The Matterhorn

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30953, 8 January 1966, Page 4

The Matterhorn

(Reviewed by N.D.H.) Matterhorn Centenary. By Sir Arnold Lunn. Allen and Unwin. The centenary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn occurred last year. To mark the occasion the Alpine Club held a special dinner at Zermatt, the club’s “Journal" published many articles on the ascent, and three books on the subject have been published. Sir Arnold Lunn author of more than twenty ski-ing and climbing books, made his contribution with “Matterhorn Centenary.” The first 50 pages deal with the reasons for climbing, with the origin of Zermatt place names and the attempts on the mountain before the first success. The tragedy of the broken rope on the descent from the summit of the WhymperHudson first climb is still the most famous of all mountain accidents. Sir Arnold deals with the accident in detail and then summarises some of the main comments written on it

during the following fifty years. Whymper, the chief survivor of the first climb, receives much criticism for his subseqeunt behaviour and writings. Many past giants of the Alpine Club also receive a share of adverse comments from this present grand old man of the club. The book continues with descriptions of the first ascents of the other main ridges and faces, concluding with what appears the most extraordinary of developments—the first solo ascent of the north face in midwinter. Where does the mountaineer wanting new routes go in the next hundred years?

For the reader interested in personalities without a route guide of the mountain this is an attractive book, it would be easy in such a case to saturate the reader with statistics of a thousand climbs notable for one reason or another, but the charm of Sir Arnold Lunn’s “Matterhorn Centenary” is that it does not give too much.