ORTOVOX tour tip: Breithorn – your first steps into the world of four-thousanders

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Tour data

2.72km

3,788 - 4,149m

Distance

360hm

33hm

Ascent

02:00h

Duration

ORTOVOX

Brief description: Being able to stand on the summit of a four-thousander, just once? It’s a wish (almost) anybody can fulfill on the Breithorn, above Zermatt.
Difficulty: easy
Rating: Technique

Fitness

Landscape

Experience
Starting point: Klein Matterhorn Express, Zermatt terminus
Route: Piccolo Cervino (3,883 m)peak

Breithorn Westgipfel (4,164 m)peak
2.7 km
Best season: Jan

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Description: It’s just a small 350-meter ascent from the Klein Matterhorn cable car station, across a glacier and rather gentle firn slope. Providing the weather and conditions are good, all you’ll need for this glacial crest is an experienced tour partner, crampons, a rope and the right technique. Most of the route has good tracks, but you still have to watch out for crevasses, of course. The view of the nearby Matterhorn and the Monte Rosa massif will probably whet your appetite for more remote mountains.

Take the Matterhorn Glacier Express from Zermatt up to 3800 meters (tip: the Swiss federal railway’s Half Fare Travelcard is a one-off purchase, but will save you 50% on your rail costs). The Breithorn (4164m) will already look so close you could almost touch it. The route takes a wide arc over the gentle glacier slopes and leads to the main (west) summit via its south slope. Even though the Breithorn is considered to be the easiest of the four-thousanders, it’s not to be underestimated!

If you go up with skis early in the year, the descent via the Schwarztor offers an alternative, providing conditions are good.
Directions: Descend slightly in a southerly direction along the ski lift. Then take a wide arc over the flat glacier to where the south-west flank begins. Go up it fairly straightly to about 4000m, then keep preferably to the left for the last section along the spine in an easterly direction up to the summit.
Highest point: 4,149 m
Endpoint: Zermatt
Height profile: © outdooractive.com
Equipment: Glacier equipment
Safety instructions: You must have high-alpine experience and the visibility must be good (you can easily get lost in foggy weather).
Pay attention to the train timetable!
Tips: Be still, my beating Breithorn heart: Five separate four-thousanders (UIAA) can be combined along the 2.5 kilometers of the ridge spine, involving some breezy climbing over rock and firn – well worth it!
Additional information: Zermatt Alpin Center, Bahnhofstrasse 58, CH-3920 Zermatt, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 27 966 24 60;
www.alpincenter-zermatt.ch

Zermatt Bergbahnen AG, CH-3920 Zermatt; Tel.: +41 27 9660101;
normal operation in peak season (July, August) from 6:30 a.m. (off-season from 8:30 a.m.)
www.matterhornparadise.ch
Directions: Via Visp, into the Matter Valley to Täsch (parking garage); from there by rail to car-free Zermatt.
Public transportation: Very good rail connection (approx. three hours from Zurich; trains run at least once an hour).