The Matterhorn 14,692ft, Switzerland

The Matterhorn — a naturally carved pyramid in the sky, almost perfectly shaped to fool the conspiracy theorists. Most everyone into mountaineering knows about the Matterhorn. The locals can't view the sky without seeing its dominating presence. Watching it from the Gorner glacier the previous week was like staring at a beacon, with its gravity pulling my eyes towards the peak on an hourly basis.

The crumbly nature of this peak and the unseasonably warm conditions made climbing 'particularly dangerous' according to the local Swiss Heli-SAR we were working with. They were picking people off the peak and addressing injuries on a daily basis — numbers they hadn't seen in a long time.

Chris and I made it a third of the way up. People were going in all directions, rocks were falling everywhere, and we were quickly running out of time before afternoon heavy rockfall. We bailed and headed to Ticino. The Matterhorn is a worthy climb — I recommend getting in your Matterhorn experience. Even hiking to the Hut is worth it. I will never forget the experience and we salvaged the day with a beautiful canyon at sunset. Fair trade.

🎒 Gear for this: Petzl Tikka Headlamp · Osprey Backpack · Black Diamond Harness