The next day we prepared to go up to the Hornli hut, and set out early. First the train from Tasch to Zermatt, then the cable car up to Schwartzsee, and follow the ridge up to the hut.
The track was fairly busy with tourists, for whom the hut was the closest they would get to the mountain. We quickly arrived at the hut, which was closed until later in the day, and the main service was coming from the "Berg hotel" next door. However this gave us an opportunity to drop the packs and explore the initial route up the ridge, especially good as people were constantly coming down. The mountain is very close and essentially the route is away from the start.
As the day drew in the hut opened and we checked in… there was some strange practices going on… the locally guided parties were in the Berg Hotel and the rest of us in the hut, but outside everyone mingled and watched the sun go down, and the helicopter supply, which was still an event at this time rather than the norm it would become over the years.
As everyone went to bed, Alan and I decided we would be up and out early, getting on to the route before anyone else was up. This meant getting up 60 mins before everyone else - we would not have hot water in the morning, but making sure we had plenty of "Heiss wasser" the night before would give us some stocks.
We were proved right the next day, the guided parties were all away 30 mins before the self sufficient teams.