The Matterhorn

On 14th July 1865, two competing rope teams made their way to the summit of the Matterhorn. The mountain was considered invincible until Italians and Britons had the iron will to climb the colossus in the middle of the 19th century. The team around the British alpinist Edward Whymper won the race. It was sensational that for the first time people boarded the Matterhorn for good. But his rough aura was to take revenge: when the men de-scended the mountain, four of the seven climbers fell into the abyss, which is why the first ascent heralded the end of the Golden Age of Alpinism. What exactly happened in the crash? This commemorative volume keeps the memory alive.

Ferdinand Kämpfer studies the bachelor's degree program in History, Politics and Society at the University of Potsdam. Since 2016, he has been giving guided tours of the city and giving lectures on the history of Thuringia in Gera. Privately, the author has often been to the Alps, so it is always fascinating for him how the rope team around Whymper climbed the Matterhorn with the simplest means.