Monte Rosa, Punta Dufour (4,634 m) is a relatively easy mountain, but with a few features that make it a very interesting climb. It's the second-highest peak in the Alps, after Mont Blanc. Its first ascent was in 1855. Constant views of the Matterhorn and the entire Lyskamm range offer a unique panorama throughout the climb.

The hike up to the refuge from Zermatt is straightforward. First, a small train that gains us some altitude, followed by about 3 hours to the Monte Rosa Hut. Well marked and with little elevation gain, it turns out to be a calm day. The second day on the mountain is what turns this into a real odyssey. Breakfast is served at the refuge at 2:30am. As soon as you open your eyes, more than a hundred people are already getting ready to head out. Everyone wants to save time, so harness, clothes, everything on, and off to breakfast. Right after, on go the boots, helmets, and headlamps, and out as fast as possible. We leave the refuge at 3am. We kept a steady pace, calm but without losing rhythm. We knew it would be a long day and we needed to catch the last train down to Zermatt before 8:30pm.

The first part of the route crosses rock, until we reach the glacier. Here we put on crampons and rope up. We split the team among the 3 guides. David and Albert each go with two clients, and I go with one, Jaume. All roped up, we check our crampons and set off, ice axe in hand. Now it's time to navigate crevasses under a spectacular full moon and a calm, clear sky. We're very lucky.

Little by little the terrain starts to get more difficult. We're not just gaining altitude — Jaume starts to feel it a bit, his head hurts slightly, and I notice the pace starting to slow. He also starts stopping a bit more often. We have to get across a steep ridge of fairly hard snow and ice. Maximum concentration. Inside, I know that if Jaume stumbles, I need to react very quickly to stop the fall before it has bigger consequences. I don't say anything, I hold the rope shorter, keep a bit more tension, and we keep moving. Soon we reach a stretch of ridge, not too difficult but where people start to bunch up. The exposure is high on both sides of the ridge. We make our way through, and then comes another, steeper ice ridge than the last. We get across it at a slow but steady pace. We're already above 4,000 meters, and the cold starts to bite. We know we're close to the summit, but this mountain doesn't give anything away for free. There's still one last ridge left to reach the top. This is where the roped teams coming down start crossing paths with those going up. It creates a bottleneck that at times feels like rush hour traffic in Barcelona. You have to be patient, stay calm, and push through the cold.

We finally reach the summit. All 8 of us stop up there. The clients relax a little, though they know this is only halfway — we still have a long way back. We enjoy the views, take photos, eat something. Meanwhile, we start weighing our descent options. We know there's a line of rappels and fixed ropes somewhere that would let us avoid retracing the ridges. We decide it's better to find those rappels. We find them quickly and start the descent. Two rappels, a few fixed ropes, and we're back on the glacier. Now it's time to rope up again and retrace the whole glacier back to the refuge.

We reach the refuge at 4pm. We're tired, it's hot, and we haven't eaten much. But we know we're on less committing terrain now, and we relax. We pack our bags and, after eating something, run to catch the last train. At 19:30 we catch the train, and now, finally, we can celebrate a great day in the mountains.