The Mettelhorn is in the Trift walking area, and consequently there are no lifts or trains to help - unless you pay for a helicopter.
Dennis had read a book which stated that if you could not get started by 6am then you should forget doing this walk. Much persuasion was required from Jackie - the prime advocate of this walk.
We set off at 7.30 am. Fortunately the hotel started breakfast at 7am so Dennis did not go hungry. The first stage is to follow the gorge to the Trift Hotel, where we had a short stop here to have a drink of hot chocolate and the hut warden confirmed there were no problems with the route.
The path then took us up the valley becoming more rocky as we climbed till we arrived at the col below the Platthorn. The Platthorn can be mistaken for the Mettelhorn, however the Mettelhorn is further on. A path contours round the side of the Platthorn, until a permanent snow field is reached. We crossed this with no problems as the snow was soft, and then climbed the last steep rocky/scree path to the summit of the Mettelhorn. Jackie had a touch of vertigo at the top but it soon passed.
The weather was excellent, bright and sunny but with a chill to the air, bringing out a reasonable number of people to climb the peak.
We retraced our route to the Trift Hotel taking in the excellent views. At the hotel we relaxed and celebrated with beers and meringues. before returning via the gorge path to Zermatt.
The walk does not need to be rushed, we were out for about 10 hours including stops, our walking time was 5.25 hours for the ascent and 3.5 hours for the descent.
