1865 Whymper-Croz-Taugwalder Matterhorn First Ascent & Descent Disaster

France🏔️ 2 Peaks

Michel-Auguste Croz

Born in Le Tour in the Chamonix valley on April 22, 1830, Michel-Auguste Croz was raised among the great glacier torrents and granite aiguilles that define the Mont Blanc massif. He became a professional mountain guide at an early age, quickly distinguishing himself for an uncanny speed and sure-footedness on Alpine terrain that seasoned British climbers found breathtaking. By the early 1860s, Edward Whymper — whose Matterhorn obsession would define the decade — specifically sought out Croz above all other guides, writing admiringly that Croz was the finest guide he had ever climbed with. Together they pioneered first ascents of extraordinary difficulty. In August 1864, Whymper, Croz, and a small team completed the first ascent of the Barre des Écrins (4,102 m), the highest peak of the Dauphiné Alps, a serious mixed route demanding navigation of steep glaciers and exposed ridges. In June 1865, Croz stood on the summit of the Grandes Jorasses above Chamonix — one of the most impressive north-facing walls in the entire Alps — completing another major first ascent. In the fateful summer of 1865, Croz joined Whymper's team for the Matterhorn. On July 14, Croz led the final ridge approach with characteristic boldness, racing ahead of the party and arriving at the summit alongside Whymper in a sprint. He sat on the summit to eat and rest before organizing the descent rope order. On the descent near a patch of snow above the couloirs that plunge into the Matterhorn Glacier, the inexperienced Douglas Hadow lost his footing. Croz, who had just stepped forward to assist Hadow, was pulled violently off his stance. Four men — Croz, Hudson, Hadow, and Lord Douglas — plunged 1,200 metres and fell to their deaths on the glacier below. Croz was thirty-five years old. His death devastated the British climbing community and effectively marked the end of the Golden Age of Alpinism.

Switzerland🏔️ 1 Peak

Peter Taugwalder Sr.

Born in Zermatt in 1820, Peter Taugwalder grew up in the shadow of the Matterhorn's overwhelming pyramid, a peak that every guide in the village had studied for decades but no one dared to attempt. As a chamois hunter and experienced mountain guide, Taugwalder had learned the technical language of ice and rock from the Hörnli ridge and Zmutt glacier approaches since his youth. By the early 1860s, he had established himself as one of Zermatt's most respected and physically powerful guides. In the summer of 1865, Taugwalder accepted the pivotal role of senior guide on Edward Whymper's Matterhorn team alongside the legendary Chamonix guide Michel-Auguste Croz, Lord Francis Douglas, the Reverend Charles Hudson, and Douglas Hadow. On July 14, 1865, the party of seven departed Whymper's high bivouac at 3,818 metres before dawn and scrambled up the Hörnli ridge's rocky arête. Near the summit, Michel Croz and Whymper raced the last few metres to the top, confirming that Jean-Antoine Carrel's rival Italian team ascending the opposite face had been beaten. The seven men stood triumphant on the summit before beginning the descent. Near a patch of hard snow, the inexperienced Douglas Hadow slipped, pulling Charles Hudson and Michel Croz off their footholds. The connecting rope snapped — almost certainly due to old, lightweight rope used at that section — and four men tumbled silently over the edge. Taugwalder, Whymper, and young Peter Taugwalder Jr. held themselves to the mountain by sheer grip and survived. Taugwalder was subsequently accused in the Swiss press of deliberately cutting the rope to save himself, a charge rigorously investigated and ultimately found to be entirely without foundation by Swiss authorities. The accusation cast a shadow over his final decades, and Taugwalder emigrated to the United States briefly before returning to Zermatt, where he died in 1888.