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The first ascent of the Matterhorn was made by Edward Whymper, Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz, and two Zermatt guides, Peter Taugwalder father and son, on 14 July 1865. Douglas, Hudson, Hadow and Croz were killed on the descent when Hadow slipped and pulled the other three with him down the north face. Whymper and the Taugwalder guides, who survived, were later accused of having cut the rope below to ensure that they were not dragged down with the others, but the subsequent inquiry found no proof of this and they were acquitted. The ascent followed a long series of attempts by Edward Whymper and Jean-Antoine Carrel to reach the summit. The first successful expedition was followed shortly after by an Italian expedition that ascended the Italian ridge on the other side of the mountain. The Matterhorn was the last great Alpine peak to be climbed and its first ascent marked the end of the golden age of alpinism. ==Background and preparations== In the summer of 1860, Edward Whymper, an athletic, twenty-year-old English artist, visited the Alps for the first time. He had been hired by a London publisher to make sketches and engravings of the scenic mountains along the border of Switzerland and Italy. He was soon interested in mountaineering and decided to attempt the yet unconquered Matterhorn. Whymper soon found that Jean-Antoine Carrel, an Italian guide from the Valtournanche, also had ambitions to be the first to reach the summit of the Matterhorn, and had already made several attempts to climb the mountain. In the years 1861-1865 both made several attempts by the south-west ridge together but became progressively rivals, Carrel patriotically believing that a native Italian like himself and not an Englishman like Whymper should be the first to set foot on the summit.〔Edward Whymper, ''Scrambles amongst the Alps'', 1872.〕 Meanwhile, in 1863, some leading Italian mountaineers, including Quintino Sella, Bartolomeo Gastaldi and Felice Giordano, gathered at the Castle of Valentino in Turin to discuss the formation of an Alpine Society; and it was secretly proposed there to attempt at once some feat that should bring honour to the institution at its birth. English climbers had deprived Italians of the conquest of Monte Viso, the Piedmontese peak ''par excellence''; the Matterhorn remained as the last unconquered great alpine summit. They knew of the attempts that had been made by the guides of Valtournanche; the groundwork seemed to be well prepared. Neither Gastaldi nor Sella could undertake the work of studying and fitting out the expedition; the honour of this task was offered to Felice Giordano, who accepted it. The foundation of the Italian Alpine Club was formally proclaimed in the same place, on 23 October, after Sella's ascent of Monte Viso, and it is likely that on that occasion the execution of that project, which was looked upon as a national vindication, was again discussed.〔Guido Rey, ''The Matterhorn'' (translated J. E. C. Eaton), London, 1908.〕 Felice Giordano came to Zermatt, and stood for the first time face to face with the Matterhorn. He filled his travelling notebook with sketches, and among his numerous barometrical and geological observations is a note, which in a sketch of the mountain corresponds with the height of the Shoulder, to the effect that: "This is the highest point which has hitherto been reached on the other side"; and further on is this observation: "From information received, we gather that the western face has been ascended to within about five hundred feet of the summit. In order to complete the ascent it would be necessary to cut steps and do other work in the rock for a height of about a hundred feet; eight or ten days, and three or four stone-cutters at twenty francs a day would be required."〔 Giordano had made serious preparations for the enterprise, including calculations and experiments concerning the strength of ropes, and provided himself with barometers and tents. On 8 July he went up to Valtournanche and met Carrel, who had just returned with some other men (C. Carrel, C. E. Gorret, and J. J. Maquignaz) from an exploration on the mountain. They had come down because the weather was misty, and they had not been able to see very much.〔 In 1865, Whymper, weary of the defeats he had sustained on the south-west ridge, tried a new way. The stratification of the rocks on the east face seemed to him favourable, and the slope not excessive. His plan of attack was complicated: a huge rock couloir, the base of which lies on the Italian side below the Breuiljoch, on the little Matterhorn glacier, would be ascended to a point high up on the Furggen ridge; from there, traversing the east face of the mountain, he meant to reach the Hörnli (north-east) ridge and follow it to the summit. However, when this route was attempted, the mountain discharged an avalanche of stone upon the climbers, and the ascent failed. His guides refused to make any further attempts by this route.〔 In the meantime Carrel had spoken with Whymper and had engaged himself for an attempt on the Swiss side. Carrel was engaged to the Englishman until Tuesday, the 11th, inclusive, if the weather were fine; but the weather turned bad and he was thus free. On the morning of the 9th, Whymper, as he was descending to Valtournanche, was surprised to meet Carrel with a traveler, who was coming up with a great deal of baggage. He questioned Carrel, who told him that he would be unable to serve him after the 11th, because he had an engagement with a "family of distinction"; and when Whymper reproached him for not having told him so before, he replied that the engagement dated from a long time back, and till then the day had not been fixed. Whymper had as yet no suspicion that the "distinguished family" was Giordano himself but he became aware of it in Breuil on the morning of the 11th, when the guides had already started to explore, and he learnt that everything had been made ready long before for the expedition which was to prepare the way for Quintino Sella.〔 Giordano wrote to Sella:〔 Having rolled up his tent and packed his luggage, Whymper wished to hasten to Zermatt to attempt to reach the summit from that side, but he could find no porters. A young Englishman arrived with a guide. Whymper made himself known to him, and learnt that he was Lord Francis Douglas, who had lately ascended the Ober Gabelhorn; he told him the whole story, and confided his plans to him. Douglas, declaring himself in his turn most anxious to ascend the Matterhorn, agreed to give him his porter, and on the morning of the 12th they started together for the Theodul pass. They descended to Zermatt, sought and engaged Peter Taugwalder, and gave him permission to choose another guide. When they returned to the Monte Rosa Hotel, they encountered Michel Croz who had been hired by Charles Hudson. They had come to Zermatt with the same intention, to attempt to ascend the Matterhorn. Hudson and his friend Douglas Hadow decided to join Whymper and Douglas and that same evening everything was settled; they were to start immediately, the very next day.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First ascent of the Matterhorn」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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