Day five was different from the other four. Simply because we did not have any peaks to climb. Our original plan was to go up on Dufourspitze, which is the second highest peak of the European Alps but, due to bad weather, our only option was to hike down. Other teams had also planned on going on Dufourspitze and other peaks but also needed to change their plans. Therefore there were a lot of people hiking down the same trail, back to civilization in Zermatt.
The hike down was pretty long, around 13km through glaciers, crevasses (ísl:sprungur), big rocks and trails.I think it took about 8 hours. It was undeniably beautiful walking down, looking back at the mountains we had previously climbed and just enjoying the magnificent surroundings.
The day was somewhat uneventful, but there were a couple of highlights during the day:
- When we got of the glacier we could take of the crampons (ísl: broddar)which had been stuck on our feet for five days. That simple change was surprisingly liberating (ísl. frelsandi)
- When we arrived in a hut half way down we found out that two guys had died on the Lyskamm ridge the day before we were there. That was shocking news and changed my view of the past days – i.e. it’s serious business being up there…
- When we got in the train (that would take us to Zermatt) and sat down with “normal” people we were suddenly very aware of the fact that we had not showered in five days… The girl who sat next to me seemed to be very aware of it to
- When we got to Zermatt, we sat down at the first restaurant we saw and got a pizza, soda and the guys had beer. It was great.
- We went to a luxury spa where we relaxed and enjoyed different types of saunas, rest areas and showers. Doing nothing was nice for a change and the three hours we spent in the spa really re-energized us.
Our five-day warm up had ended and we were all ready to attack Matterhorn within days. But, after waiting for three days it was evident that the weather was not going to get better. Therefore, we decided to get out of Zermatt, out of Switzerland and go rock climbing in Italy. It turned out to be a great decision as we found some great climbing near Lago di Como, among other great things.
More on that in my next post, which will probably be the last post about the trip.
