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The first ascent of the Matterhorn was made by mountaineers led by Edward Whymper on 14th July 1865. It was a very difficult mountain to climb. Nobody had ever climbed it before. The ascent was a success…but the descent was a disaster. Here is Edward Whymper’s story of the climb.

I first visited the Matterhorn in 1860 when I was 20 years old. I went there to draw the mountains but I soon wanted to climb them. In the summer of 1865, I decided to climb the Matterhorn. Nobody had ever climbed it.

One day I met another Englishman, Lord Douglas. He also wanted to climb the Matterhorn. In a nearby town, Zermatt, we found a guide, Peter Taugwalder, and three more mountaineers: Michel Croz, Charles Hudson and Douglas Hadow. We left Zermatt on 13th July at 5.30am. After 2 hours, we reached the bottom of the mountain. Then we started to climb. By twelve o'clock we had reached a height of 3,400 metres and we set up a camp. In the morning of the 14th July, we started to climb to the top. Soon we could see the East face of the peak. It rose before us for 1000 metres. It was like a giant staircase. We climbed it without ropes because it was not a difficult climb. By half past six in the morning we had reached 4000 metres and we had a short break. Then we climbed for three more hours and rested. Now the climb got harder. Hadow needed lots of help but soon we saw the top of the Matterhorn. There was just 100 metres of snow to walk through. I wanted to get there first so I started to run. Croz raced me to the top. We got there together. At 1.40pm the world was at our feet and the Matterhorn was conquered.

We stayed at the top for an hour, then we slowly began the descent on a rope. We moved slowly. Only one man moved at a time. An hour from the summit, disaster struck. Hadow slipped and fell

on Croz, who was in front of him. Croz was knocked over and they both fell, and pulled down Hudson and Douglas after them. I think all of them were holding on to the rope, so Taugwalder and I held firmly on to the rocks and the rope. We felt the weight of the four men on the rope, but suddenly the rope broke. I saw the four men slide down the slope, their hands and feet desperately trying to grab the rocks. I saw Douglas and Hudson disappear over the edge of a cliff. I think I saw Croz holding Hadow for a second or two before they too went over the edge. All four fell hundreds of metres.

Taugwalder and I continued to climb down. We reached the bottom of the east face of the mountain at 6pm and began to search for the other men. We called out their names but found nothing. We climbed down further and at 9pm made camp for the night. The following day we searched for the four men. At around 9am we found the bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson. But we never found Douglas. All we found were his gloves, belt and a boot.