The story of the first ascent of the Matterhorn
Before visiting Europe on a sketching assignment for the publisher William Longman in 1860, at the age of 20, Edward Whymper had never seen a mountain, much less set foot on one.
“The Matterhorn attracted me simply by its grandeur,” he wrote later. “It was the last great Alpine peak which remained unscaled – less on account of the difficulty… than from the terror inspired by its invincible appearance. I returned year after year more and more determined to find a way up it or to prove it to be really inaccessible.”
Between adventurous “scrambles” in other parts of the Alps, Whymper made eight attempts on the Matterhorn between August 1861 and June 1865, mostly with Jean-Antoine Carrel from Valtournenche, a local guide who shared his determination.
Their relationship changed when Whymper fixed on the idea of making the ascent from Zermatt, Carrel being aware of the glory to be had from conquering the Matterhorn from his native valley.
Carrel agreed to Whymper’s suggestion, but secretly arranged to set off with an Italian party instead, and left his English patron in the lurch: on the wrong side of the mountain, without guide or porter. Calculating that the Italians might take a week over the expedition, Whymper knew he still had a chance of beating them to it.
Edward Whymper's own sketch of the mountain (Picture: Alamy)
By a fateful combination of circumstances he met a young English climber, Lord Francis Douglas, and recruited him and his Zermatt guide Peter Taugwalder to the cause. They teamed up with Rev Charles Hudson and the Chamonix guide Michel Croz, who were in Zermatt and also about to attack the Matterhorn. Hudson vouched for his young friend Douglas Hadow as “good enough”. Taugwalder’s son (“young Peter”) completed the party.
Whymper’s compelling account of the successful ascent and catastrophic descent, in a letter to The Times on August 8 and more fully in Scrambles Amongst the Alps (1871) and other books, is a classic of mountaineering literature and all storytelling, written simply with meticulous detail and notable restraint. It is hard to remember that he was only 25 at the time. Gustave Doré’s magnificent engravings of the two key moments complete the package.
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The group encountered few difficulties on the way up, and reached the summit at 1.40pm. Only Hadow needed help through the one difficult section near the top.
The last snow slope was so easy, Whymper and Croz detached themselves and ran to the top. From the summit ridge they spotted the Italian party and, failing to attract their attention by shouting, sent down a “torrent of stones”, whereupon “the Italians turned and fled”. Having forgotten in their haste to bring a flag, they flew Croz’s shirt from the summit.
After an hour on the top – “one crowded hour of glorious life” he wrote, quoting the poet Mordaunt – they made ready for the descent, Whymper and Young Peter staying behind to write the names in a bottle. These two caught up with the others about to tackle the difficult bit, Croz followed by Hadow, Hudson, Douglas and Old Peter. Douglas asked Whymper to join the cordon, because he was afraid Old Peter would not be able to hold if there was a slip.
“A few minutes later a sharp-eyed lad ran into the hotel Monte Rosa saying he had seen an avalanche fall from the summit of the Matterhorn.”
Telegraph Travel writer Paul Hart at the summit in 2014
Croz had put down his axe to help Hadow, but had his back turned when Hadow slipped, knocking the guide off his feet and pulling Hudson and Lord Francis Douglas from their holds. Old Peter hugged a rock and held fast, but the rope broke below him.
“For a few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding on their backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavouring to save themselves. They passed from our sight uninjured, disappeared one by one, and fell from precipice to precipice on to the Matterhorngletscher below, a distance of nearly 4,000ft in height.”
With difficulty, Whymper coaxed the Swiss father and son down the mountain and brought the news to Zermatt in the morning. “The Taugwalders and I have returned.”
The broken pieces of Croz, Hudson and Hadow were recovered from the glacier – “at the base of the grandest cliff of the most majestic mountain of the Alps” – and buried in the churchyard, but a boot, gloves and a belt were all that was found of Lord Francis Douglas. Hudson’s watch had stopped at 3.45.
• The day I climbed the Matterhorn, by Paul Hart
While England lamented the waste of lives “including the heir apparent to one of our noblest titles” (The Times) and the Queen asked Gladstone what she could say to put a stop to the mountaineering craze, Zermatt launched an inquiry.
Of many questions, the two biggest have never been satisfactorily answered. Why was the inexperienced Douglas Hadow part of the group, and why was an old sash cord used to tie Old Peter Taugwalder to Lord Francis Douglas when an ample supply of the strong new rope used to tie up the others was available? This pathetic little rope sits in a glass case in the Zermatt museum for all to see and reflect on. It broke, but it retains its mystery.
Whymper drafted questions to be put to Old Peter in order to give the guide, as he put it, the chance to exculpate himself, and these included: “why was a special kind of rope used?”
But the question was rephrased in translation: “why was another rope used?” To which the guide answered: “because the first rope was not long enough.” The inquiry sought no further elucidation.
Whymper’s credibility and the details of his account, which sends blame by implication in every direction away from himself, have been challenged many times. But expert opinion has tended to vindicate him.
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