Hörnlihütte, so close to the Matterhorn

Switzerland. Our sweetheart. How many times already? Week of mountain tours in Saas – Fee and Saas Grund, luxurious weather, getting up in the morning at sunrise, beautiful views, peace and quiet. And the second week he goes to Zermatt, a small town in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais. For many people Zermatt equals the Matterhorn and they are right. Three days in Zermatt, three times the Matterhorn and each time differently. – The first day of the classic – a cogwheel ride and a walk on your way to the mountain hotel and the Gornergrat science station located at an altitude of 3,130 m. Beauty, but to our taste clouds of people, „tourists“ in moccasins, „tourists“ in ballerinas. Nothing for us. We disappear down the least frequented path. – The next morning we set off the first cogwheel at 7:30 on the top of Gornergrat and it was a bunch of different coffee. Cloudless Matterhorn, it showed us in all its beauty, exactly as we see on postcards, catalogs or elsewhere on the Internet. When we get tired of the morning silence and wild calm in the middle of the mountains we set off in the direction of Schwarzsee, where we start the Matterhorn glacier trail with a planned destination on the Trockener Steg, the whole trek basically revolves around the Matterhorn, beauty, beauty, beauty !!! From Trockener Steg by cable car to the Klein Matterhorn viewing platform, well, but a little disappointing, I expected more from it. – I guess I was blaspheming, because the next morning I wanted to repeat the early morning mountains, and with 2 Japanese I got stuck in the elevator to the aforementioned viewing platform. Tens of minutes trapped in an elevator, without a signal, in the dark, the emergency ring does not work or no one responds to it. After infinitely long minutes, I managed to contact the SOS line, which took us up to the platform, but back up the evacuation stairs. Uff… Hooray I'm down. Then I will meet the children again at Schwarzsee and this time our goal is the highest hut below the Matterhorn – Hörnlihütte (3,026 m above sea level), the place of climbers on their expeditions – the road is not dangerous, at all, but be careful where you step Anyway, it has to, so almost 1,000 altitude meters climb is not free. But we did, and as my daughter said, „She's under the Matterhorn, she's happy.“ The mountain was shrouded in clouds, so in full beauty as on the morning trip to Gornergrat was not visible, but the sweaty T-shirts were definitely worth it.

Before reaching the Trockener Steg

Even a journey can be a destination …

Steps and ladders are not the way to go

At times it is a bit cramped ..