Including the ones that got away! I first saw the Matterhorn in December 1972, at the tail end of a semester off from college with Dick, vagabonding about Europe. I was smitten, and when I came back in 1978, I was an “aspiring hard man” and had just knocked off 3-4 classic ice routes, thus I vowed “I would get on the hornligrat as I descend it, from one of the sexier alternatives.” Of course, the partner I had hooked up with, had to go back to work, and I got sick. (I count that three month European climbing trip, as my longest bivy … no money for campgrounds, huts, or lifts) Thankfully, Lenny and his travelers checks nursed me back to health, and for my payback I was meant to guide him up the Matterhorn, but alas the weather was crappy. I came back in 1992 with Gary with designs on the North Face; then came back again in 2012 with Carter Rowley; in both cases we had great ski tours and some good warmup climbs, but never enough settled weather to jump on the Schmid route. So, it seems the Matterhorn will have to wait until my next reincarnation.
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