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:''"Cervino" redirects here. For the Italian town, see Cervino (CE). For other uses, see Matterhorn (disambiguation).''
The 'Matterhorn' (German) or 'Cervino' (Italian), (French: 'Mont Cervin' or 'Le Cervin') is perhaps the most familiar mountain in the European Alps. On the border between Switzerland and Italy, it towers over the Swiss village of Zermatt and the Italian village Breuil-Cervinia in the Val Tournanche. The mountain derives its name from the German words ''Matte'', meaning ''valley'' or ''meadow'', and ''Horn'', which means ''peak''.^[2]
The Matterhorn has four faces, facing the four compass points, the north face overlooking the Zmutt Valley, the south face Breuil-Cervinia, the east and west faces looking towards the Gornergrat and the Dent d'Hérens, respectively, with the north and south faces meeting to form a short east-west summit ridge. The 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 Hörnli ridge of the northeast (in the center of the view from Zermatt) is the usual climbing route.

The Matterhorn was climbed later than most of the main mountains of the Alps, not because of its technical difficulty, but because of the fear it inspired in early mountaineers. The first serious attempts began around 1857, mostly from the Italian side; but despite appearances, the southern routes are harder, and parties repeatedly found themselves on difficult rock and had to turn back.
It was not until 14 July 1865, after several failed attempts and some nationalistically motivated backstabbing, that the party of Edward Whymper, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, and Douglas Robert Hadow was able to reach the summit, along with Michel Croz and the two Peter Taugwalders (father and son). The party tried the Hörnli route and found it considerably easier than expected. On the descent, Hadow slipped, knocking Croz off his feet, and dragging Hudson and Douglas with him. The rope connecting them to the other three men broke; the four fell to their deaths on the Matterhorn Glacier 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) below. The bodies of all but Douglas were later found, and are buried in the Zermatt churchyard. Whymper's ascent is considered to be the last of the golden age of alpinism.

Three days later, on 17 July, a party led by Jean-Antoine Carrel reached the summit from the Italian side. Julius Elliott made the second ascent from the Zermatt side, in 1868, and in the same year John Tyndall traversed the summit, together with J. J. Maquinaz and J. P. Maquinaz. In 1871, Lucy Walker became the first woman to stand on top of the mountain, followed a few weeks later by her rival Meta Brevoort.
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 Hörnli route each summer. By modern standards, the climb is fairly difficult (AD Difficulty rating), but not hard for skilled mountaineers. There are fixed ropes on parts of the route to help. Still, because of the scale of the climb and inherent dangers, inexperience, falling rocks, and overcrowded routes, several climbers die each year. The usual pattern is to take the Schwarzsee cable car up from Zermatt, hike up to the Hörnli-hütte (elev. 3,260 m/10,695 ft), a large stone building at the base of the main ridge, and spend the night. The next day the climber rises at 3:30 am, so as to reach the summit and descend before the regular afternoon clouds and storms come in.
Other routes on the mountain include the Italian ridge (D, first ascent by Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich on 17 July 1865), the Zmutt ridge (D, first ascent by Albert F. Mummery, A. Burgener, J. Petrus and A. Gentinetta on 3 September 1879) and the north face route, one of the six classic north faces in the Alps (TD+, first ascent by Franz and Toni Schmid on 31 July–1 August 1931).

Contents

Cultural references

Other 'Matterhorns'

See also

References

External links

Cultural references

A miniature imitation of the Matterhorn featuring a bobsled ride is one of the attractions at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Matterhorn Bobsleds opened in 1959 and is a 1/100 scale replica (147 feet in height) of the actual mountain in the Swiss Alps, although not exact.
The individual pieces of the chocolate bar Toblerone are claimed by its maker Kraft, to be formed in the likeness of the Matterhorn.^[3]
In the 1957 Warner Brothers animated short ''Piker's Peak'', Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam try to beat each other to the summit of the Schmatterhorn, towering high above a fictional Swiss village, with the winner receiving 50,000 cronkites.

Other 'Matterhorns'

Many other prominent mountains around the world are nicknamed the 'Matterhorn' of their respective countries or mountain ranges. Examples include:
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★ Ama Dablam ('the Matterhorn of the Himalaya')
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★ Mount Aspiring in New Zealand ('the Matterhorn of the South')
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★ Mount Assiniboine ('the Matterhorn of North America')
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★ Cnicht ('the Matterhorn of Wales')
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★ Innerdalstårnet ('the Matterhorn of Norway')
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★ Kajaqiao ('the Matterhorn of China')
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★ Kurtbashitsa ('the Matterhorn of Bulgaria')
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★ Machhapuchhare ('the Matterhorn of Nepal')
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★ Olomana ('the Matterhorn of Oahu')
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★ Roseberry Topping ('the Matterhorn of the Moors')
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★ Shivling ('the Matterhorn of India')
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★ Ushba ('the Matterhorn of the Caucasus')

★ Matterhorn Peak () in California's Sierra Nevada range and Matterhorn Peak () in Colorado's San Juan Mountains are other notable mountains with this eponym.

★ Parascotopetl, the fictional 'Matterhorn of the Andes', appears in H. G. Wells's short story "The Country of the Blind" (1904).

★ An outcrop on Grey Friar in the Lake District in England is known as the 'Matterhorn Rock'.

★ The 'Mini Matterhorn' is the unofficial name of a 75-cm piece of Martian rock immediately east-southeast of the Mars Pathfinder lander. [1]

See also

★ The Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt

★ List of mountains of the Alps

References

1. Despite its prominence in a local sense, the Matterhorn is not among the top 100 mountains in the Alps measured by topographic prominence. This is because several of its close neighbors, including Monte Rosa, the Dom, Liskamm and the Weisshorn, have higher summits. To appreciate this, see a panoramic photograph of the view from Finsteraarhorn, to the north
2. Swiss Alps - mountains in Switzerland: Names www.swissworld.org Retrieved 15 November 2006.
3. Toblerone - Shape & Name www.toblerone.com. Retrieved 1 October 2006.


★ Charles Gos, ''Le Cervin'' (Attinger, 1948)

★ Edward Whymper, ''Scrambles Amongst the Alps'' (1871)

External links

★ Virtual ascent of the Hörnli Ridge with 360 degree panoramas

★ Alpinist Magazine Mountain Profile - Issue 16

★ Matterhorn Webcams

★ Matterhorn on Summitpost

★ PeakWare info on Matterhorn

★ Matterhorn on 4000er.de

★ Walt Disney and Zermatt

★ Chronology of climbs - in German

★ Photo gallery dedicated to Matterhorn and surrounding nature