Fresh from our success on the Matterhorn, despite a severe lack of altitude acclimatisation, Mike and I were now feeling good. A day summer skiing above Zermatt netted us a ski ascent of the Zermatt Breithorn at 4164m, so we had now acquired at least a bit of altitude fitness. Accordingly, we headed up from the valley to the Weisshorn Hutte, noting with a bit of concern the thunderstorm rolling round the Mischabel chain on the opposite side. Although the rainbow was pretty (and did indicate that the sun was shining from a clear sky behind us) we were hoping this didn’t indicate fresh snow on the tops for the morrow.
Being less popular than the Matterhorn, and in particular, there being fewer guided groups, the hut wasn’t quite such a chaotic mass of people milling about, so we got a good start. Feeling fitter, and over mostly easier ground, we were moving quite a bit faster this time, and were high on the ridge as the weather gave us a glorious day of sunshine with extensive views, especially towards the frontier ridge and our previous ascents.
We found the east ridge fairly straightforward, moving together O.G.Jones style, crossing the rope over between gendarmes and rocks to provide some protection. So much so that we had no difficulty whatsoever in getting back to the hut in good time, and were soon romping back down towards the fleshpots below. 10,000 feet of descent was a bit wearing on the ankles and knees, particularly as we hadn’t bothered to bring light footwear and stomped on down in plastic boots the whole way. The weather held and we were celebrating success by late afternoon on the campsite.