Robi Andenmatten : the art of never relying on routine

His father, known in Zermatt as “Saaser Richi”, was himself a mountaineer par excellence. He completed more than 800 climbs of the Matterhorn as a mountain guide – probably more than anyone before him or since. Even before Air Zermatt was founded, Richard Andenmatten worked as a mountain guide on a rescue mission on the Matterhorn with an Air-Glaciers helicopter. Together with Alfons Lerjen and Hermann Petrig, he was also part of Air Zermatt’s first mountain rescue operation on the Breithorn Plateau.

Maybe it was the stories he heard from his father that made Robi the pilot he is today.

But his ambition to fly helicopters himself came about more by coincidence than anything else. As a young mountain guide, Robi took an English lord up the Matterhorn. During the climb the guest told him he owned more than a dozen helicopters. Robi decided on the spot to learn to fly a helicopter, and he’s been a pilot with Air Zermatt since 1991.

Robi himself says that reaching this milestone of 7,000 missions is due above all to the way his long career with Air Zermatt has just flown by. He has trouble singling out any one mission in particular, he says, but emergencies involving children can really affect him. He’s grateful to have family and friends around him to help him process situations like those. Over the years he’s learned to think of missions with adult patients as part of his job and to move past them.

7,000 rescue missions – despite this extraordinary number, Robi doesn’t talk like a record-holder. He focuses much more on the importance of humility and respect. Every mission is different. Every mountain, every weather situation, every injury and every decision brings new challenges. Experience helps you assess the overall situation quickly, but can never replace focusing with your full attention.

Experience is crucial in air rescue, but must never become routine.

And that’s maybe exactly what makes these 7,000 missions so impressive – not just that Robi Andenmatten has so many of them under his belt. But that, even after all this time, he still approaches his work with the same razor-sharp focus. In air rescue, there’s no room for taking things for granted.

A while back Robi Andenmatten talked on the Alpha Zulu Podcast about what’s changed over the past few decades. Technology has advanced, helicopters perform even better, the equipment is more precise, and procedures are better coordinated. Today, night flights, winch rescues and operations at high altitudes or in hazardous weather conditions are all part of a highly professional rescue system. But the essence of the work is still the same – it’s about helping people in distress.

At Air Zermatt, this huge responsibility is never on the shoulders of just one person. This is another point that Robi makes clear. Behind every successful rescue mission is a team made up of the helicopter crew, the rescue specialists, the emergency doctors, the dispatchers, the task specialists, and the technicians who make sure the helicopters are always ready for take-off. These 7,000 missions, then, are also 7,000 examples of unbeatable teamwork.

With his 7,000th rescue mission, Robi Andenmatten has reached a milestone worthy of recognition far beyond Air Zermatt. It’s an impressive number in itself. But even more impressive is the mindset behind it all – staying calm, working with precision, trusting the crew and approaching every mission with respect.

Or put another way, 7,000 missions aren’t just 7,000 flights. They’re 7,000 situations where people could count on Air Zermatt.

And Robi Andenmatten was there.