The Day the Rope Broke

Description

The first ascent of the Matterhorn in July 1865 is one of the key events in the history of mountaineering. It was the climax of five years’ struggle by the English mountaineer Edward Whymper in competition with Jean Antonie-Carrel, the Italian mountain guide who had grown up in the mountain’s shadow.

It also produced perhaps the most famous mountaineering accidents of the 19th century, bringing to an end the ‘Golden Age of Alpine climbing’.

This is the story of the events leading up to this remarkable ascent and its terrible aftermath.

A gripping classic.

 

Contents

 

Prologue:

Men and the Matterhorn

 

One:

The Cast Assembles

Carrel and Bersagliere

The Heir to the Marquess of Queensbury

The Clergyman from the Crimea

Whymper, the Man of the Matterhorn

 

Two:

The Play Begins

Parties Converging on a Mountain

Parties Meeting below a Mountain

 

Three:

The Tragedy

Ascent

Descent

 

Four:

The Aftermath

Search

Enquiry

What the Critics Said

The Abiding Questions

Bibliography

 

What they say …

“This is the most exciting of the Matterhorn narratives that have appeared during the Year of the Alps. The author has brought to light new material from the Public Record Office and the files of the British Consul in Geneva, in addition to delving into the letters of Whymper and his contemporaries in the Alpine Club and other libraries.”

— American Alpine Club