We decided to call it off. No Elbrus this year. The situation is just too unreliable and the area may be closed when our July climb comes. So instead, we’ve been suggesting our clients to go to Iran’s highest peak, Damavand. Yeah, just go climb Damavand this year – it’s fantastic and it’s cheaper than Elbrus. It’s a bit easier due to there being less snow, less cold… despite Damavand having a slightly higher summit.

Why climb when you can ride Damavand? Nah, you can't really do that.

I swear there is NO photoshop involved in the above picture. The sky really is THAT blue. So, which do you think is a better ‘party’: Damavand or Elbrus?

Fun jeep rides in Iranian mountains...

One of the most unrecognized high peak treks on the globe is Iran’s Mt. Damavand (5671 m). Just yesterday, we threw a really sweet Mt Damavand climb package on the website. We’re pretty good at doing Iran; Daniel, our mountain guide has been to and travelled accross the country on several occasions – mostly doing photography and guiding.

He’s really at home when it comes to Persian (that is…: Iranian) culture and customs. Here’s an extract from our website on what to look out for in Iran in terms of culture.  For starters, don’t refer to them as Arabs… They’re Persians, which is a different people.

There is no need to bring shorts – you shouldn’t wear them in this country. Bring a light, breezy pair of pants.

Local Customs which are Interesting and Should be Respected

You are visiting a country with a very special – and for Westerners, unusually strict – Islamic culture, conduct and customs. Here is what to keep in mind: long pants for gentlemen, scarf for ladies at all times, even on lower regions of the mountain. The scarf can be any color and material as long as it covers your hair. For you ladies, a long sleeve shirt is highly recommended to avoid ridiculed stares. Please respect these basic things.

Here are some other customs:

• Western women can talk to anyone and can shake hands with men as well. Wesetern gentlemen can only shake hands with Persian (Iranian) women, if she initiates. Men can flirt with women as long as they’re in a smaller group. However, private conversations are forbidden. As a basic rule, men shouldn’t touch Iranian women.
• It’s customary to reject favors and invitations three times. If you’re offered the favor for the fourth time, you should accept. Exceptions: tea and smaller favors.
• Money isn’t everything! If you’re shopping, do engage in the conversation with the shopkeeper about where you’re coming from etc. It’s rude to ask about the price right away.
• Iranians are very interested in the West, and in you. If you show them pics from home, give them postcards, and just chat with them, they’ll be enormously happy.
• When getting into a taxi, be sure to get crystal clear on the destination and the price. Otherwise, they’ll rip you off in the end.
• If you run into trouble, just start shouting. In no time, a crowd will form around you and they will take your side (and do justice to the other party) – Iranians love tourists. They are among the most hospitable people in the world.
• Bring a photocopy of your passport and visa with you to town. If a cop asks for your papers, give him the photocopy first – just in case they aren’t entirely friendly and benign, it’s better to keep the original passport on you and give him a photocopy instead.
• Alcohol and drugs are strictly forbidden in this country. Both are easy to obtain, but if you are found possessing or using them, you risk serious fines, jail and in extreme cases, a death penalty. We cannot take responsibility for you in this respect. Save the beers (and the joint) for celebrating your climb at home.

Food-drinks

The most popular food on the street is the sandwitch. This can be kebab, falafel. If you’re a hard core try-it-all, you have your pick of hot-dog, liver and brain-filled sandwitches. We haven’t yet dared try the latter.

You won’t be disappointed with local food. If your a veggie, it’s a bit more difficult, but you can get along fine. Forget alcohol and go for fruit shakes, among which – in our opinion – watermelon ice-shakes are the peak of fine gastronomy. There are all the Coke imiations, too: Farsi-Cola, Zamzam-Cola, Mecca-Cola. You’ll get to drink a bunch of tea, too. Bottled water can be purchased almost everywhere.

Awesome video shot on and above the Stüdl ridge of Grossglockner (3797 m) Austria’s highest peak. More and more people visit this magnificent peak from the UK and Italy as well. Even though its height doesn’t match up with the Western Alps’ 4000ers, a Grossglockner climb is a spanking cool experience.

The tourskiing season is coming to an end here in Europe and everyone is seriously starting to look at their climbing targets for the summer.

Thus came the idea of the survey – who is going where? I’m dying to find out – and I bet you are too – what’s hot and what’s not this year… Let’s focus on the birthplace of mountaineering for now – Europe, more specifically, the Alps. If you want, we can do similar a survey for you Americanos and Americanas as well afterwards

Right after we get enough data, I’ll share the results – which may be surprising…

So, here we go…!

Check out this video. 4 surprisingly cool French (no offense there ) mountain guides hit Trango wall on a brand new route, taking like 20 days to summit the 1600 meter route. Shows you just how far a great deal of humor, laughter, friendship and bad ass climbing will take you take all of them very seriously.

The funny thing is that one of the guys acutally “left” the team above 5500 meters – he jumped off with his wingsuit!

The team named their “project” – or the video at least Azazel, which is a name used for Satan in the Bible. Hmm, wonder what’s up with that…
Thanks to gorida.com for pointing this video out in his blog.

OK, of course, it’s not mandatory. But one thing’s for sure. If you’ve gotten your hands dirty with mountaineering and were under the impression that “OK, I want this stuff,” then sooner or later you’ll want to nail one of the most emblematic peaks on the Planet: the big, bad Matterhorn. Am I right?

Seriously. No matter if you’re a young titan or a 40-ish dude with a small beer-belly who started climbing a bit too late, you probably want this mountain – or have it already – on your list. (Or you ,may have scaled it already.)

Pretty high up on the Hörligrat

If you’re a Brit or a Euro, don’t think you’re the only one crazy about this peak. Check out the “toplist” on the most visited climbing social site on the web, summitpost.org. Here you’ll see that on the list of “most searched for mountains”, the Matterhorn comes in at no. 2 outside the American contintent (the most popular is Mt. Blanc). And it’s the sixth most popular peak all-in-all on Summitpost.

Thus ariseth the question: what do you need to climb the Matterhorn?

OK, you probably can’t give an answer to this question. There’s just too many parameters involved. You can’t have a checklist by which you could tell your “readiness” for the mountain – like if you cross off 10 out of 12 items, you could say you’re ‘ready’. Not in this sport, my friend! Things are a bit more complicated than that.

But what I can do is give you a few pointers on what how to get yourself ready for this hill.

Climbing the Matterhorn: Route Selection

First off, you definitely have to decide on which route to go for. There are over 25 variations up Matterhorn, out of which Hörnligrat is the most popular on the Swiss side. And probably the easiest, for that matter and is thus the route which most guides choose. Here are some of the popular routes up Matterhorn (credit to summitpost.org):

1. Hörnligrat: the normal route on the Swiss side. Difficulty: AD-, sometimes III-, IV+ rock
2. Liongrat: cool stuff, the Italian normal route. A whole lot less crowded but a bit more difficult. What you get: AD, grade III rock.
3. Zmuttgrat: A classic route without fixed ropes (the above two routes have some fixed ropes). Here, you’re looking at D difficulty stuff, grade IV- rock and 50 degree firn terrain.
4. Furggengrat: The most difficult of the ridges. Difficulty: D+/TD, sometimes V+, with some grade VI sections thrown in for you.
5. Da North Wall: a true classic in the Alps. Difficulty: TD difficulty with steep ice and grade IV-V rock.

Since the crowds are on Hörligrat, this route tends to be more dangerous in high-season.

At this point, it would be nice to give a brief historical overview of the climbing of Matterhorn, but so many others have done so before me, that I’ll just refer to a good summary I found on Wikipedia. So, now let us turn our attention to what you have to consider before hitting this 4478 meter hill.

• Experience: here’s a frequent question that we mountain guides get:

Dudes, is it really such a bad ass mountain? Do I really need a guide?

• Well, honestly, if this question crosses your mind, then the answer is a firm YES. And you probably shouldn’t attempt it on your own at this point.

Those, who climb Matterhorn without a guide will have scaled some of the other notorious peaks – unguided. Stuff like Breithorn, Pollux, Castor, Dom and some of the more technical routes on these.

If you don’t know what a grade V or VI- stands for, then again, please, consider a guide. Have a go on Castor or Pollux before you put the cash down for Matterhorn. Most guides will require you try one of these mountains with them anyway.

Now, on to some specific stuff…

• Equipment: When going in the summer, be ready for temperatures down to -10 Celsius, or around 14-15 degrees Fahrenheit. Afternoon snowstorms, thunderstorms are a regularity on this mountain. That is one of the reasons you need to be real fast – but we’ll get to the issue of climbing speed later. So, you won’t need extremely warm feather jackets – but a good rainjacket with fleece sweaters.

Since you’ll be likely to deal a lot with crampons, I would have strong mountaineering boots, rather than trekking boots. They just go better with crampons and they climb better due to stiffer soles and sharper edges.

You’ll find fixed ropes in a lot of the places, which will free you of some ropework, but if you go unguided, you’ll need cams just in case.

• Stamina: on this mountain, speed is everything, man. Guides will turn you back at 8 am if they decide, you are too slow. How do you know, whether or not you’re fit enough? Well, there are places like routes like the Stüdlgrat on the Grossglockner (the highest peak in Austria at 3797 meters) where if you go from the refuge to the cross on the peak in 5-5.5 hours, it’s a good indication that you have “something to look forward to”. This isn’t, of course, a sound indicator, just a pointer.

• When should you climb? If you are inexperienced with tough winter climbing – if you are climbing Matterhorn with a Guide – then summer is the time to go; main season. That means: end of June to mid-September.  Yep, that’s when you have the biggest crowds and rock fall is a considerable risk on the Hörli route. Avalanches should be considered also, especially if you go in the off season. Avalanche risk, of course, depends a great deal on the conditions of the given day, but you should know that avalanches on the Matterhorn are responsible for several deaths.

• How much time should you spend on this trip? The climb itself, from Zermatt to Zermatt can be done in two days, with just one night spent at the Hörlihütte. You will, however, need to acclimatize before your climb – remember, this is a tall mountain.

It’s a good idea to give yourself some time in Zermatt – like a week and a half to two weeks. After all, you probably don’t have a chance to make an outing to the Swiss Alps any weekend you want to. So, it’s worth paying a visit on top of the many 4000 meter peaks in the area: Pollux, Castor, Dom, Jungrau and so on… You’ll need to acclimatize on one of them anyway and it’s a good idea to get into things fitness- and skill-wise on several other peaks. Then, when the weather and your mojo are up for it, attack the Matterhorn from Zermatt in two or three days.

When you’re done and you still have a couple of days until you’re flown home, you can always go for the more technical climbs in the region. You may want to try a more difficult route up the Matterhorn or have a look at Dufourspitze a few valleys away.

If you want a good description on how to prepare for and plan climbing the Matterhorn or need a guide, check out our mountain guides’ website.

So, is the Matterhorn climb on your to-do list? How much time do you need to prepare? Or are you put off by the hype and the crowds? I’d love to hear from you.