FKT: Elena Fernández López - Matterhorn (Switzerland / Italy) - 2023-08-11

Route variation
Hörnli Ridge round trip from Zermatt
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Female
Style
Supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
11h 15m 26s
GPS track(s)
Report

Matterhorn climb all the way up from Zermatt  A day for the books! 

Started running at 1:10am from the Church Square of Zermatt Village wearing my almost 7kg Backpack and picked up Andy Steindl at the Bus Stop of Zen Stecken at 1:15am. Andy Steindl is a mountain guide (and holder himself of this particular male course record). He went with me from Zermatt until the top of the Matterhorn and back down to the Hörnli Hut but stayed there so he didnt complete the whole course this time. He supported me showing me the way up and securing me on the hardest sections, in the same way that Manuel Merillas was supported during his FKT in Mont Blanc. 

Together, we started running up and reached the Hörnli Hut around 3:49am. Here, each of us got one fanta and one coke. I didnt get any other drinks or food from somewhere else, on the way up I ate one energy Bar and one Gel of Mauten that I took from the start with me. The way up to the summit of the Matterhorn was really straight forward as we were practically alone thanks to our early start. The weather and conditions were almost perfect.  We reached both summits, the swiss one and the italian one. 

The descent, however, wasn’t that meditative as there were several groups of mountaineers ascending from the Hörnli Hut. After reaching the Hut again (where Andy stayed, he went down to Zermatt using the cable car from Schwarzsee), I run all the way down (yes, still with the heavy backpack) until Zermatt village again around 12:25am, after 11h and 15 minutes and a total of  28.79km and +3000 positive elevation meters.