Biner_Leseprobe

After the second ascent of the Aiguille Verte, in Chamonix, Peter Perren,
Thomas Kennedy, Michel Croz and Charles Hudson discussed a possible
joint ascent of the Matterhorn. The well-rehearsed roped parties Perren/
Kennedy and Hudson/Croz were, beyond the shadow of a doubt, among
the best who could potentially take on the Matterhorn. They had just completed
several tours comparable to the Matterhorn in terms of difficulty.
Had they had fate on their side, they could definitely have been the ones
to accomplish the first ascent of the Matterhorn, together with the roped
party Taugwalder/Douglas; Lord Francis Douglas had decided to climb the
Matterhorn after he reached the top of the Obergabelhorn and saw that
the east ridge of the Matterhorn was not nearly as steep as it had seemed
looking at it from Zermatt.
However, that is not what happened: instead of travelling to Zermatt, Thomas
Stuart Kennedy went back to England, for he was called back in a telegram.
His leaving frustrated Peter Perren, since he was very passionate
about the Matterhorn. In 1871, he was the first Zermatt guide to climb the
Matterhorn after the tragic accident.
In the meantime in Zermatt, Lord Francis Douglas was getting ready for
the first ascent. He sent the Taugwalders to the Matterhorn to reconnoitre
the routes. They reported that the ascent seemed feasible via the Hörnligrat;
this prompted Alexander Seiler to motivate Lord Douglas to take on
the ascent directly. Lord Douglas, however, decided to go to Breuil via the
Theodulpass to meet Whymper there. Maybe he also wanted to take a look
at the east face of the Matterhorn.
In Breuil, Lord Douglas met up with Whymper and told him about his plan.
According to Whymper’s account, he and Douglas agreed on a joint expedition
to the summit of the Matterhorn. Together they returned to Zermatt
and gave Peter Taugwalder the task to find an additional guide. In his
opinion, Peter Perren would have been the best man for the job; however,
he was recruited by another guest for the Monte Rosa during that time. He
obviously did not know that he could be needed as an additional guide for
the Matterhorn now that Whymper had joined the party. That is why Peter
Taugwalder decided to take his son on board.
Meanwhile, the group of Michel Auguste Croz, Charles Hudson and Douglas
Robert Hadow arrived in Zermatt and lodged at the Hotel Monte Rosa,
as well. It did not take long before they realised that there were two groups
climbing the Matterhorn at the same time. After the previous events at the
Aiguille Verte, one can only imagine that Hudson was not exactly keen on
The conquest of the Zermatt Mountains
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