I had spent the week in Zermatt climbing some summits with my friend Nate. At the beginning of our trip we climbed the Matterhorn via the Hörnli Ridge in perfect weather and great conditions.
Afterward, I started thinking about a different challenge: a liftless ascent of the Matterhorn, starting and finishing in Zermatt. Instead of taking the Schwarzsee lifts, I would climb the entire mountain under my own power—a roughly 3,000-meter (9,800-foot) day. The idea grew on me, and before long I was obsessed.
A few afternoons of storms rolled through after our ascent, dusting the upper mountain with fresh snow. However, the final couple of days of our trip were warm and dry, and I figured most of the snow had melted away. On the last morning before we left Zermatt, I decided to go for it.
My round-trip time from Zermatt to the summit of the Matterhorn and back was 10:08:19 . I was happy with my base-to-base time of 4 hours 36 minutes.
I was surprised by how quiet the route was. Compared with the crowds Nate and I encountered earlier in the week, there were very few parties on the mountain. One team told me that the Zermatt guides had suspended guiding on the upper mountain because of hazardous loose rock and several recent rockfall incidents caused by climbers knocking rocks onto parties below. In total, I saw only five other parties. Passing was easy, and I was never delayed for more than a few seconds.
Gear: Running pack, La Sportiva TX4 approach shoes, helmet, headlamp with spare batteries, Garmin watch, phone and backup battery, jacket, 1.5 L of water, food, and plenty of sugary snacks. I also packed microspikes as a precaution (but never needed them). I brought trekking poles for the approach but left them at the base of the route.
Times:
Church Square of Zermatt Village: 2:00 am
Schwarszee lift: 3:36 am
Hörnlihütte: 4:54 am
Base of route: 5:00 am
Start climbing: 5:09 am
Swiss Summit: 7:25 am
Italian summit: 7:29 am
Start descent: 7:29 am
Base of route: 9:45 am
Hörnlihütte: 9:50 am
Church Square of Zermatt Village: 12:08 pm
Trip report on my website: https://stephabegg.com/trip-reports/europe/matterhorn2026-2/