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Ray-J
Social climber
east L.A. vato...
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Really good stuff - thanks for posting.
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GDavis
Trad climber
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one of my favorite trip reports, thanks! And SS, thats a GREAT story!
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DonC
climber
CA
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Great TR!
My wife and I were in Zermatt on vacation and I asked around for a partner for the Hornli Ridge. I hiked to the base one afternoon and got into a "conversation" with 3 Italians. With my poor Italian (Spanish) and their poor English, I was able to determine that they were going up in 2 days. I tried to convince them that 2 ropes of 2 would be faster than 1 rope of 3. They either didn't get it, or didn't like what they saw, so no deal was made.
Several more days of no luck and I eventually hired a guide who went by Turbo Tommy. I was about 45 at the time and this guy was 22 - 23 at most. I was pretty experienced to be going with a guide, and so we were on the summit by 9:30 and back at the hut by noon. I had a great time. There were many guided parties not down until late in the pm, and I heard of many epics.
Later in the week I heard that the Italian team got into lots of trouble. A bad rappel and rockfall resulted in one of them dying, and another badly injured. I don't know if it would have gone better if I was with them, or if I would have gotten caught up in their difficulties. I really felt bad for them - they seemed like a fun group of young guys out for some adventure.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jan, here are your photos retouched:
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there all, say, thanks for all these great shares on the matterhorn... i just hearing about the matterhorn...
*yep--it's me... the one that always post how you just GOT to have a link to ZERMOT LIVE! (think that is the name)?
(can't even remember now) :O
but---you get to see the sun-rise and the sun-set, on your computer---live from zeromt.. it is lovely.... and it really is a magnificent thing to see on the ol' computer screen too...
*course, this for you all, when you ain't climbing it... :)
if i find the link soon, i will edit and put it in here to go with the neat trip reports, etc...
:)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, thomaskeefer... wow, the pics finally downloaded to go with the report...
very lovely and nice and crisp..
once again, thanks for the very nice share! :)
forgot to say you:
the "driving in" incident was an interesting note, as to not fully getting it all right the first time... ;)
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Sep 10, 2009 - 01:57am PT
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Thanks to Peter for retouching my photos! Seeing what he has done means all of mine are salvageable if I only knew more about graphics. Of course if I had known more about photos I would have left them in a dry place like Colorado instead of bringing them to Okinawa with me.
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Dirka
Trad climber
SF
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Sep 10, 2009 - 02:06am PT
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One day. Nice work.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Sep 10, 2009 - 04:51am PT
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From Polynesia to the Matterhorn
It all started in the summer of 07 on the island of Raiatea in French Polynesia, with a broken down transmission and a budding friendship. My new friend, Giles Finlayson, was preparing his beautiful sailboat “Petrel”, for a singlehanded passage west to Australia and on to the surf havens of Indonesia. Likewise, we were headed that way, with a left turn at Tonga for a run down to New Zealand and a new base. Pulling, and replacing a transmission on an older sailboat, a multitude of times can either break or enhance a friendship. Fortunately, we came out somewhat physically scarred but the best of mates.
The winter of 07 in the South Pacific was one of unrelenting and very strong NE Trade winds that went on for week after week and month after month. Strong winds and big seas can take a toll on any boat. One day out of Raiatea, headed west, Giles lost both his autopilot and his self steering gear, and began the tedious task of hand steering in difficult conditions. On our boat we had a party of four and found the conditions challenging to say the least. We had crossed these waters numerous times before but never under such difficult conditions.
Giles was hand steering for an average of 22 out of every 24 hours. He would hove to, turn the boat into the wind, catch a little sleep and then get right back into the driving game. We were two days ahead and every day at 5pm, my daughter Kali, would give him a cheer up call on either the ham radio or satellite phone.
The first leg was from Raiatea to the beautiful island of Suwarow, aka Suvarov, 6 days of wild sailing. Giles arrived several days later and the ”kids” went out to help him anchor. One tired but happy sailor. After a week of R&R, we repeated the scenario with another even more difficult passage to the island of Niuatoputapu in northern Tonga where, after 6 days, we arrived at the pass in 15 ft seas and 35 kts of wind.
Giles was a day behind and even more wasted than the last passage. Again the “kids” went out to greet him and help him anchor. He immediately went inside the boat, cranked up his fav tune full volume on the CD : “ I need a woman who will love me like my dog did”, and crashed for 24 hours. We had to wait ten days to make the next passage of only 125 miles to Vavau. Giles was able to repair both his autopilot and windvane and had a relatively “quiet” trip from Tonga to Australia via New Caledonia.
While sitting around the Mermaid bar in beautiful downtown Vavau, rehydrating and Bsing, as often happens, we got into a discussion of days gone by and early childhood years. Giles father was the well known and celebrated British actor Robert Douglas Finlayson. In the 1938 movie, “The Challenge” he played the role of Whymper in the first ascent of the Matterhorn. Luis Trenker played the role of Jean Anthoine Carrel and both actors climbed the Matterhorn and performed their own stunts. An exceptional movie for its time. Last summer, Giles provided me with a DVD of the original. Glen Denny considers it one of the all time classics.
Robert Douglas went on to a very successful career as an actor, screenwriter, producer and director in the US. Giles is off surfing in Indo and still looking for that perfect woman to crew with him.
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