Update 2, photo gallery added
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Zermatt opened its new Matterhorn temporary base camp Saturday 19 July, to accommodate the stream of climbers during the summer 2014 climbing season while the Hörnlihütte hut is closed for a year for renovations. The base camp can handle up to 50 climbers and is being called “the first pop-up hotel in the Alps”.
The resort is enforcing its ban on unauthorized camping while the permanent hut is closed and those who don’t respect the ban risk fines of up to CHF5,000. Some 3,500 people attempt the Matterhorn summit without a guide every year; 65 percent of them make it while only about 20 of the 300-400 people who use a guide fail to make it to the top. About a dozen people die each year in the attempt, often on the descent.
Matterhorn officials discourage unguided climbs in part because of the number of accidents caused by people who don’t know the route and who cause rockfalls that injure people below them. Melting permafrost is increasing the danger of rockfalls.
The camp is at 2,880 metres, almost 1,600 metres below the summit (coordinates: Hirli, 2,880 m, coordinates 619.500 / 093.100). “With Zermatt making preparations for the 150th anniversary of the Matterhorn’s first ascent in 2015, the Hörnlihütte is currently being renovated and will reopen its doors in July 2015,” the resort says on its website. “In terms of comfort and sustainability, the forward-looking conversion of the chalet will satisfy all standards applicable to modern buildings in the Alps – including sustainable energy and water supply.”
Swatch, Mammut and Zermatt are partners for the temporary housing project. The tents will be for sale after the summer, says the resort, although news agency ats suggests that they may be used later around the world as ambassadors for the Zermatt-Matterhorn brand.
Temporary base camp will have short, sweet life
Late winter snows made it a challenge to put up the camp, according to the Hörnlihütte hut warden and building supervisor Kurt Lauber. “The spell of winter weather with snow made our schedule tighter and tighter.”
The base camp was built specifically to discourage unauthorized camping and bivouacking due to the closure of the Hörnlihütte, with “the Base Camp Matterhorn … conceived to protect nature and implement long-standing laws. In summer 2014, strict controls will be carried out around the Matterhorn and any contraventions of the laws will attract fines of up to CHF 5,000,” the group behind the new camp says.
Without this, say officials, campers set up tents everywhere and leave their trash behind, a problem for the delicate high-mountain eco-system.
The base camp has 25 tw0-person shelters, two common rooms eating/lounge, a kitchen, one lavatory and no shower. Cost: CHF150 per person per night, half board. Booking is by phone only: +41 27 967 22 64.
The camp is open until 15 September.
The mountain’s name
The English name is the Matterhorn, taken from the German, but in French it is known as the Cervin. Climbing.About.com offers several interesting bits of information about climbing the mountain, including this about its name:
“Matterhorn, the German name, is from the words Matte meaning “meadow” and horn meaning “peak.” Cervino, the Italian name, and Cervin, the French name, derive from the Latin words cervus and -inus meaning “place of Cervus.” Cervus is a genus of deer that includes elk.”