HISTORIC PATHS
WESTERN ALPS
ROUTES OF THE FIRST ASCENTS
In the footsteps of the pioneers of alpinism on historic routes in the Western Alps
1786
Michel Gabriel Paccard, Jacques Balmat
MONT BLANC
Trois Monts Route (PD+)
On 7 August, Paccard, a doctor from Chamonix, together with Balmat, with whom he had already been out on the mountain, dared to do something no expedition on Mont Blanc had ever risked before: they spent the night at 2,300 metres near the Bossons Glacier – and that was the key to their success. All previous expeditions had considered it far too dangerous to spend the night at such altitude and had started lower down. On 8 August the pair battled for many hours through what was then an unknown world of rock and ice, and stood on the summit at 6.23 pm. Utterly exhausted and on all fours, they found the descent turning into a perilous ordeal. On the morning of 9 August they reached Chamonix, snow-blind and at the end of their strength. Mont Blanc had been conquered. Today this first ascent is regarded as the birth of modern alpinism.
1829
Jakob Leuthold, Johann Währen, Franz Joseph Hugi
FINSTERAARHORN
Northwest Ridge (AD-)
Whether the Finsteraarhorn was already climbed on a first attempt in 1812 by Arnold Abbühl, Joseph Bortis and Alois Volkern remains unclear. They chose a route across the hanging glacier on the east flank of the south-east ridge, which has since largely melted away. The ascent of 10 August 1829 by Jakob Leuthold and Johann Währen, by contrast, is today regarded as the first officially confirmed ascent. Together with the glaciologist Franz Joseph Hugi, who had to stay behind with a foot injury in a saddle that now bears his name, they reached the highest point via what is today the usual normal route along the north-west ridge.
1855
Charles Hudson, John Birkbeck, Edward J.W. Stephenson, Christopher and James G. Smyth
DUFOURSPITZE
West ridge (AD-)
After several attempts in the years before 1855 to climb the highest point of the German-speaking Alps and the highest point in Switzerland, which got to within 100 metres of the summit as the crow flies, it was a rope team led by Charles Hudson that finally reached the summit on 1 August 1855. Ten years later, Hudson was also one of the first to climb the Matterhorn, but was killed in an accident on the descent. Unlike earlier attempts, the five-man rope team did not take the route via the Silbersattel, but climbed from the saddle onto the west ridge and up to the summit, the route that is still usual today.
1858
J. Llewellyn Davies, Johannes Zumtaugwald, Johann Kronig, Hieronymous Brantschen
DOM
Festi Ridge (AD-, II)
Davies spent his holiday in the Mattertal in the summer of 1858 and had already climbed a few smaller peaks with his guide Johannes Zumtaugwald. To round things off, he wanted to climb a peak that had never been climbed before. Zumtaugwald brought in Kronig as a second guide. In Randa, the theology student Brantschen joined them at short notice, and the four set off from the village square in Randa at 2:10 a.m. By 8 a.m. they had already reached the Festijoch, where they took a short rest. Via the Festigrat they finally reached the summit at 11 a.m. in perfect autumn weather. By 4:20 p.m. they were back in Randa – a remarkable achievement for the time, considering that today the Dom is almost always climbed over two days.
1859
Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, Daniel, Emmanuel and Gaspard Balleys, Basile Dorsaz
GRAND COMBIN
Meitingrat (AD,III)
Like the Monte Rosa massif, the Grand Combin is not a single summit bearing this name, but a massif made up of several peaks. The highest point, the Combin de Grafeneire (4,314 metres), was first reached by the five-man rope team of Deville, the three Balleys brothers and Dorsatz. Two years earlier, the Englishman William Mathews had already climbed the Combin de la Tsessette (4,134 metres). Little is known about these first ascents. What is certain, however, is that the Cabane de Panossière, built afterwards by the SAC in 1881 on the eastern edge of the Corbassière Glacier at 2,770 metres, made tours in this area considerably easier, allowing new classic routes to emerge.
1859
Francis Tuckett, Johann Josef Benet, Peter Boren, Victor Tairraz
ALETSCHHORN
South-west rib (AD-,II)
From Fiesch, the first-ascent party (Francis Tuckett with his mountain guides Johann Benet, Peter Boren and Victor Tairraz) climbed via the Eggishorn onto the Aletsch Glacier. They set up their bivouac on the Mittelaletsch. Carelessly, Tuckett left the wine they had brought with the guides in a cave that hunters also used for bivouacking, while he himself slept in the open. In the morning he heard loud singing coming from the cave. The guides had evidently been extremely fond of the wine – they were completely drunk and in no state to climb the Aletschhorn. A rest day had to be taken. On the third day the time had come. The party climbed on up the Mittelaletsch Glacier to the Aletschjoch and along the firn ridge to the narrow north-east ridge, which led them to the summit of the Aletschhorn. Even today, the route is still the shortest and technically easiest way to the summit, although you have to manage without staffed huts (and, as things stand today, without a bivouac shelter, which was destroyed by an avalanche).
1860
J.J. Cowell, W. Dundas, M. Payot, J. Tairraz
GRAN PARADISO
Normal route (F)
The first ascent of the Gran Paradiso was made on 4 September 1860 by J.J. Cowell and W. Dundas, accompanied by the two guides M. Payot and J. Tairraz. Even back then, they chose for their ascent the easiest route, still the usual one today, across the Gran Paradiso glacier, which has relatively few crevasses. In 1856 the Italian King Vittorio Emanuele II recognised the beauty of this area and declared it a royal reserve. In 1922 King Vittorio Emanuele III gave the land to the Italian state to protect the ibex, and the Gran Paradiso National Park became one of Italy's first national parks. Today, thanks to its low technical difficulty, the Gran Paradiso is a classic of the Western Alps.
1861
Johann Josef Benet, Ulrich Wenger, John Tyndall
WEISSHORN
East Ridge (AD, III)
For many, the Weisshorn is the most beautiful mountain in the Alps. The first ascent of the "Diamond of Valais", as it is also known, was made on 19 August 1861 by the two mountain guides Johann Josef Benet and Ulrich Wenger together with the Irish surveyor and natural scientist John Tyndall, who also made a name for himself with several attempts on the Matterhorn. The Irish-Grisons-Valais rope team reached the summit of the Weisshorn via the east ridge, which is still the usual normal route today. The other two striking ridges were also climbed for the first time at the end of the 19th century: the demanding south ridge (Schaligrat) in 1895 and the traverse of the north ridge in 1898.
1861
Michel Croz, Jean Baptiste Croz, William Mathews, Fredrik Jacomb
MONTE VISO
South Face (III)
The Italians must have been deeply stung when, on 30 August 1861, the Englishman William Mathews, together with Fredrik Jacomb, the seasoned mountain guide Michel Croz and his brother Jean Baptiste, made the first ascent of their emblematic mountain. What's more, in his report Mathews had nothing good to say about all those who had considered the mountain unclimbable. If his account is to be believed, the biggest problem was not the ascent itself but the question of what to take along as provisions: "In Casteldelfino we had to make do with veal alone, Michel Croz had to comb the stables himself in search of eggs, and we were at first refused wine because there was a shortage of bottles to fill locally". The tour itself is described only briefly in the report.
1861
Leslie Stephen, Peter and Christian Michel, Ulrich Kaufmann
SCHRECKHORN
Southwest Ridge (AD+, III)
The most demanding four-thousander in the Bernese Alps in mountaineering terms was first climbed on 16 August 1861 by Peter and Christian Michel, Leslie Stephen and Ulrich Kaufmann. After several attempts by various alpinists via the Lauteraarfirn, the north ridge and the south ridge, it was known that the Schreckhorn could probably only be climbed from the south-west side. So the four bivouacked at the Kastenstein, a large gneiss block that forms a small cave, and the next day reached the Schreckfirn by what would from then on become the usual route. They then climbed the south face along the great couloir to the ridge and, in a few steps, to the summit.
1862
Jean Baptiste Croz, Johann Kronig, Thomas Stuart Kennedy, William Wigram
DENT BLANCHE
South ridge "Wandfluegrat" (AD,III)
The summit of the Dent Blanche was first climbed in 1862 via what is still the easiest ascent today - and therefore the usual normal route - the south ridge, also known as the Wandflue Ridge. It was the two mountain guides Jean Baptiste Croz and Johann Kronig who led the two British clients Thomas Stuart Kennedy and William Wigram to the 4,356-metre summit on 18 July. The other ridges were only climbed some years later: the east ridge ("Viereselsgrat") in 1882 and the technically even more demanding west ridge ("Ferpécle Ridge") in 1889. The first ascent of the north face, still regarded as one of the wildest undertakings in the Valais, did not come until 1966.
1864
Florence Crawford Grove, Melchior Anderegg, Leslie Stephen, Jakob Anderegg
ZINALROTHORN
North ridge (AD, III)
The first ascent of the Zinalrothorn was made by Leslie Stephen and Florence Crawford Grove with the guides Melchior and Jakob Anderegg on 22 August 1864, from Zinal via the north ridge. Although the south-east ridge would have been somewhat easier and is now climbed as the usual normal route, they chose to attempt it from the north side. Sir Leslie Stephen had already been one of the first ascensionists of the Schreckhorn and is regarded as one of the defining mountaineers of the "golden age of alpinism". He was also a co-founder of the Alpine Club and served as its president for several years.
1864
Adolphus Warburton Moore, Horace Walker, Edward Whymper, Christian Almer, Michel Croz
BARRE DES ÉCRINS
West ridge (PD+, II)
The Barre des Écrins was likewise climbed during the "Golden Age of Alpinism", on 25 June 1864, by the well-known English alpinists Edward Whymper, Horace Walker and Adolphus Warburton Moore, who often spent months travelling through the Alps making first ascents of the highest peaks, together with the equally famous mountain guides Michel Croz and Christian Almer, who made the dream routes of many English climbers possible. Near the summit, they chose the direct north face, which has since been replaced by the west ridge as the normal route. The Barre des Écrins holds a special place among the four-thousanders of the Alps, as it is the westernmost of them all and at the same time the only one in the Dauphiné.
1865
Edward Whymper, Michel Croz, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, D. Robert Hadow, Peter Taugwalder father and son
MATTERHORN
Hörnli Ridge (AD+, III+)
From 1857 onwards, there were repeated unsuccessful attempts at a first ascent of the Matterhorn – mostly from the Italian side via the Lion Ridge. Whymper had also failed there 7 times, surviving a 60 m fall among other things. So he wanted to persuade his friend Jean-Antoine Carrel to try from Zermatt. When Whymper learned in 1865 that Carrel had set off on the Lion Ridge again without telling him, he put together a party for an immediate attempt via the Hörnli Ridge. The seven (Edward Whymper, Michel Croz, Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, D. Robert Hadow, and Peter Taugwalder father and son) finally reached the summit on 14 July 1865. Carrel and his party spotted them further down at Pic Tyndall. Whymper was the first to reach the summit because he cut himself loose from the rope shortly before the top. On the descent, however, tragedy struck: the first four of the rope team (Croz, Hadow, Hudson and Douglas) fell to their deaths down the north face while still above the so-called Shoulder.
1877
Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau, Pierre Gaspard (father and son)
MEIJE
Traverse (D-, IV-)
The Meije has an eventful first-ascent history: after numerous failed attempts, the Grand Pic was reached for the first time on 16 August 1877 by Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau together with the guides Pierre Gaspard (father and son). The three climbed via the Promontoire Ridge to the Glacier le Carré and on up the south-west face of the summit block to the highest point. This made the Meije one of the few high French peaks to be first climbed by local guides. Another milestone was the first traverse along the ridge from the Grand Pic to the Pic Central by Ludwig Purtscheller with the brothers Emil and Otto Zsigmondy on 27 July 1885. Only a few days later, Emil Zsigmondy fell to his death while attempting to climb the south face of the Meije. With him died one of Austria's best-known mountaineers.
