Breithorn, 4164 m

It turns out it's quite possible to summit a 4000 m peak in a day from Lausanne - especially if you choose an easy 4k mountain and make extensive use of cablecars. This is what Tanya, Clancy, Georgia and I did yesterday, when we climbed Breithorn via the normal route from Klein Matterhorn.

Breithorn (4164 m).

We left Lausanne at 5.30 and by nine o'clock we were on the first cablecar to Klein Matterhorn, which sits at 3882 m and was our starting point. We roped up and set off across the Breithorn plateau, then hooked left and up the slope you see in the photo above. It was a beautiful blue-sky day, the sun was out, there was no wind, and the snow conditions were perfect. We were in high spirits.

Dent d'Hérens, Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Grand Cornier, Ober Gabelhorn.

Near the top of the mountain there was a very beautiful final ridge line, with the Matterhorn standing tall behind us and space all around. Tanya and I played our usual game of naming as many peaks as possible - and there were many to see because the visibility was amazing. Only the Italian side stayed shrouded in cloud.

Georgia on the final ridge.

R-L: Georgia, Clancy, Tanya, Matterhorn.

On the summit.

The view north-east towards Saas.

We headed back down, and down and down again via cablecars, to get back to Zermatt, where we spent a lazy afternoon hanging out before driving back to Lausanne. A really great day trip - que du bonheur!

Looking down the cablecar from Klein Matterhorn.

The classic view.