UK, 1997, 1st edition. 674 pp, 45 photos & ills. This book is an incredibly detailed account of the truths and mistruths surrounding the most famous accident in climbing history, on the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Hardcover, DJ, as New.
The first ascent of the Matterhorn on 14 July 1865 was followed some two hours later by what was destined to become the most famous accident in mountaineering history, when four of the seven climbers fell some 4,000 feet to their deaths. The only survivors were the English climber Edward Whymper and the Zermatt guides Peter Taugwalder, father and son. The loss of the Chamoix guide Michel Croz, of the English clergyman Charles Hudson and his former pupil Douglas Hadow and of Lord Francis Douglas the heir to the Marquis of Queensberry, gave rise almost immediately to controversy about such matters as the cause of the accident, the breaking or rumoured cutting of the rope and even whether mountaineering could be justified as a sport.
A formal enquiry was held in camera at Zermatt but, as the evidence of the survivors was never revealed to the Swiss press, it did nothing to dispel rumours. Dozens of readers' letters were published in The Times including a lengthy factual account that Whymper himself was forced to write, in which he scrupulously abstained from offering observations and casting blame on anyone. But Whymper's endeavours to avoid giving pain to the relatives of the deceased were misunderstood and since his death in 1911 much unjustified criticism has been levelled against him.
Alan Lyall has visited Zermatt for the last 35 years and his experience as a mountaineer and as a lawyer has enabled him to take a fresh look at the 1865 Matterhorn accident and its literature — including much that has been hitherto hidden away in archives — and in particular at the shortcomings of the enquiry. Having been across the Matterhorn glacier to reach the Zmutt ridge and having descended the Hörnli ridge, he can understand why so many mountaineers, both active and armchair, have been and will continue to be both appalled and fascinated by the first descent of the Matterhorn.
