The Matterhorn by Ferdinand Kämpfer

Author:Ferdinand Kämpfer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TWENTYSIX
Published: 2019-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, came from the German House of the Welfs. When the disaster on the Matterhorn occurred in 1865 and a distant family member died, she forbade the English to undertake such expeditions in the future.

Photo credit:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/a8/77/18a8772fd914e8c928ae28b9a718c64e.jpg

The Frenchman Gustave Duré (1832-1883) made a lithograph on which he painted the misfortune on the Matterhorn.

Photo credit:

https://www.aargauerzeitung.ch/schweiz/150-jahre-erstbesteigung-die-tragoedie-nach-dem-gipfelsturm-129325411#fullscreen=true&galleryAs-setId=129325433&imageAssetId=129325431

After the trial with Whymper, Peter Taugwalder father was summoned to describe his version. He was burdened with major problems, as he himself was a mountain guide and thus had to bear a greater responsibility. He testified that the evening before the ascent in Zermatt he had warned the other mountaineers that two mountain guides (Croz and he) were too few. Since Whymper and Hudson had said that they too would be well versed in steep terrain, the discussion about it ended.

Taugwalder father also reported that Michel Croz had taken over the approach. The way back was made with the special rope of the Alpine Club and not with the thicker, more unwieldy rope. Taugwalder father approached Lord Douglas and waited for Whymper and Taugwalder son, who were also connected to the thin rope. According to Peter Taugwalder, this rope was still stable enough to hold it together. At the moment of the crash, he had wrapped the thin rope between Whymper and him around a rocky outcrop. Why did he use a thin rope to connect? Taugwalder father justifies himself by the fact that the special rope of the Alpine Club was too short to hang on to it. It has to be said that the thin ropes were standard ropes at the time. The British, through their seafaring history, knew more about the tear resistance of various ropes since the 16th century, which is why they brought these ropes into the mountains.

Peter Taugwalder testified to the court that he firmly believed that if the rope had not been torn, he could have held the others together with Croz. Anyone who has ever been to the mountains and fallen on a medium-divided ski slope know show tedious it is to get straight stop again. Now such an accident happens on the Matterhorn, and also in a steep place – how could the climbers have kept each other? The mountain is of course the stronger, which is especially evident in such places.

The statement about the stop of the followers was also strange because Croz also fell. How could Croz have supported the other three above him? Did Taugwalder think he could have held Lord Douglas and Croz Douglas Hadow? Even this is not possible in such places with such an unfavourable fuse.

In the village, Taugwalder father was admired by many people, but there were also some who loathed him or even envied him. Even the pastor from the Zermatt church repeatedly emphasized to Taugwalder that he was against such mountain climbs from the beginning. Taugwalders shouldrather stay with their cows on the mountain farm thanclimb pointlessly.

In a further court hearing there were interviews about the differences in the statements of Whymper and Taugwalder.

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