Matterhorn Ascent

The Matterhorn is one of the world's most famous peaks. It is at the top of the tick list for many a mountaineer and is also where much of mountaineering's history has been written.

To climb it is no easy undertaking. We offer this adventure as a week long trip with 6 guiding days to give you the best chance of reaching the summit. We guide the Matterhorn at 1:1 because of the committing and exposed nature of the climb, which gives you the highest chance of reaching the summit, and more importantly, the highest safety factor.

We base ourselves in and around Zermatt for the duration of the climb. During the week we will have the chance to check and improve your rock climbing skills, as well as attempt peaks such as the Rimpfischhorn, Weismiess or Breithorn, which in themselves are substantial 4000m peaks, before attempting the mighty Matterhorn itself!

• 6 days guiding by qualified mountain guides.
  
• We provide technical equipment (crampons/ice axe/ helmets/harness + group gear).
  
• Accommodation provided in the valley as well as mountain huts.
  
• We run this trip between late July and early September due to weather and snow conditions.
  
• Provided as a bespoke course for individuals.
  
• We have many years experience in providing alpine courses.
  
• You need to have a good level of fitness, have a head for heights, be technically coordinated and previous rock climbing/alpine experience. See course requirements for details.
  

Join us for a once in a lifetime adventure.....

We run a 6 day course, which, with an arrival and departure day, is an eight day round trip (Sunday - Sunday). We run the course over this duration because it provides the best chance of your trip meeting the necessary criteria (weather, acclimatisation, ability, fitness) to maximise your summit chances.

We base ourselves in and around Zermatt for the duration of the climb. We will meet you at your accommodation on the Monday morning (it is recommended that you arrive on the Saturday so that you can spend a day acclimatising on your own in preparation for the event). During the rest of the week we will have the chance to check and improve your rock climbing skills, as well as attempt peaks such as the Rinpfischhorn, Weismiess or Breithorn, which in themselves are substantial 4000m peaks, before attempting the mighty Matterhorn itself!

During your trip you will meet your mountain guide on the morning of the first guiding day. You should arrive the afternoon/evening before this for you to be ready for the start of the course, and if possible a day or two earlier than this to enable you to do some walking/acclimatising on your own.

A typical tour itinerary may look like this:

Please note: This itinerary is a guide only. It can be subject to change dependent upon viability, course members' fitness, weather conditions or for any other reason the guide may deem necessary.

The best thing is to fly to one of the Swiss airports and then catch return trains with the fantastic Swiss railways. Airports in Zurich, Basel and Geneva are all feasible and your train journey should be nor more than 3 - 3.5hrs each way. Easyjet, British Airways and Swiss Air all fly to Switzerland from various locations in the UK.

The Swiss railways website is http://www.sbb.ch/en/. We also recommend purchasing a Swiss railway railcard. There are various variations of this, the most appropriate of which could give you free return rail travel to and from the airport and also half price travel on many of the cable cars. A website offering these for sale is http://www.swisspasses.com/. There are many others; a search on Google will quickly locate several.

To take part in this course you must have previous alpine climbing experience, be confident in the use of crampons and be proficient at climbing an alpine grade II (British D/VD, USA 5.3/5.4). In addition you need stamina for a day on the move of up to 10-12 hrs. If you send us a CV of your climbing experience then we will gladly tell you whether your experience is sufficient.

We recommend that you follow a fitness plan in preparation for your challenge, an example of one will be sent to you when you have confirmed your booking.

Although the fitness plan we will send to you has been devised by a fitness professional, this is only provided as a guide and you should seek professional advice before starting your own fitness regime.

Weather and snow conditions permit us to run this course anytime from late July to early September.

As this course is guided on a 1:1 ratio please get in touch with us to enquire about your preferred date by clicking on the link below.

• Professional event organisation.
  
• Qualified mountain guides.
  
• Hotel accommodation with breakfast in Zermatt Valley dorm room mountain hut accommodation, bed and breakfast.
  
• All technical equipment such as crampons, ice axe, helmets, harness + group gear.
  
• Group first aid kit with qualified first aiders.
  
• Completion certificate to prove you did it!

2010 price - £2495pp

Below is a list detailing the approximate costs of what to budget for within the week: