The Rimpfischhorn is not at the glittering centre piece of either the Zermatt or Saas skylines. Indeed its more remote location is part of the appeal of climbing it, but this does mean some effort is required to get there!
Whilst the summit day is quite long, from any of the approaches, our chosen route via Zermatt and Fluhalp gives a particularly easy hut walk with a stunningly scenic potter to the very nice base camp at Fluhalp!
The Matterhorn from the lake near Fluhalp. North face on the right and Hornli Ridge coming towards the camera. Photo Scott Bugden
Having said that, if you have the time and energy, it’s worth strolling up to the summit of Fulwe 3314m to recce the route for the next morning and enjoy the stunning early evening – early autumn light around the Matterhorn – Monte Rosa – Lyskamm – The list of peaks goes on!
Matterhorn – Monte Rosa – The wonderful Zermatt Skyline with Fulwe 3314m just right of centre. Photo Scott Bugden
The suggested breakfast time at Fluhalp was 0230. Gulp! That seemed a little excessive, but maybe we hadn’t realised quite how far it was! We settled for 0345 but only caught the last lift down to Sunegga with 10 minutes to spare!
Pre-dawn moon dance with the Matterhorn from the door at Fluhalp
Dawn descent of the fixed ropes on the East Ridge of Fulwe
There is plenty of time to warm up on the steady ascent from the lovely meadows at Fluhalp to the stony summit slopes of Fulwe. A new direct route has been created here with 2 short sections of fixed rope on the East Ridge leading steeply but shortly down to the Langfluejoch and this avoids the older contouring route to the north.
Rocky dawn hike with alpenglow on the Matterhorn beyond
After this little technical section there is a lot of rocky rough walking up the west flank of the Rimpfischhorn. A lot!
We took trainers to 3500m to help the feet with the 33000 steps along the way!
Pleasant easy scrambling on the SW ridge of Pt 3999m. Giants of the Zermatt skyline beyond, from R-L, Lyskamm, Castor, Pollux, Breithorn
After easily crossing the upper Langflue Glacier we did more rocky walking to reach the pleasant easy scrambling leading up to Pt 3999m, the upper Mellich Glacier and on to the Rimpfischattel. The going had been good to here and the final summit climb above looked dry and appealing. However the late summer liaison between the two comes in the form of thin scree and loose stones over hard old glacier ice. Not a vintage mix!
Unpleasant icy scree and loose stones at 4000m. The Rimpfischattel below.
Once up and out of the summit bastion approach couloir the scrambling is fun again and intricately, but logically, finds a way up and over the subsidiary peak and on to the summit itself.
Good rock in a great position and fun easy climbing leading to the fore summit of the Rimpfischhorn
James and Scott enjoying the stunning summit panorama on the Rimpfischhorn
The long horizontal distance on this ascent means the descent is also long! But this just gives more time to soak up the glittering mountain landscape that is the Zermatt skyline…
Heading back towards the Matterhorn en route to Fluhalp and Zermatt on the long descent of the Rimpfischhorn
On this same fine late September summit day we also had teams climbing the Weissmies and Lagginhorn. It’s been a hot alpine summer and the conditions around the glaciers and high mountain snow slopes are generally poor, but there are still some fine routes and big peaks to climb. So please get in touch if you would like some private guiding for any of these peaks or check out our alpine mountaineering courses for summer 2027 here.