First-Time Climb: Our Journey to Breithorn 4,164m
Our beginner’s journey to high-altitude mountaineering with crampons, harnesses, and rope
First, great you’re ready for this as it’s a great experience.
Second, you can’t do this completely solo.
I found people to hike with in a hotel I was working for, so we ended up being at least three of us. We also had access to all gear at the hotel. You’ll need a good pair of boots that will go with your crampons. I was a newbie but the other two had done a few mountains before so they knew what to do.
If you’re going alone be sure to check out an established organizer before, it’s about €200 for a guide to help you up to the summit in a day. Check out well-established guides here, just search for ‘Breithorn.’ We started in Cervinia, on the Italian side, but there are expeditions that start in Zermatt, on the Swiss side, too.
If you have experienced people with you then you can just skip what I said and read on. We followed this map that has been created for free to navigate from Cervinia to Plateau Rosa and then up to Breithorn. It also has all the important stops mapped out.
Breithorn is a very beginner-friendly mountain and anyone with enough stamina should be able to handle it. However, it is still very hard. If you walk from Cervinia — which we did — the length of the hike is about 30km up and back. 30km doesn’t sound like much but remember to add on 2,100m elevation gain and it’s a pretty good amount of exercise.
I remember us breathing really heavily for the last 2km stretch to the top. Your boots feel heavy and the snow is slushy and difficult to walk in. Your head hurts from the sun. The sun is beating down on you and you’re trying to shield yourself from the high UV rays. You’re stuck to others with a rope knowing that if you want to go back then everyone has to go back.
Although, we did see two Chinese people who had managed to get lost with their sneakers on up there. They used the lift on the Swiss side to get as far up as they could, which is cheating. But so is the sneakers. Also, it’s pretty dangerous to walk around on the glacier with sneakers.
Nevertheless, I’ll stress that none of us regretted this. It’s a great feeling to push yourself like this and then finish it.
Cervinia to Plateau Rosa
We started in Cervinia, and it was in June so the first part of this hike was like any other hike. The first 5 km will be on a normal hiking path.
You can look at the map to see where we started. We got a ride so we started on the shorter green line to the left if you zoom in to Cervinia.
Once you’ve hiked about 3–4 km, you should arrive at the first lift, Plan Maison. If you’re really tired by then you’ll probably won’t make it to the top. It will get heavier when you’re walking at a high altitude especially if you’ve just arrived in Cervinia.
We talked to some fit people before who had tried it on their second day in the alps, and they couldn’t make it.
Acclimatization is important.
It will be a thousand times more difficult without proper acclimatization. Someone who lives here can run up there, but if you usually live on sea level it will be harder. As a matter of fact, I think we saw a dude running back and forth while we were breathing really heavily. You can google it a bit to get more information on the effects of high altitude on humans.
As for gear, for this first part, you can use your regular sneakers or normal hiking shoes, as mountaineering boots are usually very clumsy and heavy to walk in. Some guides will force beginners to wear them from the start so you don’t have to carry them which will increase your backpack weight.
After the first lift, you’ll start to walk on the normal ski piste — which is closed in June — which usually still has snow even in the summer. Check the map if you’re lost. Here you can decide if you want to change your boots or keep going. I think we used our sneakers all the way to Plateau Rosa. At least one of us. No names.
It is about 5–6 km of walking on this piste path before you reach the top and it may not be the nicest walk. However, it’s quite pretty.
Once you get to the Swiss border, you’re up on the plateau. This is the glacier, and here you can ski all year round. The Italians don’t have the lifts open all year around. However, the Swiss do. With the new lift that goes directly from Cervinia to Zermatt, this might change after 2023.
Once you get up to Plateau Rosa at 3,480m, there is a Cáfe and a Refugio called Guide del Cervino that’s open all year around where you can get ready for the next stretch. If you need somewhere to stay you should be able to rent a bed there with half-board. All the Refugios are like that.
This is the part that you’ll ideally need your crampons for so a good place to change your shoes and prep all your gear. The German guy was the rope guy, so he prepped the rope as well but we didn’t pay too much attention. This is why I would suggest just making sure you have people with you who know what they’re doing.
Plateau Rosa to Breithorn
Now you have about 5–6 km left, but it’s a lot harder than the former 8–9 km you’ve just walked.
Now you walk with crampons which isn’t the fastest way to get ahead.
The altitude is also higher than 3,500m which is when your breathing will pick up as a consequence of reduced partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere.
I went a bit wikipedia there just so you get the educated version. It just means that if you’re not used to the altitude, breathing will be more difficult. I can only imagine what the air would be like at 7,000 to 8,000 meters above sea level.
As you’ll see on the map, you’ll keep walking alongside the piste until you get to the end of it. After this, you’ll need to start preparing the rope and put on your harnesses. Technically you can also make a pit stop at Klein Matterhorn, they have a pretty decent restaurant there as well. See the map.
You’ll see the top of Breithorn as well from here.
It’s not super impressive and it looks like a very short walk from the lift, but it’ll take an hour or two to get up to the first top as you can’t walk in a straight line.
Walking with a rope is a bit different, but the view is a thousand times better without people skiing at the same time. It’s just you and your team walking in this pure snowy mountain.
You’ll have the zig-zag up the hill there to the top rather than just walk straight up as it is steeper than it looks. The route will be visible as this is a pretty popular route to walk for both Swiss and Italians.
Once you reach the top, it will be very windy, as there is nothing shielding you from the wind as you’ve pretty much as far up as you can go. We had to sit down so we wouldn’t fall down on the other — steeper — side of the mountain.
Now we just had to start walking down again. You can see on the map that you can continue and walk around it, but we just went down the way we came for some reason.
The way back is always gruesome. It’s pretty much 4 or 5 hours of walking downwards; it feels like it is never-ending.
Would we do it again? Absolutely.
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