Zermatt

The Matterhorn (4,478 m) was the last great Alpine peak to be climbed. For years, English engraver Edward Whymper and Italian mountaineer Jean-Antoine Carrel competed to be first. On 14 July 1865, Whymper’s team of seven reached the summit via the Hörnli Ridge at 1:40 pm. From the top they could see Carrel’s Italian party still 200 metres below. On the descent, four climbers fell to their deaths when a rope snapped. Carrel’s team reached the summit three days later.

The Matterhorn Museum Zermatlantis, opened in 2006 on Kirchplatz, is built almost entirely underground. Its most powerful artefact is the original broken rope from the first ascent of 14 July 1865, along with personal effects of the climbers who perished. The subterranean space recreates original Walser houses, tracing Zermatt’s transformation from a mountain farming village to a world-famous resort. Approximately 40,000 visitors per year explore the museum.

Zermatt is one of Switzerland’s few completely car-free resort villages — no combustion-engine vehicles are permitted. Citizens voted to ban most cars in 1966. In the early 1980s, the village converted fully to electric vehicles, limited to 4 metres long, 1.4 metres wide, 2 metres high, and 20 km/h. The Imboden family founded STIMBO to manufacture custom electric vehicles. Today approximately 500 electric vehicles serve the entire village.

The Gornergrat Railway, opened 20 August 1898, was the first electric cogwheel railway in Switzerland. It climbs from Zermatt (1,620 m) to 3,089 metres in 33 minutes. The 9,339-metre line was built in just two years, employing over 1,000 workers. From the summit, 29 four-thousanders are visible, including the Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, and the Gorner Glacier. It was the highest railway in Europe until the Jungfrau Railway opened in 1912.

The Gorner Glacier is the second-largest glacial system in the Alps after the Aletsch Glacier, covering approximately 53 km². It is approximately 12.4 km long and is the source of the Gornera river, which flows through Zermatt. Like almost all Alpine glaciers, it is retreating rapidly — losing approximately 30 metres per year, with a record loss of 290 metres in 2008. The Gornersee, an ice-marginal lake, fills each year and drains dramatically in summer.

The Matterhorn’s summit is composed of gneiss, a metamorphic rock originating from the African tectonic plate, resting atop younger European rock. The mountain is literally a piece of Africa on top of Europe. Its distinctive pyramid was carved by glacial erosion over millions of years: four cirque glaciers sculpted the four faces. The four ridges — Hörnli, Furggen, Lion, and Zmutt — separate the four faces.

Alexander Seiler (born 1819), a trained soap and candle maker from the Goms valley, recognised the Alps’ tourism potential early. In 1855, he purchased a wooden chalet and named it Hotel Monte Rosa, converting it into a 35-bed hotel. The Hotel Monte Rosa became the headquarters of pioneering mountaineers including Edward Whymper. By 1890, Seiler controlled nearly every hotel in Zermatt — a total of 1,000 beds and 600 jobs. In 1891, over 30,000 passengers reached Zermatt by the new railway.

Zermatt’s primary language is Walliserdeutsch (Walser German), one of the oldest Alemannic dialects, preserved by centuries of geographic isolation. The dialect is so distinctive that Swiss television sometimes needs subtitles. In local Zermatt dialect, the Matterhorn is called ds Hore or ds Horu, simply meaning the peak. Approximately 10,000 people across the Alps still speak Walser dialect variants today.