Shit I dropped the camera!

After our lightweight brekkie of ginger cake we set off at 6am hoping most of the climbers would be ahead of us and we could travel fast and overtake where we needed to. We were going really well until the steeper sections of rope ladders and chains that meant a build up of traffic. I had a Scottish hot aches experience waiting for pitches to come free.
We summitted at 10:30 and took tonnes of great photos before I decided to drop the camera down the face while trying to clip it back onto my harness. Nightmare!!! Up the Matterhorn with amazing scenery all around and my beloved pictures on the glacier below.
The descent of the Hornli was horrific, easier to overtake thank god but the crampon and rope skills high up were not good, many parties very unsafe. So we skirted around them as best we could to get out of there before accidents started to happen. The Hornli hutte seemed so far away and it took us a lot of hard work and rock scrambling to get down and back out to the ski lift.
After a quick beer in Zermatt we returned to find a FULL campsite but still managed to blag a space. What a day! Amazing mountain, shame everyone else thinks so too!!

Salzbretzels und ski lifts

We arrived in Tasch from Chamonix ready to go into Zermatt and begin our training – nearly three bottles of wine later we felt hydrated enough to begin our ascent of the Matterhorn (il Cervino) the next day. First we had 3 hours of ski lift and piste walking action up Matterhorn Paradise and down into Italy and Plan Maison.
The salz bretzels and chilling on the ski lifts allowing us to recover ready for our 1600m ascent to the Carell Hut on the Italian side of the Matterhorn. After a sweaty nights sleep in the rafters of the hut we awoke at 5am ready for our climb.

Thanks Marielle for more photos of Dibona

When I reached the top of Dibona I saw the couple who had climbed above us, sitting in the sunshine from the descent path looking up at us. They very kindly took a few summit shots and I received them by email today.

Unfortunately the clouds came in so they didn't get one of Sari and I both together but it is great to have another few pictures of this incredible day out.

Merci Marielle!

My right arm gone to Kyrgysztan

My van mate and climbing buddy of 6 weeks has now left for Kyrgysztan. She'll be climbing Peak Lenin in July and exploring new mountains in August.
Good luck Sari! Hope it all goes well.
Her exped blog is http://karagakarexped09.blogspot.com/