The Matterhorn
Sitting on the border between Italy and Switzerland, the Matterhorn reaches a height of 14,692 feet, about half the elevation of Everest or K2. But don't let the relatively tame height of the European mountain fool you.
In 1865, 155 years ago, Englishman Edward Whymper became the first human to summit the Matterhorn. But on the descent, four members of Whymper's party fell to their deaths, the first of an estimated 500 deaths that have occurred on the Matterhorn.
Luke didn't know the history of the Matterhorn when he climbed it in the summer of 2019 with guide Markus Beck. Luke was there on the urging of Beck, who had previously trained mountain warfare tactics to him and other U.S. soldiers in the Army's 19th Special Forces Group.
Before the Climb
"I didn't even know what the Matterhorn was when he suggested it," Luke said. "It took about a month or two before I started researching it. It's a very technical climb, people die doing it. It was then I realized I was about to get my ass handed to me."
A photographer, Luke was using the climb as the backdrop to his first documentary video. Which posed a problem.
"I had done very little climbing at all, and now here I was going up on this technical, deadly mountain and having to get content for this video," Luke said. "I had my hands full."
Perseverance
Luke had not trained for the climb ("which was dumb," he said), ran out of water early in the ascent and even suffered a bit of altitude sickness. It was, he said, a "bit of a shit show."
But in the end, what Luke and Beck created is a stunning five-and-a-half minute video the chronicles the experience of climbing the Matterhorn and explores how the life lessons learned from mountain climbing. SOG was one of the sponsors for the expedition, and we're proud to be hosting Luke's video on our site. The video is about the experience of climbing, not our gear, although there is a brief cameo of our new Kiku XR folding knife in there.
"I learned about pushing my limits," Luke said, who gave much credit to Beck for being calm, composed and prepared for the climb. "Markus made me feel good, at no point did I think I wouldn't be able to do it."
Watch the Movie
