The first ascent of the Matterhorn

Edward Whymper · 1865 CE · Earth

The first ascent of the Matterhorn — Edward Whymper · 1865 CE · Earth — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Climb the Matterhorn from Zermatt by the Hörnli ridge before Carrel's Italian party reached the top from Breuil.

Historical context

By 1865 the Matterhorn was one of the few great peaks of the Alps still unclimbed, its walls thought inaccessible from every side. Edward Whymper, a London wood engraver, had tried it seven times since 1861 by his own count, mostly from the Italian side and several times with the Valtournenche guide Jean-Antoine Carrel. When Carrel went up the south-west ridge in July 1865 with a party organised by Felice Giordano for the Italian minister Quintino Sella, Whymper crossed to Zermatt and joined forces with Lord Francis Douglas, the Reverend Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow and the guides Michel Croz and Peter Taugwalder, father and son. The seven reached the summit on 14 July by the Hörnli ridge while the Italians were still below on the other ridge, and four of them died on the way down.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Eight leave Zermatt

    13 July 1865

    At half past five on the brilliant, cloudless morning of 13 July 1865, by Whymper's book, eight men leave Zermatt: Michel Croz, the Chamonix guide, old Peter Taugwalder of Zermatt and his two sons, Lord Francis Douglas, Douglas Hadow, the Reverend Charles Hudson and Edward Whymper. One tourist walks with one native to keep the pace steady.

  2. The chapel at the Schwarzsee

    13 July 1865

    At 8:20, by Whymper's account, they pick up the tent, blankets and ropes left the day before in the little chapel by the Schwarzsee, the black lake, and walk on along the ridge that joins the Hörnli to the Matterhorn. By half past eleven they are at the foot of the peak itself, and leave the ridge for ledges on the east face.

  3. The camp at 11,000 feet

    13 July 1865

    Before noon they find a good place for the tent at eleven thousand feet, four hours' walking from Zermatt by Whymper's reckoning, and Croz and young Peter go up to see what lies above. Just before 3 in the afternoon the two come down, evidently much excited: not a difficulty, not a single difficulty, they could have gone to the summit and back that day.

  4. Something altogether different

    14 July 1865

    Whymper told the inquiry they left the tent at 3:40 in the morning on the 14th. Young Peter now comes on as a guide and his brother goes back to Zermatt. They reach 12,800 feet at 6:20 and halt half an hour, climb without a break until 9:55, and stop fifty minutes at about 14,000 feet. At the foot of the part that looks overhanging from Zermatt they turn onto the north face; Croz goes first, saying now for something altogether different, and Hadow needs continual help.

  5. 1:40 p.m., the world at their feet

    14 July 1865

    The slope eases, they untie, and Croz and Whymper dash for the top in a neck-and-neck race that ends in a dead heat at 1:40 in the afternoon of 14 July 1865, by Whymper's account; the others come up about ten minutes later. Not a footstep is to be seen; the summit ridge, about 350 feet long, is untrodden from end to end.

  6. The rope breaks

    14 July 1865

    They go down in the order Croz, Hadow, Hudson, Douglas, old Peter, Whymper, young Peter, one man moving at a time. Soon after 3 in the afternoon by Whymper's account, about 300 feet below the summit, Hadow slips and knocks Croz over; Hudson and Douglas are dragged from their steps, the rope breaks between Douglas and old Peter, and the four fall nearly four thousand feet to the Matterhorn glacier.

  7. The fog-bow and the night out

    14 July 1865

    For more than two hours Whymper expects every moment to be his last; the Taugwalders are unnerved, and old Peter turns several times to say, with terrible emphasis, I cannot. About 6 in the evening, by Whymper's account, they reach the snow of the ridge and all peril is over. At 6:30 a pale arch rises above the Lyskamm with two vast crosses in it. Night falls, and after an hour of descent in the dark they stop at half past nine, at about 13,000 feet, for six miserable hours on a slab barely big enough for three.

  8. The search and the inquiry

    16 July 1865

    At 2 in the morning on Sunday 16 July Whymper sets out from Zermatt with the Reverend Joseph McCormick, two other Englishmen, the guide Franz Andenmatten, the Lochmatter brothers and two Chamonix guides; the Zermatt men, threatened with excommunication if they missed early Mass, cannot come. By 8:30 they reach the plateau at the top of the Matterhorn glacier. Croz, Hadow and Hudson lie where they fell; of Lord Francis Douglas there are only gloves, a belt and a boot. They leave the three buried in the snow, with prayers.

Outcome

The summit at 1:40 p.m. on 14 July 1865 by Whymper's account, with Carrel's party still below on the south-west ridge, 1,250 feet down by what Carrel later told Whymper; on the descent Hadow slipped, the rope broke between Douglas and old Peter Taugwalder, and Croz, Hadow, Hudson and Douglas fell to the Matterhorn glacier. The Valais inquiry found no offence and closed the case.

Edward Whymper

A London wood engraver who tried the Matterhorn seven times, reached its summit first on 14 July 1865 with six companions, and watched four of them fall nearly four thousand feet on the way down.

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