Schönbielhütte

One of the SAC's older Zermatt huts: a first shelter on the lateral moraine of the Schönbiel glacier was built by the Monte Rosa section of the SAC in 1865, the year of the Matterhorn first ascent, to serve climbers approaching the Dent d'Hérens and the Matterhorn's Zmutt ridge. The building was replaced in 1903 and again in 1953; the present stone hut at 2694 m sleeps about 80.

The Schönbiel is the closest hut to the famous viewpoint of the Matterhorn's north face — a wall that was first climbed in 1931 by the Schmid brothers from Munich in a much-celebrated ascent that did more than any single climb to introduce continental rock-and-ice technique to British alpinism. The hut also remains the standard base for the Dent d'Hérens by the Tiefmatten glacier; the Zmutt ridge of the Matterhorn (the elegant alternative to the Hörnli, first climbed by Mummery in 1879) is generally approached from here too.

Sign in to record whether you've stayed at Schönbielhütte.