40 Facts About Matterhorn

Just east of the Matterhorn is Theodul Pass, the main passage between the two valleys on its north and south sides, which has been a trade route since the Roman Era.

Matterhorn was studied by Horace-Benedict de Saussure in the late eighteenth century, who was followed by other renowned naturalists and artists, such as John Ruskin, in the 19th century.

The first ascent of the Matterhorn was in 1865 from Zermatt by a party led by Edward Whymper; it ended when four of its seven members fell to their deaths on the descent.

Matterhorn is mainly composed of gneisses from the Dent Blanche nappe, lying over ophiolites and sedimentary rocks of the Penninic nappes.

Sometimes referred to as the Mountain of Mountains, the Matterhorn has become an iconic emblem of the Alps in general.

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The Matterhorn has been part of the Swiss Federal Inventory of Natural Monuments since 1983.

Name Matterhorn derives from the German words Matte and Horn, and is often translated as "the peak of the meadows".

Matterhorn is named Gran Becca by the Valdotains and Horu by the local Walliser German speaking people.

Matterhorn has a pyramidal shape with four faces nearly facing the four compass points.

Matterhorn's faces are steep, and only small patches of snow and ice cling to them; regular avalanches send the snow down to accumulate on the glaciers at the base of each face, the largest of which are the Tiefmattengletscher to the west, part of the Zmutt Glacier, and the Matterhorn Glacier to the north.

Matterhorn's pyramid is composed of Paleozoic rocks, which were thrusted over the Matterhorn's Mesozoic base during the Cenozoic.

Apart from the base of the mountain, the Matterhorn is composed of gneiss belonging to the Dent Blanche klippe, an isolated part of the Austroalpine nappes, lying over the Penninic nappes.

Formation of the Matterhorn started with the break-up of the Pangaea continent 200 million years ago into Laurasia and Gondwana .

The Matterhorn acquired its characteristic pyramidal shape in much more recent times as it was caused by natural erosion over the past million years.

The Matterhorn remained relatively little known until 1865, but the successful ascent followed by the tragic accident of the expedition led by Edward Whymper caused a rush on the mountains surrounding Zermatt.

Matterhorn Museum relates the general history of the region from alpinism to tourism.

Matterhorn was one of the last of the main Alpine mountains to be ascended, not because of its technical difficulty, but because of the fear it inspired in early mountaineers.

Matterhorn was an English artist and engraver who had been hired by a London publisher to make sketches of the mountains in the region of Zermatt.

The Carrels decided to give Matterhorn a try by themselves again, and caught up with Whymper at nightfall.

Matterhorn feared the arrival of Whymper, now a rival, and wrote to Quintino Sella:.

Matterhorn is here in the hotel and I try to avoid speaking to him.

Matterhorn encountered Lord Francis Douglas, a Scottish mountaineer, who wanted to climb the Matterhorn.

Matterhorn was accompanied by Ame Gorret, a priest who had shared with him the first attempt on the mountain back in 1857.

On 22 August 1871, while wearing a white print dress, Lucy Walker became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn, followed a few weeks later by her rival Meta Brevoort.

Matterhorn completed the enchainement, reaching the Abruzzi Hut after 15 hours.

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William Penhall and guides made the first ascent of the west face, the Matterhorn's most hidden and unknown, one hour after Mummery and party's first ascent of the Zmutt ridge on 3 September 1879.

The Matterhorn is thus amongst the deadliest mountains in the world.

Today, all ridges and faces of the Matterhorn have been ascended in all seasons, and mountain guides take a large number of people up the northeast Hornli route each summer.

Matterhorn approached the Matterhorn as a student when in his Alpine travels he reached the summit of the Theodul Pass but he does not seem to have paid any particular attention to the mountain itself.

Matterhorn remained unstudied for more than two centuries, until a geologist from Geneva, Horace Benedict de Saussure, travelled to the mountain, which filled him with admiration.

On his first journey de Saussure had come from Ayas to the Col des Cimes Blanches, from where the Matterhorn first comes into view; descending to Breuil, he ascended to the Theodul Pass.

Matterhorn made careful observations, from the sparse lichen that clung to the rocks to the tiny but vigorous glacier fly that fluttered over the snows and whose existence at such heights was mysterious.

The Matterhorn was to them an object of the most intense and continuous admiration.

Matterhorn is mentioned in a guide-book to Switzerland by Johann Gottfried Ebel, which was published in Zurich towards the end of the eighteenth century, and translated into English in 1818.

Matterhorn was full of admiration for the Matterhorn, calling it the most wonderful peak in the Alps, unsealed and unscalable.

Matterhorn has described this journey of his in a chapter entitled Voyage autour du Mont Blanc jusqu'a Zermatt, here he sings a hymn of praise to the Matterhorn, comparing its form with a "huge crystal of a hundred facets, flashing varied hues, that softly reflects the light, unshaded, from the uttermost depths of the heavens".

Matterhorn went to Zermatt in 1844, and it is to be noticed as a curious fact, that the first time he saw the Matterhorn it did not please him.

In 2021, a Matterhorn-related attraction opened in the Swiss Museum of Transport, enabling visitors to climb it virtually from the Solvay Hut to the summit.

The image of the Matterhorn first appeared on Toblerone chocolate bars in 1960.

Since then, the Matterhorn has become a reference that still inspires graphic artists today and has been used extensively for all sort of publicity and advertising.