I have seen racist comments many times in some mountaineering blogs. Normally, I do not react, but his time I reacted. See what this is about.
It is interesting that most of the examples of racism I have seen in texts about Matterhorn. Perhaps this is simply due to the fact that I love to read about this incredible mountain (shown above, this is how it looks from the summit of Platthorn) that attracts climbers from all over the world. This means people from countries “without mountaineering culture” (this is the exact phrase I have seen once, and other similar nonsense). Pity I did not take screenshots, but I am going to do this in the future.
More specifically, I have seen a number of comments related to the Solvay hut and how it is used by some climbers. The story is always the same, some use the hut to sleep there and not just as an emergency shelter, and they live garbage around, such stuff. Such comments are just examples of racism and have nothing to do with genuine concern about the mountain.
Here is the latest example, a new text that I read just yesterday. The story is about two guys who climbed Matterhorn in pre-season, with nobody around. What they did is for respect, but they themselves stayed the night in Solvay hut, this was after sleeping the night before in the winter room of the Hornli Ridge hut.
But the author of the text writes “…looking at you Polish, respect the mountain please…”. He then continues and explains that the Solvay Hut is only meant to be used as an emergency shelter, and he was writing this after staying there himself one night although clearly, this was on purpose and not due to “emergency”, whatever they mean by this.
So I wrote a comment there in the blog. I could give a screenshot here or give a link, but do not want to embarrass the author, as mentioned above I do respect their climb. In my comment, I wrote that after climbing mountains for well over 30 years, I have always been of opinion that they should make us better humans. But I admitted that occasionally, I realize that my expectations are naive.
I asked how Polish came into the game when there was nobody on the mountain except him, the author of the text, and his partner. I also asked that he removes his sentence about Polish from the text. He was kind and replied to my comment, he said there were pieces of garbage in the hut, and they were of Polish origin. But he did not remove his statement as I asked.
Oh yes, he also confirmed he had lots of respect for Polish climbers and knew some of them. I do see many of them in the Alps, they love mountains just like anybody else and they go there as we all do. But I also know a bit about Polish guys like Kukuczka, have been reading such stuff in the past 35 years.
To understand a bit more the context and the point of the story, a few lines about the Solvay hut. It is not difficult to imagine why some people with a smaller budget do use the hut to sleep. Switzerland is expensive, and if you have ever been there you know this. I have been to almost every valley in that part of the Alps and I know well how it is, some of my tours are described here in the site.
So imagine, you have to spend a lot to get to Switzerland. Then there is no car access so you will have to leave the car in Tasch and the parking space there is expensive, this is a covered and very modern parking area. Then you take the train to Zermatt, and after that it is up to you how you will continue. There is a lift to the Hornli Ridge hut, very expensive of course.
The Hornli Ridge hut is also expensive. How much? Well, as of the moment of writing this text, it is 150 CHF ($180) per night in a shared room with many people inside, and it is 450 CHF ($507) in a double room. Even in the winter room “a voluntary contribution to expenses of CHF 20 must be paid”. Observe the words ‘voluntary’ and ‘must’, what a combination. But check the link above from your side to know exactly. Compare this with some 20 Euro or so for a shared room in the huts in the Slovenian Alps or around 40 Euro in the huts in the Italian Alps.
Now, if you do not have a guide (who is expensive) you want to be in the best place that will make it possible to you to get to the summit and back in time. A guide can take you faster to the summit, they have the privilege to take breakfast first at the Hornli Ridge hut, and they (with their clients) are the first on the summit route to avoid the crowd. But hey, a guide will need accommodation and food in the Hornly Ridge hut, and you will have to pay for all this. How much? Think about a 4-figure fee in CHF in total.
So what is left as an option for people on a budget is the Solvay hut. No doubt some will leave some garbage around, this may happen even accidentally, the Solway hut is a busy place, who would say? And no doubt you will see more of it from countries where people have lower salaries, those are people who are more or less forced to stay there. I do not think this has anything to do with a “lack of mountaineering culture”. But the comments like these have a lot to do with racism. Thank you for reading.
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