewhere . . . it might be included on the SuperTopo for the North Arete. It shares part of the route, doesn't it? Drat, wish I could be more useful.

Cool, thanks ! I have read that the first few pitches of the N. Arete kind of suck, so maybe starting up that 5.8 face would be the thing to do, and then traversing over to the N. Arete ... btw what time of year were those pics taken ?

Picking up where I left off three years ago Anyone done it since then ?

I can tell you which way NOT to start. This is the route where K*** "stopped" climbing and gave me his ropes Once we got on route, it was really nice, though. Moderate/easy climbing with great views. The last two pitches are shared with North Arete.

kovarpa wrote:I can tell you which way NOT to start. This is the route where K*** "stopped" climbing and gave me his ropes Once we got on route, it was really nice, though. Moderate/easy climbing with great views. The last two pitches are shared with North Arete.

I don't know who this K*** is, but it seems like he might as well just start a family & stop climbing!

Diggler wrote:

kovarpa wrote:I can tell you which way NOT to start. This is the route where K*** "stopped" climbing and gave me his ropes Once we got on route, it was really nice, though. Moderate/easy climbing with great views. The last two pitches are shared with North Arete.

I don't know who this K*** is, but it seems like he might as well just start a family & stop climbing!

Yeah, that sounds like a safer option than climbing alpine "5.5" (or was it 5.4???). Rob, don't forget to ask Pavel about that one traverse....

The views are definitely great though.

Thanks guys ! Maybe I should stick with a route that has a nice supertopo There's so much beautiful stuff back in there .. need to do Whorl and the west couloir of Matterhorn too.

Thanks for the trip report. Nice photos. Droolworthy. How long did it take you R/T? I got rained off the second pitch of the N. Arete a while ago and have been meaning to go back, but am inclined to do it in a day.

Thanks for the reply DMT. I've had long car to car days before--Moon Goddess, BCS, Whitney's E. Face, etc. For me, it's more a matter of finding the days off.

Dingus Milktoast wrote:BCS was a longer day, for us. Same partner.

DMT

That's reassuring. BCS (N. Arete) wasn't bad in a day for us, though I do have to remind myself that I was younger and fitter then.

Anyone been up to Matterhorn lately ? Thinking about the North Arete later this week, and wondering how melted out the east couloir is .. it was about halfway melted out as of six weeks ago when I was last up there.

We should be able to tell whether or not we can leave our snow gear at the base when we get there, but it would be great to know in advance. Thanks for any info !