The legacy of the Matterhorn

Growing up in Zermatt, he absorbed the family history and sensed from an early age the pride and anguish of his ancestors over the tragic first ascent; the anguish over the tragedy on the descent was a burden passed among generations. There was a sense of injustice, shared more broadly in the community, that the Taugwalders’ version of events were overlooked. But no one was too eager to speak out, either, for fear of upsetting the fledgling tourist industry the historic climb unleashed.

As a child, he sold commemorative pins during previous celebrations of the climb that indelibly branded an iconic mountain, a village and their family name. He didn’t know how to respond when a journalist with Swiss public radio, SRF, once asked him what he thought about it. Now, he has far more to say. “The public only knows the Whymper version of the story, which is kind of the official version of the first ascent of the Matterhorn,” says Taugwalder, referring to Whymper’s popular accounts of the climb in books like Scrambles Amongst the Alps and his remarks to the English press, which conflicted and grew over time. “And I ask myself if really my ancestors didn’t have the chance to tell their story.”

In part, Taugwalder’s aim has been to rehabilitate the reputation of his family which long suffered under the public fascination, press speculation and finger-pointing. His efforts reflect a sense in Zermatt that the time has come to more fully honour the Taugwalders’ achievements.

It’s long been established that the most inexperienced climber, Douglas Hadow, slipped and fell, pulling the Reverend Charles Hudson and Lord Francis Douglas, and Chamonix guide Michel Croz, the last man on the rope, to their deaths. To this day no one has found Douglas’ body. What’s less clear is exactly how the thin climbing cord made of manila snapped between Douglas and his guide, Taugwalder Snr., who managed to brace himself using a bit of the rope and the rock.

But even the thicker rope would have broken, according to the latest tests. Above him was Whymper, tied between the Taugwalders; the younger Taugwalder was at the top of the rope. “They saved Whymper’s life,” said Matthias. A cousin, Josef Taugwalder, 50, and his son, David, 23, are also helping to resurrect the past. Roughly the same ages as the father-son guides were on the first ascent, they are playing their famous ancestors in an open air theatre production this summer in Zermatt.

Though his versions of the events kept changing, Whymper was the lone English-speaker among the survivors. The Taugwalders’ accounts in German have remained obscured even to this day. The accident shattered lives and reputations.

History has not been kind to the Taugwalders, despite formal inquiries that cleared the guides. The notoriety virtually ruined the elder Taugwalder’s life and threatened his son’s guiding career. Whymper emerged the hero - though a haunted one, helped by self-serving accounts.

"I need not trouble you with details of our descent, it is enough to say that for more than two hours afterwards, I thought every moment would be my last; the two Taugwalders, utterly unnerved, cried like infants, and trembled in such a manner as to threaten us with the fate of the others,” Whymper wrote to Swiss geologist and mountaineer Edmund von Fellenberg two weeks later, refusing to accept any responsibility for the tragedy.

“A single slip, or a single false step, has been the cause of all this misery.” Yet Whymper at first held the Taugwalders blameless, and more than a half century later the younger Taugwalder finally provided a written account of the accident in which he said it was Whymper who was emotionally overwrought by the events.

"Our feelings can be imagined. For a while we could not move for fright. Eventually we tried to proceed. But Whymper was trembling and could scarcely take another safe step. My father climbed in front, forever turning round and placing Whymper's legs on the rock ledges. Time and again we had to stop and rest, as we did not feel well,” the younger Taugwalder wrote, according to a new translation arranged by Matthias Taugwalder.