Home · Zermatt 4,000 m peaks
Zermatt · Valais · UIAGM guided
Thirty-eight four-thousanders stand within sight of this valley — more than anywhere else in the Alps. Twelve of those days are on this page, from the one almost anyone can do to the ridges most alpinists never get to. And if what you want is not here, that is the last section.
Why here
Zermatt is unusual: the lifts put you on the glacier at 3,883 m, which turns ascents that elsewhere need a hut, a 2 a.m. start and a thousand metres of approach into a single day from the village. That changes what is possible for someone with a week of holiday, and it changes what you can realistically build towards. The routes on this page run from a first glacier walk to the highest point in Switzerland, and they are grouped in the order a career actually goes: the ones you can start on, the ones that teach you, and the ones you work towards.
Every route here is quoted as a guide fee for the day, privately. Whether one or two people can share it is decided by the route, not by filling places — I do not run open groups. Lifts, huts and rental gear are separate, and listed under each peak. The bigger peaks are quoted on request, once I know your dates and what you have climbed.
Group one · your first four-thousanders
Three summits that ask for fitness and willingness rather than technique. The Breithorn and the Allalinhorn are lift-assisted and can be done in a day from the valley; the Nadelhorn is the step after them — a hut night and a long ridge, and the first of these where you are properly mountaineering. Do them in that order and each one earns you the next.
Beginner friendly · Min. age 12 · Year-round
The easiest four-thousander in the Alps, and for good reason the one most people's list starts with. The cable car to the Klein Matterhorn delivers you to 3,883 m, so what is left is roughly two hours of roped walking across a broad glacier plateau to a summit at 4,164 m with the whole Monte Rosa chain laid out behind it.
Guide fee for the day. The Klein Matterhorn lift, rental of crampons and harness and your insurance are not included.
Beginner friendly · Saas-Fee · July – September
The other four-thousander almost anyone can climb, and a good second one — or a good first, if the Breithorn is booked out or the conditions there are wrong. An underground funicular takes you to 3,500 m at Mittelallalin, the highest in the Alps, and from there it is glacier, a short rock step near the top, and a summit at 4,027 m. It sits above Saas-Fee rather than Zermatt, which is an hour away and worth the trip.
Guide fee for the day, privately. The Saas-Fee lifts and the Metro Alpin, rental of crampons and harness, travel from Zermatt and your insurance are not included.
First real mountaineering day · PD · July – September
The one where the lifts stop helping. A night at the Mischabelhütte at 3,340 m, then a kilometre of north-east ridge — the Windgrat — over firn and rock to a sharp summit at 4,327 m. Graded PD with rock to UIAA II. It is still an approachable four-thousander, but it is the first on this page that is genuinely a mountaineering day rather than a high walk.
The fee is for the summit day, meeting you at the Mischabelhütte. It says from because this is the one route here that takes a party: up to four of you on the rope, and the fee rises with the size of it, not with each head. The hut nights — yours and, as is standard in the Alps, the guide's — the lifts, rental of technical gear, travel and your insurance are not included. The walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, and the Hannig lift takes a good part of the climb out of it. If you would rather I walked up with you, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the day — ask when you book.
Group two · training and preparation
These three are not consolation prizes for people who cannot do the big ones — they are how anyone sensible gets to the big ones. Rock technique on the Riffelhorn, a full mixed day on Pollux, an exposed ridge on the Breithorn Half Traverse. They are also the days where I can tell you honestly, from having watched you move, whether the Matterhorn or the Obergabelhorn is the next conversation.
Rock technique · All levels · June – October
The best rock day in the valley, and the one that teaches the most. Multi-pitch routes on grippy alpine rock, chosen to match your level, with the Matterhorn standing directly in front of you the whole time — which is either a view or a reminder, depending on why you came.
Guide fee for the day. The Gornergrat train, rental of climbing gear and your insurance are not included.
Intermediate · Matterhorn prep · June – mid September
A full alpine day and, in my view, the most useful one on this page. The south-west ridge gives you rock with fixed chains and then a firn ascent to the summit, so in a single outing you cover almost every kind of ground the Matterhorn will ask you to move on. In good conditions it extends to Castor: two four-thousanders in a day.
Guide fee for the day. Lifts, any hut night, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included.
Matterhorn prep · UIAA IV · mid July – mid September
Two four-thousanders linked by a ridge: from the Breithorn Selle at 4,022 m across the Central Summit to the Main Summit at 4,164 m, over glacier, firn and rock up to UIAA IV. It is one of the routes officially recommended as Matterhorn preparation, and once you are on it you understand why.
Guide fee for the day. Lifts, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included.
Group three · the serious peaks
Long days, real climbing, mostly one guest per guide, and almost always a hut night before. Several of them ask for grade III or IV on exposed ground at altitude, after a 2 or 4 a.m. start. These are the peaks you work towards rather than book on a whim, and I will ask what you have already climbed before saying yes — not to gatekeep, but because the honest answer is what makes the day enjoyable instead of survivable.
Advanced · UIAA IV · July – October
Roccia Nera, the Twin Peaks, the Central Summit and the Main Summit — five summits above 4,000 m in one day, linked by exposed abseils, narrow firn crests and climbing to UIAA IV. It is one of the great ridge days of the Alps and it does not get the attention it deserves, which is part of why I like it.
Guide fee for the day. Lifts, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included.
2-day expedition · UIAA IV · mid July – mid September
The ice ridge. Two days: Castor at 4,223 m and a night at the Rifugio Quintino Sella, then the narrow firn crest of the Liskamm West — one of the most exposed ascents in the entire Alps, and the mountain that taught the Alps to respect cornices.
Guide fee for the two days. The hut nights — yours and, as is standard in the Alps, the guide's — the lifts, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included. We meet at the hut: the walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, which is how these tours are normally run here. If you would rather we walked up together, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the hut and the day — ask when you book.
Advanced · UIAA III–IV · June – mid September
The highest point in Switzerland, and the biggest day on this page in sheer size: around 1,600 metres of ascent from the Monte Rosa hut, eight or nine hours on the move, and a start at two in the morning. The normal route is not desperate climbing, but it is long, exposed and at an altitude where everything costs more than it looks like it should.
Guide fee for the two days, privately, one or two guests per guide depending on conditions. The hut nights — yours and the guide's — the Gornergrat train, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included. We meet at the hut: the walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, which is how these tours are normally run here. If you would rather we walked up together, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the hut and the day — ask when you book.
Advanced · UIAA III · mid July – mid September
A mountaineer's mountain, and one of the finest ridges in the valley. From the Rothornhütte the south-east ridge takes you through a rock window, across the Biner plateau and over the Biner slab to a summit at 4,221 m. Glacier, firn and rock, no cable car anywhere in the day, and climbing to grade III the whole way up.
Guide fee for the two days, one guest per guide. The hut nights — yours and the guide's — rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included. We meet at the hut: the walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, which is how these tours are normally run here. If you would rather we walked up together, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the hut and the day — ask when you book.
Advanced · UIAA III · mid July – mid September
Between the Dent Blanche and the Zinalrothorn, and a longer day than its modest altitude suggests: around twelve hours door to door from the Rothornhütte, over the Trift glacier, across the Wellenkuppe, past the rock tooth of the Gendarm and up firn and easy climbing to the summit at 4,063 m.
Guide fee for the two days, one guest per guide. The hut nights — yours and the guide's — rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included. We meet at the hut: the walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, which is how these tours are normally run here. If you would rather we walked up together, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the hut and the day — ask when you book.
Expert · UIAA III–IV · 3 days · mid July – mid September
Three days, two four-thousanders, and a night in one of the wildest places in the Alps. A walk up to the Täschhütte on the first day, the Alphubel by the Rotgrat on the second — the fine line, not the glacier plod — a night at the Mischabeljoch bivouac at 3,855 m, and on the third morning the Täschhorn at 4,491 m by the Mischabel ridge. This is the hardest thing I run in these mountains.
Guide fee for the tour, one guest per guide. The Täschhütte and the Mischabeljoch bivouac — yours and the guide's — the train, rental of technical gear and your insurance are not included. We meet at the hut: the walk up on the first day is yours to do at your own pace, which is how these tours are normally run here. If you would rather we walked up together, the approach is an extra CHF 500 to 800 depending on the hut and the day — ask when you book.
Anything not on this page
Everything above is a route somebody else also sells. The days I enjoy most are the ones that are not: a traverse nobody runs as a product, a north face you have been looking at for years, a week linking summits by huts instead of returning to the valley, a first ascent of nothing in particular on a ridge with no name. Tell me the idea — or just the feeling of the trip you want — and I will design it, tell you honestly whether it is within reach this season or next, and say what you would need to do first.
Priced on the days involved, the logistics and the group. The design conversation itself costs you nothing — write to me with the idea and we will see what it actually takes.
What you get
The same for every route on this page. What you are paying for is the guide and the judgement; the mountain's own costs — lifts, huts, gear — stay separate and visible, so nothing appears on your bill later that you did not see here.
Before you book
Zermatt · June – October
Tell me the peak you have in mind, your dates, how many of you there are and what you have climbed before. If the route does not fit you yet, I will say so and tell you which one does.