Pictures are from several occasions - though mostly in 2019
When I did the Matterhorn 19 years ago, https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=58951
I'd been charging around 4000m mountains for a whole month, and my fitness and acclimatisation were such that I hardly noticed the walk up to the Hörnli hut where you stay overnight - climbing the mountain the next day. I also took almost no photographs - maybe I was out of film
A new hut was inaugurated in 2015 - 150 years after the first ascent - and the "flow" of climbers is strictly controlled - see details here. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/reise/neu-eroeffnete-hoernlihuette-schlaflos-unterm-matterhorn-1.2554522 - Click to get the English translation.

This year I thought I would walk up to it from the Schwartzee lift station, descend the North side to Zermatt and take the photos that I had omitted on my first visit


The Hörnli ridge of the Matterhorn really starts at Schwartzee (2581m) and the path follows it, but the serious climbing only starts above the hut at about 3300m
If you can ignore the ugly ski paraphernalia, Schwartzee is a superb viewpoint for almost all the big mountains which surround the head of the Mattertal.

Views from near Schwartzee


Looking North East to the Dom, Taschhorn and Alphubel

A wider view

Allalinhorn (far L), Rimpfischhorn, Strahlhorn and Addlerhorn

Monte Rosa and The Liskamm with the Grenz glacier between: this joins the Gorner glacier further down,while the small lump on the L is the Rifflehorn - where there is good rock climbing

A wider view - Klein Matterhorn and Breithorn on the R

North across the Zmutt valley: to the Höhe Balmen. Ober Gabelhorn on the L, Zinal Rothorn among clouds, while the Weisshorn pops up further R

Dent Blanche and the Ober Gabelhorn

Zoomed view of the Dent Blanche

The Matterhorn towers over everything

The Schwartzee - black lake: all the little lakes are full of tiny "minnows". I guess their eggs were originally carried in on the feet of birds

The little chapel at the Northern end of the lake

Inside: there are no plaques commemorating fallen climbers - there simply wouldn't be room for them all

The Schwartzee from outside the chapel

Walk to the hut


After a short downhill section the track goes up over a couple of grassy mounds to a ski lift station at 2775m - a good viewpoint. The ridge then climbs to a red rocky tower Hirli (2889m) which can clearly be seen from Zermatt

The Hörnli ridge from Zermatt - with Hirli prominent

The Matterhorn from the ski-station - ski runs in the foreground

East across the remains of the Theodule glacier

North to the Höhe Balmen

Hirli looks quite dramatic from here

At the end of the obvious section across the scree, the track climbs the first of many staircases

and continues upwards by a number of zig-zags to reach the crest

Views from the slopes leading up to Trochener Steg show that the ridge is almost flat for some distance beyond here

Further views from this area


A closer view: beyond the flat section there is quite a steep climb to the hut. (top L)

Cloud billowing from the mountain

The hut and the start of the serious climbing just to its L

A wider view of the whole ridge and the mountains beyond
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looking down the North side from just beyond Hirli: on the flat section, the path stays on this side of the ridge - but is quite exposed in places

The Dent Blanche seems just across the valley: In front of it with gendarmes silhouetted against the cloud is the 3789m Pointe de Zinal

Looking up and across to the rapidly decaying glacier beneath the North face

The track is narrow and quite exposed in places - the large number of people going in both directions necessitated "one way traffic" at times, but eventually I arrived

The (new) Hörnli hut

Sundeck with splendid views to the East

Views from near the hut


North - to the Dent Blanche and Ober Gabelhorn: the lateral moraine of the Tiefenmatten glacier below

Dent Blanche

Ober Gabelhorn - and Rothorn far R

This used to be the Theodule glacier

And this the Findeln glacier - RIP

Looking up the hole that used to contain the latter

And walking down it in 2002 :

Descent
I retraced my route down to the "flat" section, where a path heads off down the scree - apparently into nothing

Looking down from near the top

The path descends around 300m of featureless scree

From the top - looking across to the Höhe Balmen and the Mettelhorn

Looking back up from about halfway down

Looking back up from much lower: Where the official track turned L at the 2645m point, I traversed these grass and scree slopes to below Schwartzee and followed a ski slope down: the rock is a mica schist, so the screes are very easy to descend