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128-473: The Matterhorn was studied by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure in the late eighteenth century, and was followed by other renowned naturalists and artists, such as John Ruskin , in the 19th century. It remained unclimbed after most of the other great Alpine peaks had been attained and became the subject of an international competition for the summit. The first ascent of the Matterhorn was in 1865 from Zermatt by

256-618: A cirque . Four cirques led to the shape of the mountain. Most of the base of the mountain lies in the Tsaté nappe, a remnant of the Piedmont-Liguria oceanic crust ( ophiolites ) and its sedimentary rocks. Up to 3,400 metres the mountain is composed of successive layers of ophiolites and sedimentary rocks . From 3,400 metres to the top, the rocks are gneisses from the Dent Blanche nappe (Austroalpine nappes). They are divided into

384-418: A hors catégorie climb. The snow in the pass in winter may be as much as 10 metres deep. The temperature may drop as low as -30 °C. The lake in the pass is frozen for 265 days per year. A summary of weather data for the year 1991-2020 is given below. The pass is well above the tree line. All the wood required for construction and firewood must be hauled in from some distance. On the south-west side of

512-813: A mercury barometer , which he had taken to the summit. The Dufour map , which was afterwards followed by the Italian surveyors, gave 4,482 m (14,705 ft) as the height of the Swiss summit. In 1999, the summit height was precisely determined to be at 4,477.54 m (14,690 ft) above sea level by using Global Positioning System technology as part of the TOWER Project (Top of the World Elevations Remeasurement) and to an accuracy of less than one centimetre, which allows future changes to be tracked. The topographic prominence of

640-636: A Roman-Celtic word, considering that Celtic tribes owned the entire pass until defeated by the Romans. Livy says that the pass was not named after the Carthaginians but after a mountain god. For well over a century scholars such as the Grimm brothers have made a connection with continental Celtic pen or ben , "head, summit, chief" on an analogy with the Zeus karaios of Hesychius . Two tribes occupied

768-429: A deep cleft that defied their utmost efforts. The Matterhorn remained unclimbed. Whymper returned to Breuil in 1863, persuading Carrel to join forces with him and try the mountain once more via the Italian ridge. On this attempt, however, a storm soon developed and they were stuck halfway to the summit. They remained there for 26 hours in their tent before giving up. Whymper did not make another attempt for two years. In

896-409: A fine bulb hung in the shade or whirled by a string, the latter form being converted into an evaporimeter by inserting its bulb into a piece of wet sponge and making it revolve in a circle of known radius, at a known rate; for experiments on the earth and in deep water he employed large thermometers wrapped in non-conducting coatings so as to render them extremely sluggish, and capable of long retaining

1024-406: A height of 12,800 feet and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9.55, when we stopped for fifty minutes, at a height of 14,000 feet. When the party came close to the summit, they had to leave the ridge for the north face because "[the ridge] was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult than the face". At this point of the ascent Whymper wrote that

1152-520: A noted specialist in plant chemistry and an early pioneer in photosynthesis research and Alphonse Jean François de Saussure. Saussure's health began to fail in 1791, at the same time that he suffered financial losses. Saussure died in Geneva 22 January 1799. His great-grandson Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913) was an important linguist and semiotician . The genus of plants Saussurea , some adapted to growing in extreme high-alpine climates,

1280-452: A party led by Edward Whymper , but during the descent, a sudden fall claimed the lives of four of the seven climbers. This disaster, later portrayed in several films , marked the end of the golden age of alpinism . The north face was not climbed until 1931 and is among the three biggest north faces of the Alps , known as "The Trilogy". The west face, the highest of the Matterhorn's four faces,

1408-595: A patrician, Saussure held liberal views, which induced him to present in 1774 a plan for the development of scientific education in the Geneva College, which would be open to all citizens, but this attempt failed. He was more successful in advocating the creation of the "Société des Arts" (1776), inspired by the London Society for the Improvement of Arts . Beginning in 1774, Saussure sought to reach

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1536-403: A private entrepreneur for the provision of hotel services. The St Bernards were bred large enough to traverse deep snow and to find lost persons by scent. The first evidence that the dogs were in use at the monastery is two paintings dating to 1690 by Salvator Rosa . It is often said that they carried small casks of brandy around their necks (although this is only legend), in the belief that

1664-501: A room with good beds already made up. As we came from the warmth of the hall into the cold room we started to shiver and just couldn't get warm, so we didn't get much sleep. My turtle was cold, too, so I took it to bed with me to try to warm it a bit. We arose at five the next morning and were given a very good and generous breakfast before we started our descent of the mountain. The clouds were threatening, black and so heavy that we could see nothing and wished earnestly that we were back onto

1792-446: A series of investigations on atmospheric humidity, evaporation, clouds, fogs and rain ( Essais sur l'Hygrométrie , 1783). This instrument sparked a bitter controversy with Jean-André Deluc , who had invented a whalebone hygrometer. In 1767, Saussure constructed the first known Western solar oven , trying several designs before determining that a well-insulated box with three layers of glass to trap outgoing thermal radiation produced

1920-524: A short note for the chief supply officer of the army. Versions of the story vary, but they all agree that when the young man had turned in the note and had drawn his ample pay for the work, he found that his companion was Napoleon and the latter had given him a house and farm so that he could marry his sweetheart. In the Aosta Valley Napoleon's army slipped by an Austrian garrison at Bard just out of cannon range. The commander related that he

2048-515: A variety of companions could only reach a maximum height of 4,100 m (13,500 ft). However, on 14 July 1865, in what is considered the last ascent of the golden age of alpinism , he was able to reach the summit by an ascent of the Hörnli ridge in Switzerland, guided by the famed French mountaineer Michel Croz and the Swiss father and son Peter Taugwalder Sr. and Jr., and accompanied by

2176-474: A wooden keg fastened under his chin. When they locate a victim he is offered the wine to keep him alive while the other dog runs back to the monastery to lead the monks who transport the lost back. Sometimes the lost are no longer alive." Today the tunnel and modern technology have made rescue operations at the pass mainly unnecessary. The dogs were put up for sale in 2004 because of the high cost of maintenance and were promptly bought by two foundations created for

2304-572: Is aligned towards the Oberrothorn above Zermatt. To its west lies the Zmutt ridge ( Zmuttgrat ), between the north and west faces and aligned towards the Wandfluehorn ; this is, according to Collomb, "the classic route up the mountain, its longest ridge, also the most disjointed." The Lion ridge ( Cresta del Leone / Arête du lion ), lying between the south and west faces and aligned towards

2432-529: Is also frequented by hikers. The Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia resorts function as separate ski resort all year round and are connected by skilifts over the Theodul Pass. In 2023, a cable car link between Testa Grigia (or Tête grise ) and the Klein Matterhorn opened. It finally provided a direct link between the Swiss and Italian side of the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn Museum (Zermatt) relates

2560-488: Is also named Gran Bècca ("big mountain") by the Valdôtains and Horu by the local Walliser German speaking people. Because of its recognizable shape, many other similar mountains around the world were named or nicknamed 'the Matterhorn of' their respective countries or mountain ranges. The Matterhorn has two distinct summits , situated at either end of a 100-metre-long (330 ft) exposed rocky crest which forms

2688-557: Is listed in the Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments since 1983. The Matterhorn is an isolated mountain. Because of its position on the main Alpine watershed and its great height, the Matterhorn is exposed to rapid weather changes. In addition, the steep faces of the mountain and its isolated location make it prone to banner clouds formation, with the air flowing around the mountain producing condensation of

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2816-478: Is mainly historical and recreational. Straddling the highest point of the road, the Great St Bernard Hospice was founded in 1049. The hospice later became famous for its use of St. Bernard dogs in rescue operations. The Italian side of the area includes several facilities as well. Between them is the small Great St Bernard Lake . The Great St Bernard Pass is located near the western end of

2944-545: Is named after him and his plant-physiologist son Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure. The Alpine Botanical Garden Saussurea , located at Pavillon du Mont Fréty, first station for the Skyway Monte Bianco cable car, in Courmayeur , Aosta Valley, is named after him. His work as a mineralogist was also recognized in that Saussurite is named after him. The lunar crater Saussure is named after him. Saussure

3072-521: Is no connection with the village of Breuil-Cervinia on the Italian side. Travellers have to hire mountain guides to cross the 3,300-metre-high glaciated Theodul Pass , separating the two resorts. The town of Zermatt remains almost completely free of internal combustion vehicles and can be reached by train only. (Apart from the local police service which uses a Volkswagen car, and the refuse collection lorry, only electric vehicles are used locally). Rail and cable-car facilities have been built to make some of

3200-472: Is prolific and the rocks are lichen -covered. A hospice for travellers was founded in 1049 by Saint Bernard of Menthon and came to be named after him in the 16th century, along with the pass. It was not the first hospice in the pass. Buildings were probably there since the Roman times, but the region was not secure and they were destroyed many times. The first concern of the founder of the current monastery

3328-516: Is that débris which, in the form of pebbles, boulders, and sand, fills our valleys and our plains. The formation of the Matterhorn (and the whole Alpine range) started with the break-up of the Pangaea continent 200 million years ago into Laurasia (containing Europe) and Gondwana (containing Africa). While the rocks constituting the nearby Monte Rosa remained in Laurasia, the rocks constituting

3456-552: Is the one-metre (3 ft 3 in) higher Western Liskamm . Considering mountains with a topographic prominence of at least 300 m (980 ft), the Matterhorn is the sixth-highest summit in the Alps and Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains . It is the fifth-highest summit of Valais and Switzerland and the third highest summit of the Aosta Valley and Italy. Locally, it is the third-highest summit in

3584-656: Is the result of cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from the peak, such as the Matterhorn Glacier at the base of the north face. Sometimes referred to as the Mountain of Mountains ( German : Berg der Berge ), it has become an indelible emblem of the Alps in general. Since the end of the 19th century, when railways were built in the area, the mountain has attracted increasing numbers of visitors and climbers. Each year, numerous mountaineers try to climb

3712-497: The Aosta Valley region of Italy. From Martigny Route 9 descends to Lausanne and from Aosta Route A5 descends to Torino . From the north, in Switzerland, the route to the pass follows the lower part of the river Drance above Martigny, then into the sparsely populated Val d'Entremont (lit.: "valley between mountain") through which the Drance d'Entremont flows. After having passed the last inhabited locality, Bourg-Saint-Pierre ,

3840-690: The Austroalpine nappes , lying over the Penninic nappes . The Austroalpine nappes are part of the Apulian plate , a small continent that broke up from Africa before the Alpine orogeny . For this reason, the Matterhorn has been popularized as an African mountain. The Austroalpine nappes are mostly common in the Eastern Alps. The Swiss explorer and geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , inspired by

3968-591: The Breithorn , at 3,295 metres, is the easiest passage between the two valleys and countries (the slightly lower Furggjoch not being used as a pass). The pass was used as a crossover and trade route for the Romans and the Romanised Celtic population Salassi between 100 BCE and 400 CE. The area is now heavily glaciated and covered on the north side by the Theodul Glacier . Well-known faces are

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4096-707: The Bronze Age and surviving traces of a Roman road . In 1800, Napoleon 's army used the pass to enter Italy, an event depicted in Jacques-Louis David 's Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass and Paul Delaroche 's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps , both notable oil paintings. Having been bypassed by easier and more practical routes, particularly the Great St Bernard Tunnel , a road tunnel which opened in 1964, its value today

4224-649: The Col du Géant (3,371 m). In 1789, Saussure climbed the Pizzo Bianco near Macugnaga , to observe the east wall of Monte Rosa , and crossed the Theodulpass (3,322 m) to Zermatt , as the first traveler to visit. On that occasion he climbed from the pass up the Klein Matterhorn (3,883 m). In 1792, he spent three days making observations on the same pass without descending to Zermatt and then visited

4352-714: The Gornergrat and Monte Rosa (respectively 10 and 17 km away) across the Theodul Pass , the west face overlooks the upper basin of the Zmutt Glacier between the Dent Blanche and the Dent d'Hérens (respectively 7 and 4 km away) and the south face fronts the resort town of Breuil-Cervinia and overlooks a good portion of the Valtournenche. The Matterhorn does not form a perfect square pyramid , as

4480-651: The Mont Cenis Pass . In 1785, he made an unsuccessful attempt on Mont Blanc by the Aiguille du Goûter route. Two Chamonix men, Michel Paccard and Jacques Balmat , attained the summit in 1786, by way of the Grands Mulets , and in 1787 Saussure himself made the third ascent of the mountain. His achievements did much to attract tourists to places such as Chamonix. In 1788, Saussure spent 17 days making meteorological observations and physical measurements on

4608-841: The Po on the south ( Adriatic Sea ). The north side is drained by the Zmuttbach (west and north faces) and the Gornera through the Furggbach (east face), tributaries of the Rhone through the (Matter) Vispa . The south side and face is drained by the Marmore torrent, a tributary of the Po through the Dora Baltea (or Doire baltée ). The Theodul Pass , located on the watershed between the Matterhorn and

4736-663: The Theodul Pass to Zermatt to hire local guides. He encountered Lord Francis Douglas , a Scottish mountaineer, who also wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They arrived later in Zermatt in the Monte Rosa Hotel , where they met two other British climbers — the Reverend Charles Hudson and his young and inexperienced companion, Douglas Robert Hadow — who had hired the French guide Michel Croz to try to make

4864-499: The Theodulhorn (3,472 m). Obsessed by the measurement of meteorological phenomena, Saussure invented and improved many kinds of apparatus, including the magnetometer , He invented the cyanometer for estimating the blueness of the sky, the diaphanometer for judging the clarity of the atmosphere, the anemometer and the mountain eudiometer . Of particular importance was a hair hygrometer that he devised and used for

4992-675: The Valais Alps , the next pass to the west, Col Ferret , marking the transition with the Mont Blanc massif . In that area, between Mont Dolent and Mont Vélan , the main crest of the Alps barely reaches 3,000 metres, unlike in the much higher section of the Valais Alps east of Mont Vélan and Grand Combin . Therefore, the Great St Bernard Pass is one of the only two road axis connecting Valais with northern Italy,

5120-583: The Valtournenche area, who made the first attempts in 1857 and 1858, reaching 3,800 m (12,500 ft) on the latter occasion. In July 1860, three brothers from Liverpool attempted the mountain, Alfred, Charles and Sandbach Parker, but they turned back at about 3,500 m (11,500 ft). In August of the same year, Jean-Jacques Carrel returned to guide, with Johann Joseph Bennen  [ de ] , Vaughan Hawkins and John Tyndall to about 3,960 m (12,990 ft) before turning back. In 1861

5248-596: The canton of Valais in Switzerland with Aosta in the region Aosta Valley in Italy . It is the lowest pass lying on the ridge between the two highest mountains of the Alps , Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa . It is located on the main watershed that separates the basin of the Rhône from that of the Po . Great St Bernard is one of the most ancient passes through the Western Alps , with evidence of use as far back as

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5376-526: The topography of the snowy portions of the Alps of Savoy. He also carried out experiments on heat and cold, on the weight of the atmosphere and on electricity and magnetism . For this, he devised what became one of the first electrometers . From 1772–1773 trips led him to Italy, where he studied Mount Etna and other volcanoes (1772–73), and to the extinct volcanoes of the Auvergne , in France. Although

5504-424: The "Academy of Geneva", where he lectured on physics one year, and on logic and metaphysics the next. He taught there until 1786, occasionally also lecturing on geography, geology, chemistry, and even astronomy. Saussure's early interest in botanical studies and glaciers soon led him to undertake other journeys across the Alps . In 1767, he completed his first tour of Mont Blanc, a trip that did much to reveal

5632-490: The Alps between Italy and Switzerland. We came into a large hall where several other wanderers were seated. The monks came to shake hands with us and bid us welcome. A doctor – also a monk – asked if we had suffered any mishap coming up. The ones that had gotten hurt were treated and taken care of. They had an apothecary there also to administer to any one needing such. Another monk gave us a bowl with hot bouillon mixed with wine to warm us. We sat on wooden benches and talked with

5760-595: The Arolla series (below 4,200 m) and the Valpelline zone (the summit). Other mountains in the region (Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Dent Blanche, Mont Collon) also belong to the Dent Blanche nappe. Since the eighteenth century, the Alps have attracted more and more people and fascinated generations of explorers and climbers. The Matterhorn remained relatively little known until 1865, but the successful ascent followed by

5888-836: The Augstbord and Meiden passes, the trekker crosses the Col de Sorebois and the Col de Torrent before arriving at Arolla . Then the Arolla Glacier and the Col Collon must be crossed on the way to Prarayer , followed by the Col de Valcournera to Breuil-Cervinia. In the last and highest section, the Theodul Pass must be crossed before returning to Zermatt. In total, seven passes between 2,800 and 3,300 metres must be crossed on relatively difficult terrain. As of 2015, almost two million visitors arrive at Zermatt annually. An average of around twelve people per year have died on Matterhorn in

6016-459: The British gentlemen Charles Hudson , Lord Francis Douglas , Douglas Robert Hadow . Upon descent, Hadow, Croz, Hudson and Douglas fell to their deaths on the Matterhorn Glacier , and all but Douglas (whose body was never found) are buried in the Zermatt churchyard. Just three days later, on 17 July 1865, Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich reached the summit from the Italian side. In

6144-584: The Carrels managed to reach the Crête du Coq at 4,032 m (13,228 ft). In July 1862, Jean-Antoine, together with César Carrel, accompanied as porters (sic) John Tyndall, Anton Walters and J.J. Bennen to Matterhorn's Shoulder at 4,248 m (13,937 ft), which was subsequently named Pic Tyndall in honor of the client. Edward Whymper joined the efforts in August 1861, but in his first 7 attempts with

6272-455: The Carrels went alone to reach a new high on Matterhorn of 4,032 m (13,228 ft) the next day. Whymper and his guide camped one more night on the Col du lion (= Col Tournanche) 3,479 m (11,414 ft) and were forced to turn around only an hour above this pass the day after. In 1862 Whymper made further attempts, still from the south side, on the Lion ridge (or Italian ridge), where

6400-525: The Dent d'Hérens is the Italian normal route and goes across Pic Tyndall ; Collomb comments, "A superb rock ridge, the shortest on the mountain, now draped with many fixed ropes, but a far superior climb compared with the Hörnli." Finally the south side is separated from the east side by the Furggen ridge ( Furggengrat ), which is aligned towards the Klein Matterhorn . It is, according to Collomb, "the hardest of

6528-461: The Italian ridge. Despite its appearance, Whymper wrote that the Hörnli ridge was much easier to climb than the Italian ridge: We were now fairly upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which from the Riffel, or even from the Furggen Glacier, looked entirely impracticable, were so easy that we could run about . After camping for the night, Whymper and party started on the ridge. According to Whymper: The whole of this great slope

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6656-418: The Italian/Swiss border. In August 1792, the Genevan geologist and explorer Horace Bénédict de Saussure made the first measurement of the Matterhorn's height, using a sextant and a 50-foot-long (15 m) chain spread out on the Theodul glacier. He calculated its height as 4,501.7 m (14,769 ft). In 1868 the Italian engineer Felice Giordano measured a height of 4,505 m (14,780 ft) by means of

6784-439: The Latin Mons Silvanus (or Mons Sylvanus ), where silva means "forest"; this was corrupted to Selvin and then Servin . The change of the first letter "s" to "c" is attributed to Horace Bénédict de Saussure , who thought the word was related to "deer" (French: cerf and Italian: cervo ). Josias Simler hypothesized in De Alpibus Commentarius (1574) that the name Mons Silvius was readopted by T. G. Farinetti: "Silvius

6912-417: The Matterhorn found themselves in Gondwana, separated by the newly formed Tethys Ocean . 100 million years ago the extension of the Tethys Ocean stopped and the Apulian plate broke from Gondwana and moved toward the European continent. This resulted in the closure of the western Tethys by subduction under the Apulian plate (with the Piemont-Liguria Ocean first and Valais Ocean later). The subduction of

7040-409: The Matterhorn from the Hörnli Hut via the northeast Hörnli ridge, the most popular route to the summit. Many trekkers also undertake the 10-day-long circuit around the mountain. The Matterhorn has been part of the Swiss Federal Inventory of Natural Monuments since 1983. The name Matterhorn derives from the German words Matte ("meadow") and Horn ("horn"), and is often translated as "the peak of

7168-433: The Matterhorn is 1,042 metres (3,419 ft) as the ridge connecting it with a higher summit (in this case the Weisshorn , which is the culminating point of the range west of the Mattertal valley) sinks to a height of 3,436 m (11,273 ft) at the Col Durand, a saddle between the Pointe de Zinal and the Mont Durand . The topographic isolation is 13.9 km (8.6 mi), as the nearest point of higher elevation

7296-480: The Matterhorn is here, suspiciously prying into everything. I have taken all the best men away from him; and yet he is so enamored of the mountain that he may go with others...He is here in the hotel and I try to avoid speaking to him. Just as he did two years before, Whymper asked Carrel to be his guide, but Carrel declined; Whymper was also unsuccessful in hiring other local guides from Breuil. When Whymper discovered Giordano and Carrel's plan, he left Breuil and crossed

7424-459: The Mont Blanc,... saw so enormous a moon rise, that, not recognizing what it was, he fainted with terror". Great St Bernard Pass The Great St Bernard Pass ( French : Col du Grand St-Bernard , Italian : Colle del Gran San Bernardo , German : Grosser Sankt Bernhard ; Romansh : Pass del Grond Son Bernard ) is the third highest road pass in Switzerland , at an elevation of 2,469 m (8,100 ft). It connects Martigny in

7552-415: The Swiss and Italian valleys for centuries. The circuit includes alpine meadows, balcony trails, larch forests and glacial crossings. It connects six valleys embracing three different cultures: the German-speaking high Valais, the French-speaking central Valais and the bilingual French/Italian-speaking Aosta Valley. Good conditions are necessary to circumnavigate the peak. After reaching Zinal from Zermatt by

7680-443: The Valais, and pitched his camp there. The passes which he had orders to open from there could be no other than the St. Bernard , the Simplon , the Theodul, and the Moro ; it therefore seems likely that the name of Servius, whence Silvius and later Servin, or Cervin, was given in his honour to the famous pyramid." It is unknown when the new name of Servin, or Cervin, replaced the old, from which it seems to be derived. The Matterhorn

7808-421: The Valtournenche, is 1,350 metres high and offers many different routes. The west face, the highest at 1,400 metres, has the fewest ascent routes and lies in a more remote area than the other faces. The four main ridges separating the four faces are the main climbing routes. The least difficult technical climb and the usual climbing route , the Hörnli ridge ( Hörnligrat ), lies between the east and north faces and

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7936-413: The air on the lee side and also creating vortices. The Matterhorn's pyramid is composed of Paleozoic rocks, which were thrusted over the Matterhorn's Mesozoic base during the Cenozoic . Quaternary glaciation and weathering give the mountain its current shape. Apart from the base of the mountain, the Matterhorn is composed of gneiss belonging to the Dent Blanche klippe , an isolated part of

8064-457: The area with his guides, before going back to Breuil on 7 July. Meanwhile, the Italian Alpine Club was founded and its leaders, Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella , established plans to conquer the Matterhorn before any non-Italian could succeed. Felice Giordano hired Carrel as a guide. He feared the arrival of Whymper, now a rival, and wrote to Quintino Sella: I have tried to keep everything secret, but that fellow whose life seems to depend on

8192-427: The army went over the pass single-file, 6000 men per day. Bands played martial music along the route, with drum rolls at especially difficult places to alert the men. At the top the monks handed each man two glasses of wine and a slice of rye with cheese as they filed by (courtesy of the French army). Accounts of the amounts expended vary. On the other side the snow became so packed that the men slid down sitting. Napoleon

8320-426: The decisive year 1865, Whymper returned with new plans, deciding to attack the Matterhorn via its south face instead of the Italian ridge. On 21 June, Whymper began his ascent with Swiss guides, but halfway up they experienced severe rockfall; although nobody was injured, they decided to give up the ascent. This was Whymper's seventh attempt. During the following weeks, Whymper spent his time climbing other mountains in

8448-402: The east again, then smoothly to the southeast at La Clusaz ( Gignod ). Here the river enters the Buthier river in the lower end of the Valpelline valley and turns south again on which end finally the river flows into the Dora Baltea near the Pont de Pierre in Aosta . The route here in the main valley of the Val d'Aoste becomes part of the A5 motorway connecting the Mont Blanc Tunnel to

8576-470: The east and north, visible from the area of Zermatt, although mostly hidden from the Mattertal by the chain of the Weisshorn . The east face is 1,000 metres high and, because it is "a long, monotonous slope of rotten rocks", presents a high risk of rockfall, making its ascent dangerous. The north face is 1,200 metres high and is one of the most dangerous north faces in the Alps , in particular for its risk of rockfall and storms. The south face, well visible from

8704-451: The expectation of moving into the pass on the next day. At that time the Romans found the heights over the trail occupied by three hostile Gallic tribes. The Romans won a local victory by a daring foray from the camp but Galba judged he could not take the pass and departed. Augustus succeeded where his adoptive father failed and the pass became Roman. Augustus placed a large castra stativa and colony, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum , below

8832-456: The first ascent. These two groups decided to join forces and try the ascent of the Hörnli ridge. They hired another two local guides, a father and son, both named Peter Taugwalder. Whymper and party left Zermatt early in the morning of 13 July 1865, heading to the foot of the Hörnli ridge, which they reached 6 hours later (approximately where the Hörnli Hut is situated today). Meanwhile, Carrel and six other Italian guides also began their ascent of

8960-415: The founder of alpinism and modern meteorology, and considered to be the first person to build a successful solar oven . Horace Bénédict de Saussure was born 17 February 1740, in Conches , near Geneva ( today in Switzerland but then an independent republic ). Saussure's family were Genevan patricians. His father, Nicolas de Saussure, was an agriculturist , agronomist and author. Because his mother

9088-399: The four compass points. Three of them (north, east and west) are on the Swiss side of the border and watershed ( Mattertal valley) and one of them (south) is on the Italian side of the border ( Valtournenche valley). The north face overlooks the Ober Gabelhorn (7 km away) across the Zmutt Glacier and valley (above Zermatt ), the east face overlooks the Gorner Glacier system between

9216-447: The general history of the region from alpinism to tourism. In the museum, which is in the form of a reconstituted mountain village, the visitors can relive the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn and see the objects that belonged to the protagonists. The Tour of the Matterhorn can be effected by trekkers in about 10 days. Considered by some as one of the most beautiful treks in the Alps, it follows many ancient trails that have linked

9344-411: The general title of Voyages dans les Alpes (1779 – 1796) (There was an octavo issue in eight volumes, issued from 1780 to 1796). The non-scientific portions of the work were first published in 1834, and often since, as Partie pittoresque des ouvrages de M. de Saussure . The Alps were the focus of Saussure's investigations. He saw them as the grand key to the true theory of the earth, and they gave him

9472-453: The green earth once more. It was hard work going up the mountain but worse going down. We sank into the snow, several times so deep that we had all we could do to get up again. I had expected to see some of the dogs, but we were following the wooden markers and the dogs are trained to go afield and search for the ones that missed the markers. It is impossible to find the way over the mountain without help. The large dogs searched in pairs - one has

9600-426: The invasion of Italy of 390 BC. The classical authors first mentioning the pass in that or other contexts lived the 1st century BC under the early Roman empire . They were calling the pass and the mountains Poeninus or Poenini , "Punic", an apparent reference to Hannibal 's crossing. He did not cross there, however. On the presumption that the name was falsely altered by analogy, it can be reconstructed to *peninus,

9728-698: The largest of which are the Tiefmattengletscher to the west, part of the Zmutt Glacier , and the Matterhorn Glacier to the north. Smaller glaciers lie at the base of the south face (the Lower Matterhorn Glacier) and the east face (unnamed). In this area, the border between Switzerland and Italy coincides with the main Alpine watershed , separating the drainage basin of the Rhone on the north ( Mediterranean Sea ) and that of

9856-507: The less experienced Hadow "required continual assistance". Having overcome these difficulties the group finally arrived in the summit area, with Croz and Whymper reaching the top first. The slope eased off, and Croz and I, dashing away, ran a neck-and-neck race, which ended in a dead heat. At 1.40 p.m. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered. Hurrah! Not a footstep could be seen. Precisely at this moment, Carrel and party were approximatively 400 metres below, still dealing with

9984-412: The liquor had medicinal properties. A description of an overnight stay at the monastery in 1857 was given by Theodore Nielsen, a Danish kleinsmith journeyman, in his memoirs: "In the evening we reached the monastery of St Bernard on the top of the mountain. Enormous sums of money were expended to build these cloisters that were made of stonework and were placed there to give sustenance to travellers on

10112-436: The march secretly by assembling men in small units below the pass, establishing supply dumps along the lower part of their route, and hiring artisans to set up shop along it as well. On May 15 an advance unit went over the pass to take Aosta , after which hospitals were set up at Martigny and Aosta. At Martigny the army assembled and received rations for three days. All the equipment - carriages, artillery, arms and ammunition -

10240-580: The meadows". In the Schalbetter map , printed by Sebastian Münster in 1545, the valley is labelled Mattertal , but the mountain has the Latin name Mons Silvius as well as the German name Augstalberg , in concord with the Aosta Valley (German Augstal ). The 1548 map by Johannes Stumpf gives only Mons Silvius . The French name Cervin , from which the Italian term Cervino derives, stems from

10368-425: The most difficult parts of the Italian ridge. When seeing his rival on the summit, Carrel and party gave up on their attempt and went back to Breuil. Horace-B%C3%A9n%C3%A9dict de Saussure Horace Bénédict de Saussure ( French: [ɔʁas benedikt də sosyʁ] ; 17 February 1740 – 22 January 1799) was a Genevan geologist , meteorologist , physicist , mountaineer and Alpine explorer, often called

10496-668: The most heat. The highest temperature he reached was 230 °F (110 °C), which he found did not vary significantly when the box was carried from the top of Mont Crammont in the Swiss Alps down to the Plains of Cournier, 4,852 feet lower in altitude and 34 °F (19 °C) warmer in temperature, thereby establishing that the external air temperature played no significant role in this solar heating effect. All of Saussure's observations and experiments from seven Alpine journeys were summed up and published in four quarto volumes, under

10624-417: The municipality of Zermatt and the highest summit in the municipality of Valtournenche . On the official International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation list of Alpine four-thousanders , which also includes subsidiary summits of higher mountains such as the nearby Monte Rosa , the Matterhorn is the 12th highest summit in the Alps. The Matterhorn has a pyramidal shape with four faces nearly facing

10752-415: The north and south faces are wider than the west and east faces. Moreover, the latter faces do not actually meet on the summit but are connected by a 100-metre-long horizontal west–east ridge between the north and south faces. The 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,

10880-415: The noted Swiss anatomist, physiologist and botanist Albrecht von Haller . In 1760, Saussure offered a reward to the first man to reach the summit of Mont Blanc . Inspired by his uncle, Charles Bonnet, the young Saussure researched the physiology of plants which he published as Observations sur l'écorce des feuilles et des pétales in 1762. The same year, at 22, he was elected professor of philosophy at

11008-522: The oceanic crust left traces still visible today at the base of the Matterhorn ( accretionary prism ). The orogeny itself began after the end of the oceanic subduction when the European continental crust collided with the Apulian continent, resulting in the formation of nappes . The Matterhorn acquired its characteristic pyramidal shape in much more recent times as it was caused by natural erosion over

11136-564: The opportunity to study geology in a manner never previously attempted. Saussure closely examined the inclination of the strata , the nature of the rocks, the fossils and the minerals. Saussure had a thorough knowledge of the chemistry of the day and applied it to the study of minerals, water and air. His geological observations made him a firm believer in the Neptunian theory : He regarded all rocks and minerals as deposited from aqueous solution or suspension, and attached much importance to

11264-561: The other axis being the Simplon Pass . The pass runs northwest–southeast through the Valais Alps (formerly known as the Pennine Alps after the Roman name for the pass, poeninus mons or summus poeninus ) at a maximum elevation of 2,469 m (8,100 ft). The road running through the pass, highway E27 in both Italy and Switzerland , joins Martigny on the upper Rhône in the canton of Valais , Switzerland, to Aosta in

11392-546: The outside of the monastery buildings to allow some integrity of the grounds. The old road may still be seen, above the paved road. The hospice occupies two buildings, of 1560 and 1898 ( picture, above ). The Congregation of Canons of the Great Saint Bernard (the monks) also owns the Hôtel de l'Hospice du Grand-St-Bernard, a four-storey building made of grey stone (built in 1899) on the Italian side, which it leases to

11520-482: The pass is a small tarn , the Great St Bernard Lake , which captures melt water and does not support fish, even though attempts have been made to stock it. In past years the tarn has not always thawed completely in summer. Alpine flowers are abundant in the vicinity: Gentiana clusii , Ranunculus glacialis , Dryas octopetala , Forget-me-not , Saxifraga oppositifolia among many hundreds more. Moss

11648-566: The pass with 40,000 men and ⅓ of their heavy artillery, sending another 20,000 over three other passes as a diversion, intending to strike the Austrian rear. The panicked Austrians were unable to assemble fast enough to meet the French en masse but rather in a piecemeal way in June 1800, and so were defeated first at the Battle of Montebello and then at the Battle of Marengo . Napoleon prepared for

11776-491: The pass, after having passed the Combe des Morts. On the south side the route descends a few metres and reaches the shores of the lake before its enters Italy. Then the route follows the steep slopes of the upper part of the torrent du Grand Saint-Bernard to the south, then turns to the east and follows the river in a bend to the south, where the mountain river enters the torrent Artanavaz near Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses and turns to

11904-419: The pass, which became Aosta (contraction of Augusta). Its ruins are a historic attraction there. By 43 AD under the emperor Claudius a good Roman road through the pass was completed with a mansio at the top and a temple to Jupiter Poeninus , resulting in the name Mons Jovis in late antiquity, Monte Jove in the early Italian period and Mont Joux in the French period, a synonym for the pass. The site of

12032-434: The past million years. At the beginning of alpine orogeny, the Matterhorn was only a rounded mountain like a hill. Because its height is above the snowline , its flanks are covered by ice, resulting from the accumulation and compaction of snow. During the warmer period of summer, part of the ice melts and seeps into the bedrock. When it freezes again, it fractures pieces of rock because of its dilatation ( freeze-thaw ), forming

12160-416: The peaks of Grande Chenalette at 2,889 m (9,478 ft) and Mont Mort at 2,867 m (9,406 ft). Slightly to the west is Pointe de Drône at 2,949 m (9,675 ft), the highest peak. Between it and the pass is Petite Chenalette at 2,885 m (9,465 ft). The Tour de France has visited the pass five times. It was climbed four times as a 1st category climb, and one time, in 2009, as

12288-591: The previous several centuries. In 1784, Saussure was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ; in 1788, a foreign member of the Royal Society of London ; in 1791, an associate foreign member of l'Académie des sciences de Paris. Saussure was married to Albertine Amelie Boissier and had three children.: Albertine Necker de Saussure who was a pioneer in the education of women, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure who became

12416-461: The purpose: Fondation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard (major contributor Christine Cerletti-Sarasin) and Fondation Bernard et Caroline de Watteville. Barry bought the kennels and the facilities in Martigny and continues to support and breed the dogs (three or four dozen). One condition of the sale is that they be brought to the monastery for the summer. Travellers are likely to see them romping around

12544-405: The rest of the people. There was a large stove and the place was lovely and warm. Some of the large St Bernard dogs were about and when we sat down came over to give our hands a lick just as if they wanted to say Hello too. At dinnertime we were given a piece of meat on a wooden trivet, bread and wine. The bread was so hard that it seemed we tried to bite into a piece of wood. Later we were shown into

12672-634: The ridges [...] the ridge still has an awesome reputation but is not too difficult in good conditions by the indirect finish". While the Matterhorn is the culminating point of the Valtournenche on the south, it is only one of the many 4000 metres summits of the Mattertal valley on the north. Its height is exceeded by four major summits: the Weisshorn (4,505 m), the Dom (4,545 m), the Liskamm (4,527 m) and

12800-453: The road runs above a large reservoir, the Lac des Toules . At the location of Bourg-Saint-Bernard, the Great St Bernard Tunnel (and the main road) plunges through the mountains at a 1,915 m (6,283 ft) level, reducing, since the tunnel's opening in 1964, the commercial relevance of the road over the pass. The summit section of the road consists of hairpin turns before it reaches the top of

12928-420: The route seemed easier than the Hörnli ridge (the normal route today). On his own, he reached above 4,000 metres, but was injured on his way down to Breuil. In July John Tyndall with Johann Joseph Bennen and another guide overcame most of the difficulties of the ridge that seemed so formidable from below and successfully reached the main shoulder ; but at a point not very far below the summit they were stopped by

13056-758: The second-highest in the Alps, Monte Rosa (4,634 m). This section of the Pennine Alps , including the Matterhorn, the Zinalrothorn , the Dent Blanche , the Dent d'Hérens , the Breithorn , the Strahlhorn , the Rimpfischhorn and the Alphubel , concentrates most of western Europe's highest mountains and forms a crown of peaks around Zermatt. The deeply glaciated region between the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa (named Dent Blanche-Matterhorn-Monte Rosa )

13184-434: The site of the temple roughly date the upper limit of Roman control of the pass. The youngest date to the reign of Theodosius II (1st half of the 5th century). These and other artifacts are stored in the monastery museum. Fragments of the marble temple, some with inscriptions, have been incorporated into many structures of the village of Bourg-Saint-Pierre on the Swiss side of the pass. The Roman milestone for mile XXIIII

13312-510: The slopes. The de Watteville Foundation keeps several dogs in kennels adjunct to its Musée. Both have agreed to work together and others have joined the partnership. The monastery currently houses a handful of monks on a permanent basis, and serves as a spiritual centre for others on retreat. The pass first appears in history as the route taken by the Celtic tribes of the Boii and Lingones in

13440-491: The south side. In Châtillon he hired a Swiss guide, who remained anonymous in his accounts, and in Valtournanche he almost hired Jean-Antoine Carrel as well, but, disliking the looks of Carrel's uncle, he changed his mind. The Carrels decided to give Matterhorn a try by themselves again, and caught up with Whymper at nightfall. Whymper now had "a strong inclination to engage the pair; but, finally, decided against it" and

13568-405: The strength of solar radiation, the composition of air and its transparency. Then, he investigated the temperature of the earth at all depths to which he could drive his thermometer staves, and the course, conditions and temperature of streams, rivers, glaciers and lakes, even of the sea. Saussure adapted the thermometer to many purposes: for ascertaining the temperature of the air he used one with

13696-425: The study of meteorological conditions. His work with rocks, erosion, and fossils also led him to believe that the earth was much older than generally thought and formed part of the basis of Darwin 's Theory of Evolution . Saussure carried barometers and boiling-point thermometers to the summits of the highest mountains, and estimated the relative humidity of the atmosphere at different heights, its temperature,

13824-406: The summer of 1860, Edward Whymper came across the Matterhorn for the first time. He 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 . Although the unclimbed Matterhorn had a mixed reputation among British mountaineers, it fascinated Whymper. Whymper's first attempt was in August 1861, from the village of Breuil on

13952-751: The summit of Mont Blanc on the side of Val Veny (now Italy) accompanied by the Courmayeur alpine guide Jean-Laurent Jordaney on the Miage Glacier and on Mont Crammont. In 1776, he ascended the Buet (3,096 m). He climbed the Crammont in 1774 and again in 1778, in which year he also explored the Valsorey glacier, near the Great St Bernard . In 1780, he climbed the Roche Michel , above

14080-540: The summits in the area more accessible. The Gornergrat railway , reaching a record altitude of 3,100 metres, was inaugurated in 1898. Areas served by cable car are the Unterrothorn and the Klein Matterhorn ( Little Matterhorn ) (3,883 m, highest transportation system in Europe). The Hörnli Hut (3,260 m), which is the start of the normal route via the Hörnli ridge, is easily accessible from Schwarzsee (2,600 m) and

14208-505: The temperature once they had attained it. With these instruments Saussure showed that the bottom water of deep lakes is uniformly cold at all seasons, and that seasonal changes in temperature take six months to penetrate to a depth of 30 ft. in the earth. He recognized the immense advantages to meteorology of high-level observation stations, and whenever it was practicable he arranged for simultaneous observations to be made at different altitudes for as long periods as possible. Saussure

14336-475: The temple is known as the Plan de Jupiter, located on a knoll on the Italian side of the pass. A cross was placed there in 1816 bearing the inscription Deo optimo maximo , "to the best and greatest god." The bronze statue of St Bernard on a pedestal above the road on the Italian side, across a small valley from the cross, was constructed in 1905 on the site of the Roman mansio . The coins and votive tablets found at

14464-444: The ten years from 2005 to 2015. The 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 . The first serious attempts were all from the Italian side, although, despite appearances, the southern routes are technically more difficult. The main figures were Jean-Antoine Carrel and his uncle Jean-Jacques Carrel, from

14592-496: The tragic accident of the expedition led by Edward Whymper caused a rush on the mountains surrounding Zermatt . The construction of the railway linking the village of Zermatt from the town of Visp started in 1888. The first train reached Zermatt on 18 July 1891 and the entire line was electrified in 1930. Since 1930 the village is directly connected to St. Moritz by the Glacier Express panoramic train. However, there

14720-580: The valleys on either side of the pass on a permanent basis: the Veragri on the Swiss side and the Salassi on the Italian side. Julius Caesar sent an expedition under his best commander, Servius Galba , from Gaul in 57 BC to seize the pass, hoping to obtain a shorter route between Italy and Gaul than the contemporaneous coastal route. Galba was deceived by the Veragri into making camp near Martigny with

14848-419: The view of the Matterhorn, anticipated modern theories of geology: What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other peaks - themselves rooted to the ground - whose sides, equally rent, indicate an immense mass of débris, of which we do not see any trace in the neighbourhood. Doubtless, this

14976-474: The west and the upper Po Basin to the southeast. A reduction of utility began after the construction of the Simplon Tunnel , strictly a railway tunnel, 100 km (62 mi) to the east in 1905. The much smaller historic road winding over the pass itself, which lies a few hundred metres from the Swiss border with Italy , is only passable June to September. The pass at narrowest point runs between

15104-562: Was "sickly", Saussure was brought up by his mother's sister and her husband the Genevan naturalist Charles Bonnet , who sparked Horace-Bénédict's early interest in botany. After attending the "Collège" of his hometown, he completed his studies at the Geneva Academy in 1759 with a dissertation on heat ( Dissertatio physica de igne ). In 1760, Saussure made the first of numerous trips to Chamonix valley, to collect plant specimens for

15232-596: Was also brought to the center of the settlement from the top of the pass. The pass had entered history with the Gallic invasion of 390 BC. The last Gallic invasion over it occurred in May, 1800, under the direction of the 30-year-old First Consul of the French Republic , Napoleon Bonaparte . An Austrian army of 140,000 men had laid siege to French-occupied Genoa on the west coast of northern Italy. Napoleon traversed

15360-480: Was astonished to watch an army of 40,000 men in full equipment go marching past from the direction of the heights. The Dorrit family crossed from France into Italy in Book Two: Riches of the novel Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens . They meet the newly-wed Gowans and the gentlemanly murderer Rigaud, now called Blandois, at the inn after climbing up on mules. The novel was published in 1857, but set in

15488-476: Was completely climbed only in 1962. It is estimated that over 500 alpinists have died on the Matterhorn, making it one of the deadliest peaks in the world. The Matterhorn is mainly composed of gneisses (originally fragments of the African Plate before the Alpine orogeny ) from the Dent Blanche nappe , lying over ophiolites and sedimentary rocks of the Penninic nappes . The mountain's current shape

15616-413: Was disassembled and divided into packs of 60-70 pounds for the men to carry. The cannons were to be dragged up over the snow in hollowed-out pine half-logs by mules, and then when the mules died or were exhausted, by 100 soldiers and hired men each. Napoleon offered liberal monetary rewards to soldiers and laborers who could perform difficult portages in a timely fashion. Over several days at the end of May

15744-557: Was honoured by being depicted on the 20 Swiss franc banknote of the sixth issue of Swiss National Bank notes (1979 to 1995, when replaced by the eighth issue; the notes were recalled in 2000 and became valueless on 1 May 2020). In his On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason , while discussing how reason affects our perception of distance, Arthur Schopenhauer includes an anecdote that Saussure, "when on

15872-420: Was now revealed, rising for 3,000 feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts were more, and others were less, easy; but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or left. For the greater part of the way there was, indeed, no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6.20 we had attained

16000-500: Was particularly influential as a geologist , and although his ideas on the underlying principles were often erroneous, he was instrumental in greatly advancing that science. He was an early user of the term "geology"—see the "Discours préliminaire" to volume I of his Voyages , published in 1779—though by no means its inventor as some have claimed, the English word having been used in the 1680s and its Latin counterpart "geologia" during

16128-573: Was probably a Roman leader who sojourned with his legions in the land of the Salassi and the Seduni , and perhaps crossed the Theodul Pass between these two places. This Silvius may have been that same Servius Galba whom Caesar charged with the opening up of the Alpine passes, which from that time onward traders have been wanting to cross with great danger and grave difficulty. Servius Galba, in order to carry out Caesar's orders, came with his legions from Allobroges ( Savoy ) to Octodurum ( Martigny ) in

16256-408: Was the last man over, sliding also. The good weather held for the entire crossing, otherwise the crossing could have easily become disastrous. On the way up Napoleon had discussed affairs of the heart with his young guide and mule driver, Pierre Nicholas Dorsaz , who did not know his identity. Offered a reward at the top, Dorsaz asked for the mule on which Napoleon was riding. He received the mule and

16384-418: Was to clear the region of bandits and keep the pass safe for travellers, the role of rescuers developing naturally. The hospice later became famous for its use of St Bernard dogs in rescue operations. Pope Pius XI confirmed Bernard as patron saint of the Alps in 1923. The hospice straddles the highest point of the road, which is in Switzerland. Today the modern road for through traffic has been routed around

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