Matterhorn

Matterhorn 4478 metres

The Matterhorn, probably the most famous mountain in the world. It is almost a “must” to see this mountain if you visit Switzerland and are interested in mountaineering. Who hasn’t seen a picture of this mountain? It is indeed a very beautiful mountain, especially seen from the north-east (Zermatt).
The mountain lies on the border of Switzerland and Italy and is called Monte Cervino in Italy.

The story of the first ascend of this mountain is a true thriller. For many years climbers tried to scale this unclimbed peak during the “golden age of mountaineering” in the 1860’s. Almost all other mountains in the Alps were already climbed but the Matterhorn was still virgin by 1865. Most attempts were made from the south (Italian) side.  A young British lad called Edward Whymper who worked as an illustrator for a publisher drawing and engraving Landscapes in the Alps was keen to climb this mountain. First he tried several times from the Italian side with another famous climber and mountain guide in those days, Jean-Antoine Carrel.  Then after 7 attempts he found out that Jean-Antoine Carrel had plans to climb the mountain with an Italian climber Felice Jordano and thus Whymper couldn’t hire him this time. He crossed over to Zermatt and decided to do an attempt from the Swiss side. Even though they managed to do the first ascent on the 14th July 1865, the climb ended in tragedy as 4 of the 7 climbers fell to their deaths on the way back.

Whymper and his party started in Zermatt in the early morning of 13th July. They ascended to what we now call Hörnligrat (Hörnli Ridge) and camped near the current Hörnli Hut. Whymper found that this Hörnli Ridge was much easier than it appeared as he wrote:

We were now fairly upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which from the Riffel, or even from the Furggen Glacier, looked entirely impracticable, were so easy that we could run about. ¹

The next morning they began to climb. Whymper wrote about this:

The whole of this great slope was now revealed, rising for 3000 feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts were more, and others were less easy; but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or left. For the greater part of the way there was, indeed, no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6.20 we had attained a height of 12800 feet and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9.55, when we stopped for fifty minutes, at a height of 14000 feet.¹

Close to the summit, the party moved more into the north face. Whymper wrote:

"[the ridge] was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult than the face" ¹. At this point of the ascent Whymper wrote that the less experienced Hadow "required continual assistance". Eventually they reached the summit.¹
The slope eased off, and Croz and I, dashing away, ran a neck-and-neck race, which ended in a dead heat. At 1.40 p.m. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a footstep could be seen.

Carrel noted that Whymper was on the top and they turned around, knowing they had lost the race. After having built a cairn, Whymper and party stayed on the summit for an hour. Then they began their descent of the Hörnli ridge. Croz descended first, then Hadow, Hudson and Douglas, Taugwalder father, Whymper with Taugwalder son coming last. They climbed down with great care, only one man moving at a time. Whymper wrote:

As far as I know, at the moment of the accident no one was actually moving. I cannot speak with certainty, neither can the Taugwalders, because the two leading men were partially hidden from our sight by an intervening mass of rock. Poor Croz had laid aside his axe, and in order to give Mr. Hadow greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his feet, one by one, into their proper positions. From the movements of their shoulders it is my belief that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round to go down a step or two himself; at this moment Mr. Hadow slipped, fell on him, and knocked him over. ²

The weight of the falling men pulled Hudson and Douglas from their holds and dragged them down the north face. Taugwalder, father and son, and Whymper were left alive when the rope linking Douglas to Taugwalder father broke. They were stunned by the accident and for a time could not move until Taugwalder son descended to enable them to advance. When they were together Whymper asked to see the broken rope and saw that it had been employed by mistake as it was the weakest and oldest of the three ropes they had brought. They frequently looked, but in vain, for traces of their fallen companions. They continued their descent, including an hour in the dark, until 9.30pm when a resting place was found. At daybreak the descent was resumed and the group finally reached Zermatt, where a search of the victims was quickly organized. The bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson were found on the Matterhorn Glacier, but the body of Douglas was never found. Although Taugwalder's father was accused of cutting the rope to save himself and his son, the official inquest found no proof for this.

Source:
1.Edward Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 6th edition, London: John Murray, 1936, pp. 309–13
2.The Times 08-08-1865, p 9

Today the Matterhorn is climbed by dozens of climbers in summer every day (weather and conditions  permitting). It is rated a fairly difficult climb (AD) but the many fixed ropes make it easier to climb the most difficult parts just above 4000 m.

 Last meters to the summit with the Dufourspitze, the highest mountain in Switzerland, in the background

Jungfrau

Jungfrau seen from the Lauterbrunnen valley 

The 4158 meter high Jungfrau is not the highest, but without doubt the most famous mountain in the Bernese Alps. Especially since the mountain is so well visible from Interlaken. It is probably one of the most beautiful mountains in Switzerland. The combination of glaciers, steep rock walls on the north-west ridge and the characteristic peaks of the Silberhorn (small and large) gives this mountain its famous appearance.

Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a unique mountain trio that stands out of the other surrounding mountains as rarely seen elsewhere in any mountain chain. It is for this reason that many Swiss and tourists alike mention the 3 mountains in one phrase “Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau”  The Bernese Alps with the Jungfrau constitutes the largest glaciated area in the Alps, with the Aletsch Glacier being the longest glacier with a length of 22 km. Also the sheer vertical rise of the Jungfrau is noteworthy. From Stechelberg at 910m in the Lauterbrunnen valley to the summit of the Jungfrau the vertical rise is 3248 meters on a horizontal distance of just 4.5 km!

First ascend of the Jungfrau

The brothers Johann Rudolf (1768–1825) and Hieronymus Meyer together with the local guides Alois Volken and Joseph Bortis reached the summit on August 3, 1811. They had to undertake a long journey via the Grimsel Pass, the Oberaletsch glacier, the Lötschen valley and finally the Aletsch glacier to their base camp near the Konkordiaplatz where 4 major ice steams merge. This was the first successful climb of a high glaciated peak in Switzerland (The Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, was already climbed on August 7, 1786).

After the successful climb not everyone was convinced about their success and so they undertook a similar expedition one year later and climbed the peak again. Later other routes were climbed and it was not until the Jungfrau Railway opened the Jungfraujoch station that the mountain was climbed more often. The opening of the Jungfrau Railway realized an easy access from the north. From the Jungfraujoch the summit can be climbed on the fairly difficult route in about 3-4 hours. Originally the Junfraubahn was supposed to reach the summit of the Jungfrau but as World War I broke out the tourists lacked and subsequently also the funds for the completion of the project.

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