Professor John Tyndall and Whymper emulated each other in determined attempts to reach the summit of the Matterhorn by the south-western, or Italian, ridge. In 1865 Whymper, who had failed eight times already, attempted unsuccessfully to climb a couloir on the south-east face with Michel Croz. After Croz left for a prior engagement with Charles Hudson, Whymper was unable to secure the services of Val Tournanche guide Jean Antoine Carrel, and instead planned on trying the eastern face with Lord Francis Douglas and the two Zermatt guides, Peter Taugwalder father and son.
In the early 1900s, Wympher visited the Canadian Rockies several times and in 1901, he and his four guides made the first ascents of Mount Whymper and Stanley Peak in the Vermillion Pass.
