Page 9 - 2002 AMA Summer

Once you reach 4000m, you come to the Solvay Hut, this is an emergency refuge hut. Many folk have stayed in here because they have either ascended/descended too late or as an over night stop, before making an early morning summit approach to beat the crowds.
From here it is approximately another 3 hours, involving fixed ropes and this time the use of an ice axe and crampons, as there is still a fair amount of snow and ice at and above 4000m. Unfortunately for Keith J, his crampons were not as snug fitting as first appeared and he had to stop a few times to re-adjust the straps. As a tip, the new Scarpa M4 four-season boot does not accept just any crampon, it is best to use a step-in, for example Grivel 2F.
At about f 900hrs we had summited with the day light still with us, but not for long. After a couple of photos we headed back down. So far the weather had been the best any one could ask for, not a cloud in sight and that is how it remained well into the following week. I think we were really lucky with our timing of the climb.
The next 5 hours was spent either being lowered or abseiling to the next belay ledge to start all over again. By now the day had turned to night and out came the head torches, we were now making our way down towards the Solvay Refuge, at 0300hrs we arrived there. There is enough space in the hut to sleep up to 8 people fairly comfortable, but you wouldn’t want to stay there more than a night.
At about 0730hrs we were getting ready to start our descent back to Zermatt, by now there had already been 10-15 guided parties en-route to the summit. They usually set off about 0400hrs from the Hornli Hut to go for the summit so they are back down in Zermatt for the early afternoon.
Three hours of descent saw us all safely back at the Hornli Hut for a
drink. The sun was very hot, about 35°c, which makes for very unpleasant condi­ tions. It can sometimes be just a bit too hot for comfort.
On then to the lift area and back down to Zermatt, a spot of lunch 'Macca D’s' and back on the train to Tesch. We then drove to a near by camp ground to clean our bodies and drive back to Geneva. Once in Geneva we had some dinner and relaxed after a successful trip to the Matterhorn.
In all, a very quick, interesting and excellent weekend of mountaineering. We were lucky with the weather, as this plays a really important part in the mountains and the company was also as good as the weather.
It is worth mentioning that if you plan to do a challenge, what ever it is, plan it carefully and just go do it. We only have one life and I’m sure one weekend away from the hectic social calendar will not be too hard to endure.
The team before the climb