Matterhorn Peak -- a successful summit!

My mom has always told me a story of when she was in her twenties, visiting a friend in Switzerland, and they went for a hike around her friend's family's chalet in the Bernese Oberland. The folks they were with insisted upon stopping every 45 minutes to eat, explaining how even on the seemingly mildest of days, weather can change on a dime. And they will be fueled and ready to handle it.

A very wise strategy, whether it be weather around the corner, or a slightly-too-friendly alpine bull. For my mother, it was the latter. Fortunately, she was fueled and energized -- good thing for all the running (and laughing) that ensued.
This has always been one of those stories that drifts into my head when I am talking to groups about pacing and break-taking techniques on summit day. We do not take "rest" breaks, we take "maintenance" breaks. We break often enough to fuel ourselves, but not so frequently to break our rhythm. We keep a slow and steady pace -- as we say, "slow is fast, and fast is safe."

In this way, we are fresh and fueled at every turn, ready for whatever lies ahead.

In the Sierra Nevada, it is rarely weather or bulls. We don't have much of either here. The weather tends to be fairly predictable. I like to call California the "land of idle threats" for how many times I have seen the thunderheads build and produce nothing but great photos and wracked nerves. But mountains are mountains, and every range has its challenges and curveballs.

***
Zeb and I met Caitlin, Greg, Will, Mark and Jim in Bridgeport on a typical brisk morning. We had skied around Matterhorn Peak the day before, so knew we were likely to have agreeable climbing conditions by summit day.

Our first day, we punched out the hike in just under 5 hours -- 4 hours and 57 minutes, if I recall Jim's exact calculation. A good pace into camp, which set us up with extra daylight hours to get some avalanche beacon instruction in.
The second day was skills day. And we covered them all! With excellent weather (for a change), we managed to hold a full and extensive snow school, practicing crampon and ice axe techniques, as well as self-arrest, including the favorite: falling headfirst-backwards! The whole group did excellently, and we saw our chances at summiting increase yet again.

We dug a pit in the snow to talk about avalanches. Zeb has worked on ski patrol at Squaw Valley for 4 years, and has taught avalanche courses. He was able to uncover the mysteries hidden in the layers of snow for us -- and we learned that indeed, we have a very stable snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. Summit chances looking even better.

Last, I set up a top-rope on some 4th class snowy rocks to practice climbing in boots. The last bit of the Matterhorn Peak climb is a couple of short pitches of 4th class rock scrambling. Nothing major, but good to practice climbing in boots. And the group excelled once again. Summit, here we come!

***
We woke at 5am and hit the trail by 6:30am, immediately having to put on crampons to get up the hill just out of camp -- it had firmed up quite a bit overnight on this southeast-facing knoll.
But we made steady progress, and soon attained the ridge at the tarn (where we camp for our summer and fall trips). Here, the snow was soft but just firm enough to be perfect for booting, and before we knew it, we were at the glacial bowl below the peak.The snow got deeper, and turned into a lovely wind-buff once we reached the east couloir. One of our other guides, Lynette, was on a 2-day climb, and had started up much earlier than us in order to make it all the way back to the trailhead by nightfall. She had already broken trail, and we had a perfect staircase all the way to the top of the couloir. I still owe her a six pack. At least.

We passed Lynette mid-couloir on her way down, thanked her for the stairs, and cruised steadily upward.

We took a nice break at the top of the couloir, soaking in the views, then continued around the backside of the peak to find our path-of-least-resistance. The south side was still holding quite a bit of snow, and the climb looked to be challenging. Zeb and I short-pitched it, climbing up, setting an anchor, and bringing our group up.
It was 1:40pm, and I had set a strict turnaround time of 2:00pm. I topped out on the second short-pitch, and sighted the summit -- this would finally be my first successful summit! I promise, I'm not cursed -- I blame the weather. Not the bulls.

Bulls?

Anyway, we fudged my 2pm turnaround time a bit, now knowing we would make it down relatively quickly with only two short pitches to belay down.

Our groups traveled strong and safe, we soaked in the views, signed the register, and were on our way down in no time.

Spectacular day.

We made it back to camp just as the sun disappeared behind the ridge, and started melting snow for one of our favorite meals: Thanksgiving Dinner.

Yes, that is Thanksgiving Dinner. In the backcountry.

A healthy meal for some healthy appetites.

Thanks for a great summit, "Team Awesome!"