Climbing Zinalrothorn allows you to enjoy a loo with the most stunning view in the world but you have to contend with flying loo paper!
The hike up to the Rotorn Hut begins in a lush green valley, before eventually opening up onto a moraine field. It was hot and so to avoid having to dry sweat soaked t-shirts, Bertrand the mountain guide and I, hiked bare chested. Not a pretty site for those descending and when the wind started to blow it was damned cold. After under three hours to complete the 1,600m of vertical we arrived at the Rotorn hut. The hut is famous for two things – excellent food and no heating. We arrived frozen and were to remain in this state for the next 48 hours. Dinner that night, shared with the only two other guests, a gay female couple from Germany, was incredibly good.
We left the hut to attempt Zinalrothorn, one of the more challenging of the 52 4,000m peaks on my list to be completed by the time I reach 70. My strategy is to tackle the really tough one while I am still, relatively speaking, young!
We set off at a good lick and having just arrived back from Bangladesh and two weeks as seal level I was surprised I was not suffering more. We approached via the glacier which brings you to a rocky “chimney” which provides access to the mountain proper. With one foot wedged either side you leverage your way up onto a rock-strewn slope. This was fine, and then it was more snow and some ice along a ridge which, for once, probably did not guarantee certain death were you to fall.
The mountaineering proper then began and I understood why Zinalrothorn is regarded as one of the more serious 4,000 peaks in the Alps. There was one spot which required some reasonably delicate climbing on a rocky slab where, should you fall, you would have had a good few seconds to contemplate the error or your ways before hitting the glacier below. More of the same continued but none of it really unsettled me and suddenly we were on the summit. The views were spectacular with the clouds appearing to be crashing against the rocks below us like an ocean as sunrise. The descent was uneventful and the whole thing was done and dusted in time for morning coffee.
At 2:45am the following morning I looked out at the window at a few inches of fresh snow and strong winds. I had a flight to catch later in the day, so the goal was to climb the Obergabelhorn quickly and then shower at the train station before catching the train to Geneva. Conditions looked terrible and I was hoping we might just abandon there and then. It was not to be.
I was all kitted up and almost ready to go. I just need to nip to the Rothorn Hut outdoor loo which is basically a whole cut in a piece of wood with a loo seat on it and then a longish drop onto the glacier. The door to the loo opens like a stable with a bottom and top part. I can only assume this is to allow those enjoying the facilities to leave the top part open, so they can gaze upon the Matterhorn, as I did, under a full moon. One of the most memorable calls of nature one can ever answer. The only down side was the wind was blowing 35km/hr straight up the glacier and straight up the loo. This meant that loo paper had a nasty habit of dancing back up out of the loo and threatening to fly around the stable. I managed to escape unharmed.
We began the approach across the glacier to the start of the Obergalbelhorn at 3:30am. Fresh snow, hard packed, wind affected ridges and scary looking crevasses made things slow and hard going. We eventually approach the should that would take us onto the start of the rock ridge. We paused to put on warmer clothes, but the 45km/hr winds froze us instantly. We swung our arms, we danced, we swore and got colder still. We were already behind schedule and things were only going to get colder, windier and more technical. Bertrand put our chances of summiting at 5% and I put my chances of missing my plane at close to 95%. We decided to turn back because, as Bertrand pointed out, the mountains will not be going anywhere.
Expeditions 