From Zermatt to the Schönbielhütte

“There is nothing that looks more inaccessible than the Matterhorn from this side, and even with cold blood you hold your breath when you see the dreadful rock falls. There are few in the Alps that match them in size, and none more deserving of the designation vertical walls. The largest of all is the enormous north face hanging over the Zmutt Glacier. None other than Edward Whymper, the first climber, writes here so reverently about the Matterhorn’s north face. We are very close to this north face, which has nothing in common with the familiar Matterhorn postcard image, on the way to the Schönbielhütte. We start at the station square in Zermatt, hike over meadows to the idyllic hamlet of Zmutt and reach the rubble and lake landscape in front of the Zmutt Glacier. What follows then is nothing but amazement: in front of the icy north faces of the Matterhorn and Dent d’Hérens, the path leads over a large lateral moraine of the glacier towards the Schönbielhütte. Admittedly, we have