Seven climbers reached the summit together, but only three came down alive.

The Summit Is Reached

On the afternoon of July 14, 1865, Edward Whymper was on the highest point of the Matterhorn and he looked at the area below him where people thought that nobody could reach the top. For many years the steep rock faces that have the shape of a pyramid were difficult for the most skilled climbers in Europe to climb. Whymper had tried to reach the peak multiple times without success before he finally reached it. On this day he reached his goal because he did not stop trying. By looking over the edge, Whymper was aware that a different group of Italian climbers was also attempting to reach the summit. His group of seven people was the first to arrive at the highest point.

They were at the summit for approximately one hour where the atmosphere is less dense before they started to go down. As the climb was less difficult than many individuals had predicted, the achievement at the top seemed like it was not true. In this time the skilled guide Michel Auguste Croz and the other members of the group looked at the scenery before they moved down the mountain.

Tragedy on the Descent

But a negative event occurred during the return - when they were moving down, Douglas Hadow was the person with the smallest amount of experience and he lost his footing. It caused him to hit Michel Croz who was positioned in front of him on the rope. And the two men were moved toward the ground by gravity, which caused Lord Francis Douglas & Charles Hudson to be pulled down with them.

As the four men moved down toward the steep drop, the rope became tight between them and the people who remained - Whymper and the two local guides, Peter Taugwalder senior & Peter Taugwalder junior. In the moments while the men moved downward, the section of rope between those who fell and those who stayed on the mountain broke. By some accounts from that period, the rope snapped after the people who remained tried to stop the fall - putting the rope around a rock.

On the north face, Whymper looked on while his four companions fell until they died. To many observers, the distance of the fall was about 4 000 feet but different sources provide different measurements.

Aftermath and Legacy

Because of this event, the individuals of Victorian Britain felt a strong sense of surprise. In the press people shared unproven stories, like claims that Whymper used a blade to separate the rope so that he could live but an official investigation found that he was not responsible. By the reaction of Queen Victoria and the public, it is clear that the event was unexpected and it became a well known instance of death during mountain climbing.

But the act of reaching the summit was complete - for many people, the climb of the Matterhorn is the event that represents the conclusion of the Golden Age of Alpinism, which was the period when individuals first climbed many of the high peaks in the Alps. To this day climbers use the Hörnli ridge route that Whymper's group took, though the climb is still difficult and dangerous.