I've had quite an eventful new year so far!!!
There was me and my family (ten of us) coming back down from a freezing cold Klein Matterhorn (we were in a cloud and it was -28 degrees, -54 degrees with the wind chill!!!)...
They were apparently exceptional weather conditions... the last cable car down was meant to be at 3.45pm, and we got up at 2.30pm... we were told as we came out of the cable car, that the last one would be 3.00pm, and that we had to be back by then - which was a bit disappointing as we'd only just got up there! Anyway, we got back for 3pm, the wind was howling through the tunnel, and it was absolutely FREEZING - I mean, FREEZING - as I said, minus 28! - so we all got into a group hug to keep warm!! My dad couldn't feel his hands or his legs, so all a bit worried about him - we were all trying to keep him warm. The cable car then finally arrived about 40 minutes late... and then we all got in it... we were on the way down, and we got to where the pilon thing was, where the cables connect, and there was this really, really loud grinding noise along with a slight drop/jolt - to the point, everyone stopped talking and was looking at everyone else around for reassurance. The cable car then started moving again, but really, really slowly - and it was obvious there was a real problem. We were then told it would be a twenty minute wait before we knew what to do... twenty minutes later, we were told it would be another 20 mins, then another 20 mins, then ANOTHER 20 mins... to the point where we were all starting to worry about whether or not we were going to freeze to death in these stupidly cold conditions (seriously). The windows had iced up so we couldn't even see outside... I began to feel the cold more than many of the others (bad circulation), I was physically shivering, and I couldn't feel my toes at all, and my feet were also almost completely numb... My fingers were absolutely numb. Tingling. I have never felt so cold in my whole life.
Thankfully, there was a guy there who was an ice climber - and he was used to danger and these conditions - and he was really, really nice - he gave me his gloves (huge mittens that were really thick!) - so that really helped. We were told that we were going to have cups of tea from the cafe delivered to us... I couldn't figure out how they were going to do it... and I know I don't drink tea, but honestly I would've drank a whole bucket!! I was so cold. Think this was a bit of a decoy to keep everyone feeling positive. Anyway, they finally told us we were going to be airlifted, 4 - 6 at a time!!! - At this point, I was really emotional... felt really scared, but really relieved at the same time!... they then put a rope on each side of the cable car to keep people behind it (there was about 50 people in the cable car), whilst they opened the doors (at 12000 feet in the air!!!!) - and they then got some guys to come in on a harness from the helicopter - and they unstrapped themselves and saw me and said 'you're cold?' and I said I was freezing, so he got me into a harness with my dad, and we were the first of four (two chinese guys also) to go out, and we were dangling 100 foot below the helicopter, while they took us down!!! the wind was stupidly cold!!! It was SO cold - the wind was going up my trousers, and my scarf was all over the place! I cried the whole way down - not because I was scared, but because it was such an emotional thing... Just such a big relief!
I found out afterwards, that the car could have easily come off the cable, and we could have died... if the car had kept going, it may have gone at an angle, and everyone would've fallen to the side of the car, then it would've dropped off... The two chinese guys were also crying - and when we got to the bottom, I couldn't stand up - it was such a weird feeling!! - finally got in, and we were given free hot drinks. It was just so nice to see my family all coming in one by one - knowing they were all safe. My aunty, is awful with heights... but she did it also! It's just been unbelieveable - and the new year's only just started!!!!!
The following 49 users would like to thank joski7 for this useful post:
Very scary experience to go through. Glad to hear everything worked out. Sorry you had to go through that.
I am heartened by the efficiency of the rescue operation and am throughly impressed by their work. It could have been a lot worse and it is good to see the safety features worked flawlessly.
Very scary experience to go through. Glad to hear everything worked out. Sorry you had to go through that.
I am heartened by the efficiency of the rescue operation and am throughly impressed by their work. It could have been a lot worse and it is good to see the safety features worked flawlessly.
Zermatt Rescue; especially helicopter is probably one of the best mountain rescue organisations in the world. There pilots are brilliant.
What a traumatic experience. I'm afraid of heights myself...that definitely wouldn't be for me. I'm glad that you and your family are ok. Thanks for sharing the story with us.
I'm glad you guys are ok. It looks like they helicoptered you down to Trockener Steg. Does that mean that you then had to get into another cable car, to continue back down to Zermatt?
A traumatic experience indeed, but I hope you can look back on this as one of the more interesting and exciting days of your life. After all it's not every day that one gets rescued from a cable car by helicopter. If I'm to be totally honest I'm rather jealous
A traumatic experience indeed, but I hope you can look back on this as one of the more interesting and exciting days of your life. After all it's not every day that one gets rescued from a cable car by helicopter. If I'm to be totally honest I'm rather jealous
I guess that the excitement may be fine if you are prepared for it and know that it is not a real emergency. I wouldn't mind taking part in a training exercise in controlled circumstances. If I had been in the situation described here I would probably have needed a change of underwear at least
I guess that the journey down from Trockener Steg must have been quite concerning for some of those as well.
glad it turned out positive for you and your family.
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