Matterhorn Express: a one-day traverse from Zermatt to Breuil-Cervinia

A fantastic day from start to finish. The kind of day that gives full meaning back to the way we practise high mountaineering, to what we come looking for and what we can find by spending time up there.

With conditions seemingly perfectly aligned for such an undertaking, and wanting a fine alpine adventure without excessive exposure after the tragedy on the Brouillard, I suggested a one-day Matterhorn to Anthony. He raised the stakes by proposing nothing less than a Zermatt - Cervinia traverse, going up the Hörnli ridge and down the Lion ridge.

The weather is flawless, and on top of that the routes shouldn't be too busy: it will be a weekday, the high season is gently winding down, and the Carrel hut on the Italian side is closed for works all summer. On paper, the plan is extremely appealing. And it would give us a fine endurance outing of moderate technicality, a priori without much exposure.

After a short but good night at home in Vex, the alarm is set for 5:40. By then, the climbers who left from the Hörnli hut have already been up for 2-3 hours. But we still have 1 bus and 2 trains before reaching Zermatt. Once there, just enough time to stop at the bakery and jump on the gondola to Schwarzsee. It's 9 a.m. when, at 2552 m, we set off towards our goal. Two and a half hours later, we reach the Solvay bivouac at 4003 m. We've halved the guidebook time, a good sign.

Time to get the rope out. The climbing now gets much steeper, snow and ice start to slow us down, and above all the whole string of climbers who set off in the night start coming down from the summit – and given the way some of them handle things, from now on we prefer to protect our entire progression, considering the danger they could put us in. My rope partner – always very meticulous – holds it against them a little, but I try to be conciliatory: for many, climbing the Matterhorn is the dream of a lifetime, and some do all sorts of things out of fatigue and inexperience. I say this without judgement, but rather as a warning to those who will go there: some people really don't do things right and put themselves in danger, while putting others in danger too... But well, most of the time the smiles and the exhausted but delighted faces soften our sometimes stern gaze.

As Patrick Gabarrou told us when he visited our flatshare the other day: “what really matters – and nothing matters more – is to love others”. What a magnificent maxim he leaves us as a legacy, he, the greatest mountaineer of all time.

It's 1:30 p.m. when we reach the Swiss summit of the Matterhorn (76/82), and a few minutes later we set foot on the Italian summit, where we treat ourselves to a good break. It's a chance to contemplate all the surrounding peaks. From there, you can clearly make out nearly half of the Alpine 4000ers. Prodigious. Each of these summits now carries its share of memories, after these few years spent climbing them.

This moment of contemplation on the summit is also a chance to watch a particularly daring paraglider attempt a take-off from the summit (which is pretty much unheard of...). After many unsuccessful manoeuvres by the man from Wyoming, and as we grow more and more puzzled and worried about witnessing a morbid scene, we prefer to go on our way.

And it will still be a long one: we now have to descend the whole Italian side, much snowier than its Swiss counterpart, going down the Lion ridge and crossing Pic Tyndall (4239 m). We do it with great concentration and maximum safety, never making any concessions in that respect. It takes us more than three hours to reach the Carrel hut, crampons on the whole way, and another two to get to the Duca degli Abruzzi hut (Orionde). Times that are both fast and rather slow – it all depends on your frame of reference.

Indeed, while our descent lets us overtake a whole series of rope teams who set off in the night from Orionde to do the round trip, swelling our pride somewhat, it is nonetheless put firmly back in its place when we look up Kilian Jornet's record on this same ridge in 2013. Clearly, human beings aren't all wired the same way!

Our arrival in Cervinia is peaceful and full of lightness. What joy, what a feeling of gratitude at the end of such an outing. The Matterhorn climbed as a traverse, in a day, without getting scared, without putting ourselves in danger, and with a rope team in top form.

The next day comes, with the big question of the day: are we going to completely smash the timetable on the way home? A good breakfast, an Aosta Valley cappuccino to clear our heads, quiet moments strolling the streets of Breuil-Cervinia, a stop at the local guides' office, and off we go to find our way back to Valais! A few cars later, each time with great encounters, we reach the Swiss border and treat ourselves to a short stop at the Great St Bernard Hospice to see our friends the canons. Five-star welcome, lovely shared moments, and there we are again with our thumbs out to get back home.

The tally for this very relaxed day: Cervinia → Vex in 5 cars, and not even 15 minutes of waiting in total… In short, such a getaway is pure pleasure, thank you my dear Antho!