Hirli - Just Hiking

Statistics

Date - 08/17/2026
Elevation - 9,478'
Route - Southwest Ridge
Miles - 5.3
Elevation Gain - 2,418'
ACME Mapper - Not Applicable
CalTopo - Link
Partners - Rebecca Just

Description

My wife and I went to Switzerland to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. I visited this part of Europe 15 years ago and was successful in climbing the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. I thought it would be fun to return to the Hornli Hut at the base of the Matterhorn and show Rebecca where we started our climb in 2011. Due to a warm summer and rockfall, guides decided to stop taking clients to the summit because of the danger this season.

We rode the Schwarzsee gondola to the start of the hike and were lucky to have clear views of the peak for about 90 minutes before weather moved in. We made good progress but realized our clear skies were going to be pretty short-lived. Where the trail to the Hornli Hut crossed over to the north side of the northeast ridge of the Matterhorn, I looked back and noticed a trail going to the northeast towards a small sub-peak below the Matterhorn. I quickly looked on my phone and realized the peak was named, so thought I'd quickly scramble over to it on the hike out.

The closer we got to the Hornli Hut, the lower the cloud ceiling became and the heavier the air felt. Rebecca did a great job through the scrambling, metal stairs, and more challenging terrain during the last 1,000' of the hike. Since there weren't any good views and we didn't want to downclimb the harder sections when it was wet, we simply started down as soon as we saw the Hornli Hut to beat the weather and avoid any slippery hiking.

When we reached the bottom of the last set of stairs and were back on the more level hiking trail, we were required to put on our rain gear as the mist transitioned to a constant drizzle. The drizzle changed to rain once we reached the climber's trail leading to Hirli, but I decided to go for the summit anyway since I was fairly certain it wouldn't take me more than 15 minutes. I reached the top and took a couple of photos before quickly scampering back down to Rebecca who was waiting for me on the trail.

We hiked back to the Schwarzsee lift and were pretty soaked at this point. As a result, we didn't hang out or take in the views any longer and simply went back down to Zermatt where we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Photo