Samuli Mansikka - Aug 9, 2006 9:51 am Date Climbed: Jul 10, 2006
Hörnligrat
After two weeks of soloing in Saastal and in Mattertal I was privileged to get to join my friend Kurt from Durango, Colorado. Our primary aim was to ascend the Zmuttgrat. However the guides at the Hörnli Hut were not too encouraging about the conditions on the lower ridge. Despite that we woke up early and headed to the foot of the North face. Summer had been exceptionally warm so the glacier had retreated from the rocks making it difficult to find a way to the upper glacier and getting to circumnavigate to the ridge. After being threatened by rocks falling at the speed of sound we decided to aim for the Hörnli instead.
The Hörnli was in very good condition the rocks being dry and the snow consolidated. Wind was fierce though and it made half of the ascending groups turn back and retreat. We reached the windy summit in 5,5 hrs. The weather was exceptionally clear; not a single cloud.
Descending the Matterhorn is not trivial; it took us more time to get down than to the summit.
I was very happy to make it the second time. I enjoyed myself a lot more than on the first time. What bothers me is that I did not shoot as many photos as I would've liked to; climbing the Hörnli is a huge task and You need to be able to move fast. You easily forget to shoot during the climbing.
Photos coming soon to www.samulimansikka.com
Charles Garrett - Aug 9, 2006 6:07 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2006
Long climb
Climbed with Nico and Drew/Pika. We brought the climb forward by a day to take advantage of a clear window - all other days that week, the mountain had been hit by afternoon/evening storms. Italian side closed because of stone falls casued by warm weather. Left the Hoernli Hut at 4am with some 40-50 others. Some stupid Swiss guide caused a row at the first fixed rope by queue barging. Very arrogant and unprofessional. Long, long climb during which I was struck by stones from above and saw several major stone falls onto the east face. Summitted at 8am - remarkably few people up there - and what a sight! Descent to Hoernli Hut 4.5 hours and v tiring. Tremendous day.
Lubos - Aug 2, 2006 1:47 am Date Climbed: Jun 5, 1986
Matterhorn - Hörnligrat
A great looking pyramid with a lot of vertical feet below you all the time. I climbed the Hörnligrat solo. As most of the time in the mountains I had nice sunny weather. Reading notes of other climber about how crowded this route is these days, at my day I only met twenty people. A friend of mine from the Czech republic died on this mountain while doing the same solo climb in 1991. Solo climb.
After a bad storm in the night lots of climbers went back, but my guide wanted to try to make the summit. We startet at 0550 with very cold conditions and snow/ice covered the rocks and fix ropes. After a little over 4 hours we summited as the only climbers trying from the Italian side this day. All the climb was made with crampons, but the route was in very good conditions. After 4 years of trying i finally got on the summit!
I didn't really like the route, it was too irrational and full of loose rocks. We were damn slow and had to bivouac on the mountain; fortunately it wasn't too cold. There was a storm with sleet and thunders, I even got slightly zapped by a lightning on the descent, around Pic Tyndall. The Carrel shelter was really nice.
hansw - Mar 10, 2006 9:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 8, 1997
Route Climbed: Hörnligrat
Having had unsettled weather for several days we set out from the Hörnli hut at 6 am in starlight. There was a lot of snow and ice on the Matterhorn this year which demanded going with crampons almost all the way. The traffic was not bad, only 25 persons on the mountain, this day. The weather stayed beautiful but I still had a hard time on this famous mountain. Finally, we were rewarded with some fabulous minutes at the summit before going the long way down, (August 8, 1997).
I climbed this route with my friends Pau, Pepe and Dani.
With Pepe we climbed Mont Blanc,Monte Rosa and Matterhorn in only seven days!! An I had only 21 years old!!
One of the happiest days in my life for the summit and for complete the trilogy!
The route very crowded! This is the dangerous factor of its route
jck - Jan 11, 2006 7:52 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2020
Third time makes a charm.
First attempt (August 2004): August 6, I climbed solo to Refugee Carrell. Very foggy day but no snowfall so it was possible to climb without big problems. Spent a night in Carrell. During the night there was a huge snowfall. In the morning it was still snowing and visibility was really bad.I climbed few pitches above Carrell but it was to risky to continue so I decided to get back at about 4000 masl. I didn't have time to spent another night so I had to get down to Breuil.
Second attempt (March 2006): with SP Member Brade we climbed to Solvay and stayed there due to huge snowfall. After 3 days we decided to get down- it took us 11 hours to Hornlihutte! Definitely to risky.
Third time makes a charm (August 2020)
Brade and me climbed the summit along Liongrat. Perfect weather, quite a lot of people. Finally!
Route Climbed: Lion Ridge Date Climbed: 22 September, 2005
Tried the route in a beautiful day after some days of heavy snowfalls. There were no problems until Capanna di Carrel, and on the next morning we started very early (4 a.m.) and in the bright moonshine very quickly did the part of the route up to the Grand Corda. But after climbing it we found that the opposite side of the ridge by which we were supposed to climb Tindal was covered by thick and soft snow. This snow stopped our advance and after some hesitation we decided to come back, because it was really dangerous to continue the climb in such condition. It was a pity, as the weather was just unbelievable! Very warm, quite and clear.
Route Climbed: lion grat descent on Hörnli Date Climbed: 23 august 1990
a mountain where you really feel isolated on the top, unlike mount blanc... quite strange.
the descent on the Hörnli is quite long, nearly as long as climbing it up, and in my view, the good solution is to make the traverse. Quite logical, beautiful, and enable to think about history and the Whymper-Carrel challenge...
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge Date Climbed: Sept 1, 2005
Fine weather, very little route-finding problems, decent conditions made for a great climb. Watching another climber on the way up fall 600ft to his death led the climb to a sad mood all around though. A scary looking mountain that should be treated with extreme care, but MUST be climbed...
Route Climbed: Hornli Date Climbed: 28th July 2005
First attempt at the mountain, and was lucky to get a great break in some variable weather that week. Route was clear and not as busy as I expected. Lots of folk had turned round at the solvay so not a busy descent. Left at 4am, topped out at 8am, and back down by 12.
Route Climbed: Hornli ridge Date Climbed: September 4, 2004
Left the Hornli Hut a little after 4:30 and climbed the ridge solo in 3:50, topping out in strong winds and clear skies. Descended in about the same time, rappeling the slabs around the Solvay hut with the rope I carried. I cannot overstate the importance of scouting the lower parts of the route in daylight before a climb. There were some very lost parties doing crazy things in the dark that morning.
Having been turned back in mid August by collapsing weather it was very cool to complete the ascent on my second attempt.
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge (solo) Date Climbed: June 28, 2005
Left the Hornli Hut at 4AM and reached the summit just before 8AM in strong wind and clear skies. The route was in very good condition and there were only about 15 people climbing, so I was able to move quickly (no issues with bottlenecking or rockfall). I scouted the first hour of the route the day before, so there were no routefinding issues in the dark. I actually had more routefinding problems on the descent, which took about 4.5 hours. When I left for the Alps this year, I hoped that I would get a chance to climb the Matterhorn. I didn't expect that I would climb it solo though, but it just turned out that way.
Route Climbed: Zmuttgrat Date Climbed: 22 July 2004
Nobody on the route, unbelievable! Clear sky and moderate cold. Perfrct climb. Did the summit and returned to the Carrel hut in 10 hours. Very beautiful route
Samuli Mansikka - Aug 9, 2006 9:51 am Date Climbed: Jul 10, 2006
HörnligratAfter two weeks of soloing in Saastal and in Mattertal I was privileged to get to join my friend Kurt from Durango, Colorado. Our primary aim was to ascend the Zmuttgrat. However the guides at the Hörnli Hut were not too encouraging about the conditions on the lower ridge. Despite that we woke up early and headed to the foot of the North face. Summer had been exceptionally warm so the glacier had retreated from the rocks making it difficult to find a way to the upper glacier and getting to circumnavigate to the ridge. After being threatened by rocks falling at the speed of sound we decided to aim for the Hörnli instead.
The Hörnli was in very good condition the rocks being dry and the snow consolidated. Wind was fierce though and it made half of the ascending groups turn back and retreat. We reached the windy summit in 5,5 hrs. The weather was exceptionally clear; not a single cloud.
Descending the Matterhorn is not trivial; it took us more time to get down than to the summit.
I was very happy to make it the second time. I enjoyed myself a lot more than on the first time. What bothers me is that I did not shoot as many photos as I would've liked to; climbing the Hörnli is a huge task and You need to be able to move fast. You easily forget to shoot during the climbing.
Photos coming soon to www.samulimansikka.com
Charles Garrett - Aug 9, 2006 6:07 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2006
Long climbClimbed with Nico and Drew/Pika. We brought the climb forward by a day to take advantage of a clear window - all other days that week, the mountain had been hit by afternoon/evening storms. Italian side closed because of stone falls casued by warm weather. Left the Hoernli Hut at 4am with some 40-50 others. Some stupid Swiss guide caused a row at the first fixed rope by queue barging. Very arrogant and unprofessional. Long, long climb during which I was struck by stones from above and saw several major stone falls onto the east face. Summitted at 8am - remarkably few people up there - and what a sight! Descent to Hoernli Hut 4.5 hours and v tiring. Tremendous day.
Lubos - Aug 2, 2006 1:47 am Date Climbed: Jun 5, 1986
Matterhorn - HörnligratA great looking pyramid with a lot of vertical feet below you all the time. I climbed the Hörnligrat solo. As most of the time in the mountains I had nice sunny weather. Reading notes of other climber about how crowded this route is these days, at my day I only met twenty people. A friend of mine from the Czech republic died on this mountain while doing the same solo climb in 1991. Solo climb.
Zurbriggen - Jul 25, 2006 9:44 pm Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2006
LiongratAfter a bad storm in the night lots of climbers went back, but my guide wanted to try to make the summit. We startet at 0550 with very cold conditions and snow/ice covered the rocks and fix ropes. After a little over 4 hours we summited as the only climbers trying from the Italian side this day. All the climb was made with crampons, but the route was in very good conditions. After 4 years of trying i finally got on the summit!
taikavuorimies - Jul 22, 2006 3:05 pm Date Climbed: Jul 12, 2006
Route Climbed: Lion ridgeI didn't really like the route, it was too irrational and full of loose rocks. We were damn slow and had to bivouac on the mountain; fortunately it wasn't too cold. There was a storm with sleet and thunders, I even got slightly zapped by a lightning on the descent, around Pic Tyndall. The Carrel shelter was really nice.
hansw - Mar 10, 2006 9:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 8, 1997
Route Climbed: HörnligratHaving had unsettled weather for several days we set out from the Hörnli hut at 6 am in starlight. There was a lot of snow and ice on the Matterhorn this year which demanded going with crampons almost all the way. The traffic was not bad, only 25 persons on the mountain, this day. The weather stayed beautiful but I still had a hard time on this famous mountain. Finally, we were rewarded with some fabulous minutes at the summit before going the long way down, (August 8, 1997).
Trip Report
Trabalon - Feb 28, 2006 4:58 pm
Hörnli routeI climbed this route with my friends Pau, Pepe and Dani.
With Pepe we climbed Mont Blanc,Monte Rosa and Matterhorn in only seven days!! An I had only 21 years old!!
One of the happiest days in my life for the summit and for complete the trilogy!
The route very crowded! This is the dangerous factor of its route
jck - Jan 11, 2006 7:52 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2020
Third time makes a charm.First attempt (August 2004): August 6, I climbed solo to Refugee Carrell. Very foggy day but no snowfall so it was possible to climb without big problems. Spent a night in Carrell. During the night there was a huge snowfall. In the morning it was still snowing and visibility was really bad.I climbed few pitches above Carrell but it was to risky to continue so I decided to get back at about 4000 masl. I didn't have time to spent another night so I had to get down to Breuil.
Second attempt (March 2006): with SP Member Brade we climbed to Solvay and stayed there due to huge snowfall. After 3 days we decided to get down- it took us 11 hours to Hornlihutte! Definitely to risky.
Third time makes a charm (August 2020)
Brade and me climbed the summit along Liongrat. Perfect weather, quite a lot of people. Finally!
alexclimb - Nov 20, 2005 12:50 pm
Route Climbed: Lion Ridge Date Climbed: 22 September, 2005Tried the route in a beautiful day after some days of heavy snowfalls. There were no problems until Capanna di Carrel, and on the next morning we started very early (4 a.m.) and in the bright moonshine very quickly did the part of the route up to the Grand Corda. But after climbing it we found that the opposite side of the ridge by which we were supposed to climb Tindal was covered by thick and soft snow. This snow stopped our advance and after some hesitation we decided to come back, because it was really dangerous to continue the climb in such condition. It was a pity, as the weather was just unbelievable! Very warm, quite and clear.
edl - Sep 29, 2005 6:29 pm
Route Climbed: Hornligrat Date Climbed: Aug. 2005Beautiful day!
bruno baschung - Sep 9, 2005 6:23 am
Route Climbed: traverse Date Climbed: 23 august 1989sorry, I just correct the date of my climb (1989 and not 1990)!
Bruno baschung
Climbed with G. IMBERT
bruno baschung - Sep 9, 2005 6:17 am
Route Climbed: lion grat descent on Hörnli Date Climbed: 23 august 1990a mountain where you really feel isolated on the top, unlike mount blanc... quite strange.
the descent on the Hörnli is quite long, nearly as long as climbing it up, and in my view, the good solution is to make the traverse. Quite logical, beautiful, and enable to think about history and the Whymper-Carrel challenge...
Bruno baschung
bbirtle - Sep 4, 2005 9:34 am
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge Date Climbed: Sept 1, 2005Fine weather, very little route-finding problems, decent conditions made for a great climb. Watching another climber on the way up fall 600ft to his death led the climb to a sad mood all around though. A scary looking mountain that should be treated with extreme care, but MUST be climbed...
markradford - Sep 3, 2005 10:12 am
Route Climbed: Hornli Date Climbed: 28th July 2005First attempt at the mountain, and was lucky to get a great break in some variable weather that week. Route was clear and not as busy as I expected. Lots of folk had turned round at the solvay so not a busy descent. Left at 4am, topped out at 8am, and back down by 12.
John Cherry - Aug 7, 2005 6:22 am
Route Climbed: Hornli ridge Date Climbed: September 4, 2004Left the Hornli Hut a little after 4:30 and climbed the ridge solo in 3:50, topping out in strong winds and clear skies. Descended in about the same time, rappeling the slabs around the Solvay hut with the rope I carried. I cannot overstate the importance of scouting the lower parts of the route in daylight before a climb. There were some very lost parties doing crazy things in the dark that morning.
Having been turned back in mid August by collapsing weather it was very cool to complete the ascent on my second attempt.
Tom Fralich - Jun 28, 2005 11:14 am
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge (solo) Date Climbed: June 28, 2005Left the Hornli Hut at 4AM and reached the summit just before 8AM in strong wind and clear skies. The route was in very good condition and there were only about 15 people climbing, so I was able to move quickly (no issues with bottlenecking or rockfall). I scouted the first hour of the route the day before, so there were no routefinding issues in the dark. I actually had more routefinding problems on the descent, which took about 4.5 hours. When I left for the Alps this year, I hoped that I would get a chance to climb the Matterhorn. I didn't expect that I would climb it solo though, but it just turned out that way.
Cautious - Jun 23, 2005 10:04 am
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge Date Climbed: Aug 92, Aug 94, Jul 99Weather bad the first time so we were four of only five to reach the summit that day. Long day. Very crowded on other ascents.
alexclimb - Jun 7, 2005 11:41 am
Route Climbed: Zmuttgrat Date Climbed: 22 July 2004Nobody on the route, unbelievable! Clear sky and moderate cold. Perfrct climb. Did the summit and returned to the Carrel hut in 10 hours. Very beautiful route
GlennMerrill - Feb 27, 2005 7:44 pm
Route Climbed: Hornli Ridge Date Climbed: Aug. 2003Good climb. Very crowded, but it was to do it at least once.
plume - Feb 10, 2005 2:55 pm
Route Climbed: Hornli Date Climbed: July 1999Brother and I were beaten down by storm just below the Solvay Hut. What a splendid mountain though. Deserves a second go. Or third for that matter.