Col Durand

For the first outing of the holiday we decided that we would try something that would not be too strenuous. After Al had tried persuading me to attempt the Obergabelhorn and a few other routes which I thought were beyond me at this stage of the holiday we settled for Pt De Zinal. It is worth noting at this time that Al had already spent three weeks in the Alps with his Dad. Having just finshed his degree and not wanting to settle down and get a job right away he had planned nine weeks in the Alps. The first three he spent with his Dad, initially attempting the Mountaineers Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. This was unfortunately cut short when his Dad slipped and injured his knee on the fourth day. Despite this they still had a good holiday and managed to climb Mont Blanc later on during their time in Chamonix. It was clear from this that Al was going to be suitably acclimitised, and also much fitter than myself. I had been unwell for a couple of weeks before going out, with a "virus" which meant that I had lost quite a bit of the fitness which I had gained during the last term for which Al was in Bangor, therefore I was going to need to keep his enthusiasm on a tighter lead than usual!

The weather forecast for the next couple of days was good and so we left Zermatt at 1:00 p.m. having had a good lunch of French bread, ham and cheese with a helping of sticky cake to wash it down.

We made our way to the Church in the center of Zermatt and even at this stage were noticing the extreme temperature. This year had been very hot in the Alps, with some serious rock falls as a consequence, and we could see that things were getting no better temperature wise. We headed up towards the bottom station of the Klein Matterhorn cable car, and from there we followed a well signed track towards Zmutt. The track went through some trees, and we were glad of the opportunity to get in to the shade. After approximately an hour and a half we reached the tiny hamlet of Zmutt.

After half an hour we left and after putting our packs back on we carried on up towards the Schonbiel Hut. The track we were following was still fairly level, and we were only 500m above Zermatt. After a short distance we came to some zig zags at the side of a waterfall which is where Al took the first picture on this page. It is a spectacular place to be, with a large waterfall having a backdrop of the North Face of the Matterhorn. We went on above some lakes which looked like they were part of a water supply or power scheme, and came to a river which was clearly fuelled from glacial melt-water. Once again the tremendously hot summer was evident since the normal route of the path was under water and we had to follow a track to one side to avoid getting wet feet. As the path continued we gained views of the Dent d'Herens, however as the cloud began to build it faded away. There was a short shower, which stopped as soon as I had put on my waterproof - typical! By this time Al was way ahead as he zig-zagged his way up to the Schonbielhutte.

We reached the hut at around 7:00 p.m. which most likely shows how un-fit I was. After a coke we made our way towards the bivi site which Al had found for us, again with good views of the Matterhorn. Al got out the stove which we had decided to carry as a luxury this year and prepared our evening meal. It was at this time I realised that a spoon would have been useful, but fortunately was able to cope with the lid of my mug. After tea we settled down for what we hoped would be a quiet night.

We made our way up the left hand side of the glacier, from where we had originally planned to attempt the South Ridge of Pt de Zinal (AD). We had however decided that we would instead attempt the NE ridge (PD) since I had new plastic boots, and was still getting used to crossing rocky ground in them and Al didn't want to lose me so soon in the holiday! The "normal route" which we were now following made its way across the heavily crevassed start of the glacier. These crevasses are not mentioned in the guide book, so we guessed that they were due to the unusually hot summer.

As is usual in descent I went down ahead of Al, and picked the route through the crevasses back to the edge of the glacier. As we descended it became clear that we had made the right (and safest) decision. We reached the edge of the glacier and unroped. From here Al went off ahead as I would have slowed him down too much on the return to the Schonbielhutte. I arrived at the hut about half an hour after Al, at 11:45 a.m. We packed up the bivvi gear, which was still wet from the night before, and began the descent at noon.

The descent was uneventful, but was very tyring in the extreme heat of the middle of the day. Once again we passed the waterfall with the view of the Matterhorn, and I took the photo which is shown here. As you can see the cloud was building up once again. By the time we were approaching Zmutt I was feeling very tired and had been trying to persuade Al that stopping for a break would be a good idea, but those of you who know him will understand that Al doesn't believe in rest! We carried on down to Zmutt where I was able to twist Al's arm a little, and so we stopped at a nice restaurant for a coke and some extra energy which came in the form of apricot cake. By the time we started moving again I was feeling better, and we made our way down the path to Zermatt at a descent pace. We finally reached our appartment at 4:00 p.m. where ice-cream and showers were the order of the day.