Zinalrothorn seemed a logical follow-on in 1972 to Matterhorn and Rimpfischhorn
from the two preceding seasons. It is a popular mountain with nice varied
climbing, slightly more advanced than my previous targets. Although
not as majestic as the Matterhorn, it has its own character with a sharp
needle-like peak, and with great views of the surrounding mountains.
Zinalrothorn lies to the west of Zermatt and east of the Val d'Anniviers
valley with the village of Zinal - hence its name. (Link
to map.)
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Zinalrothorn is the pointed peak just left of the Matterhorn.
This is one of the postcards I sent home from Zermatt.
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Copyright
Deriaz Baulmes. Reproduced with permission..
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Just as in the previous year, I spent a week in Saas-Fee for acclimatization.
This time, I explored the right side of the Saas valley, i. e. the eastern
side, including a walk on the "Höhenweg" at about 2000
m down the valley to Gspon. From there, I descended to Stalden by cable
car and went back to Saas-Fee in the post bus.
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The trail to Gspon passes the typical Valais
buildings made of larchtree wood.
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Other excursions took me to Plattjen and to the slopes directly above
Saas-Fee:
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Wild chamois crossing the path.
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Goats above Saas-Fee.
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After a week, I relocated to Zermatt where I spent a few days before
my parents and my brother Erik arrived. Erik had just moved to Zürich
with his Swiss wife, and my parents had come to visit them. They now
took the opportunity to visit me in Zermatt. As a veteran of four seasons,
I proudly took them to the Gornergrat, to Schwarzsee, and - in the case
of my mother - as far as the Hörnli hut.
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My parents took the train to Rotenboden and
walked from there to Gornergrat. The mountains are Breithorn and
Klein-Matterhorn.
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My father and I on the Gornergrat in front
of Monte Rosa.
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My parents admiring the Matterhorn from Schwarzsee.
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My mother "climbing the Matterhorn" on her way to
the Hörnli hut.
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My mother reached the Hörnli hut!
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Stefan, Gerd and Erik Zenker in a Zermatt café.
Judging by the color of his skin, Erik really deserved a vacation!
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Stefan and Erik in the "main street"
of Zermatt.
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Zermatt from the path up to the Trift gorge.
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After a few days they left Zermatt, and it was time to "get serious".
I contacted my guide from the previous two seasons Werner Perren and
we agreed on Zinalrothorn as the objective and to meet at the Rothorn
hut on a given day. The walk up the Trift valley in the afternoon was
familiar to me, as I had already visited the Rothorn hut and the Mettelhorn.
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The Edelweiss restaurant about 300 m above
Zermatt is a popular target for tourists.
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On the serpentine path up the Trift valley, I walked slowly to save
my legs for the next day. Werner Perren caught up with me:
After a short chat, encouraging me to keep going slowly, he continued
at a brisk pace and rapidly disappeared from view.
Eventually, I reached the hut at 3200 m where I would spend the night:
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The Rothorn hut with the Rimpfischhorn in the
background. I took this photo on another occasion.
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The next morning, we got underway while it was still dark. A few other
teams accompanied us, but there was much less of a crowd than there
had been on the Matterhorn or even on the Rimpfischhorn.
There is a fairly long walk up the glacier to where the rock climbing
starts. There are two normal routes: one more direct up a gully to the
ridge, another one involves a traverse to the left to join the ridge
further to the south and enjoy a longer climb on the ridge. Werner originally
wanted to take the more interesting southern route, but he changed his
mind, probably due to the unsettled weather.
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Werner Perren facing the Zinalrothorn. Our
route took us to the deep cut in the ridge and from there to the
top.
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At sunrise, we had a glorious view of the most prominent peaks surrounding
us:
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Sunrise on the Matterhorn.
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As the morning sun lit up the icy north wall of the Obergabelhorn,
one of the professional guides exclaimed: "Es ist ja wie ein
Paradies, die Berge!" ("It's really like a paradise, the
mountains!"). - For me, this was a great contrast to the remark
I overheard one of the guides make on the Matterhorn (in frustration
over the crowd that slowed his progress): "This is like driving
a taxi cab!".
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Obergabelhorn and Dent Blanche.
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As we were traversing an icy slope going to the left, I was suddenly
hit in the knee with great force. My initial reaction was to turn and
hit back at the aggressor - I thought that somebody must have attacked
me with an ice axe. Then I saw that I had been hit by a fairly sizeable
chunk of ice coming down the slope. The pain was intense for a while,
but it soon subsided. Luckily, I had not been seriously injured and
did not have to turn back.
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Werner Perren leading up the steep gully to
the ridge.
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Once
we reached the ridge, there was a stretch of easy rock climbing. Unfortunately,
the weather was getting worse, with clouds and mist rising from below.
Visibility was gradually reduced.
Eventually, we arrived at a steep slab, the "Binerplatte",
that offers few holds. Werner attacked it by building up momentum so
that he could "run" up the slab. He succeeded on the second
try. I followed without having to use the rope.
The climb was now getting airy. Shortly before the summit is reached,
there is a famous passage, "die Kanzel" ("the pulpit"),
where you need to climb around an overhanging rock with a sheer drop
of some 500 m directly below your feet. It feels a little like climbing
on the outside of a balcony in a high-rise building (not that I have
ever done that...). But the holds are excellent, and Werner's rope gave
me all the confidence I needed to be able to follow him.
Once the Kanzel had been bypassed, the summit was very close. Unfortunately,
the weather had now deteriorated, and the view was patchy at best.
Fellow climbers on the Zinalrothorn. Monte Rosa is in the background.
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Werner Perren on the summit of Zinalrothorn.
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Preparing for the descent.
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As we descended, the fog worsened, and I was glad to have an experienced
guide to bring me down!
All photography became fruitless for a while, but ultimately we got
out of the clouds and visibility improved again. The rest of the descent
was uneventful.
This completed the 1972 alpine season for me. Back home, it was a pleasure
to go back to work, as our small space group had just become Swedish
Space Corporation, government owned, absorbing the Esrange launch site
in the process. This was the beginning of a long period of expansion,
growing from 12 employees when I started, to more than 300.
"Mountaineering"
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