Helmi Lerjen, mountain guide and rescuer

Even the first ascent of the Matterhorn 150 years ago ended in tragedy. Four team members died during the descent from the summit, when a rope ruptured. Since then, more than 500 climbers died on the “Horu”, as the locals call the Matterhorn – more than on any other mountain in Switzerland. Year after year there are between 2,500 and 3,000 summit attempts, also resulting in a lot of work for mountain rescuers. Helmut called “Helmi” Lerjen comes from a true mountain guide family. In the fourth generation, the Lerjens are guiding clients on mountains like the Matterhorn. Helmi, who is living with his wife and daughter in the small village of Täsch, close to Zermatt, has also been working for the Mountain Rescue Zermatt for almost 15 years. The Matterhorn, 150 years after the first ascent, from the perspective of a mountain rescuer:

Dani, all over the world the Matterhorn is a symbol for Switzerland. How do you see this mountain? Or in other words, what does it mean to you?

I have so far climbed the Matterhorn with clients 187 times. As technical director of the mountain guides of Zermatt, I am also responsible for the maintenance of the fixed ropes on the Matterhorn. Even in the 19th century, my great-great-grandfather Josef and my great-grandfather Alois guided guests on the Horu. In 1930, my grandfather Joseph Lerjen tried to first climb the North Face, but the attempt of his team failed. (One year later, the German brothers Franz and Toni Schmid were successful.) Along with his colleague Kaspar Mooser and their client Emile Blanchet, my grandfather climbed with strong determination on the North Face. They were only using wooden ice axes and crampons without front points (!). Unfortunately, they had to retreat because of rock fall and bad conditions on the wall. The rocks were covered with a thin layer of ice. They climbed for several hours. It is not known what height they reached exactly. If one of the three had slipped, it had meant the death of all. With luck, they escaped the North Face unharmed. With these stories of my forefathers I have a very personal relationship with the Matterhorn.

Even the first ascent of the Matterhorn ended with a disaster. Four climbers lost their lives. Do mountain rescuers still discuss this tragedy as an example of what can happen on the Matterhorn?

Every accident on the Matterhorn or other mountains is tragic. For us as very experienced mountain rescuers, it is best if we are able to save the lives of climbers. By contrast, it is always sad to recover dead. In this case you can actually no longer speak of rescue. It’s rather a work that we have to do.

As the technical director of the mountain guides in Zermatt, you are responsible for the fixed ropes on the Matterhorn. How secure is the normal route?

It is very difficult to find the right path on the Hörnli Ridge. The lower part is like a labyrinth. As soon as you stray from the correct route, you immediately find yourself in loose rock, which can then be really dangerous.

Every year about 80 rescue flights are made on the Matterhorn. More than 500 climbers have already died on the mountain. This makes the Matterhorn in absolute terms the most dangerous Swiss mountain. What are the most frequent causes of accidents?

Rescue flight of Air Zermatt

The Matterhorn itself is not dangerous. It is the climber who makes it dangerous, for example by losing his way in the dark, then getting into loose rock and endangering other climbers by kicking off stones. As he gets lost, he is far too long on the mountain and becomes tired quickly. Then his concentration is rapidly decreasing.

Could many accidents be avoided and if yes how?

The Hörnli Ridge is one of the most difficult normal routes on four-thousanders in the Alps. Therefore, it is advisable to hire a mountain guide.

The Matterhorn is not a hiking mountain. Are many summit aspirants simply too careless?

I don’t believe that. It’s known that the Hörnli Ridge is one of the most challenging normal routes.

Too many climbers on a route almost inevitably lead to higher risk. Stones can be kicked off, there can be traffic jams on the route. Does a limitation of Matterhorn ascents make sense?

The construction of the new Hörnli Hut (the starting point on the summit day) has reduced the number of beds from 170 to 130. The ban of camping has led to 30 people less daily. So a total of about 70 people less will be on the way on Matterhorn per day. This ensures more safety.

If you could make the Matterhorn a present for the 150th anniversary of its first ascent, what would it be?

On 14 July 2015, exactly 150 years after the first ascent of the Matterhorn, no one will climb the mountain in honor of the first ascenders. I hope with all my heart that all mountaineers stick to it and that Horu has peace and quiet on this jubilee day.

The normal route via the Hörnli Ridge (© Photopress/Mammut/Robert Boesch)

The clock is running. In a week from now, the countdown clock on the station square in Zermatt will jump to zero. On 14 July, exactly 150 years ago, the Matterhorn was first climbed. No other mountain in Switzerland embodies the country more than this shapely four-thousander. And that’s not just because of a famous chocolate brand that is sold around the world, the bars of which modeled like the Matterhorn. Every year, 2,500 to 3,000 climbers try to reach the 4,478-meter-high summit – most of them via the Hörnli Ridge, the normal route that was also taken by the first ascenders headed by the Englishman Edward Whymper. The Hörnli Hut at 3,260 meters, starting point of most aspirants, has been rebuilt and modernized at great expense. In time for the Matterhorn anniversary it was finished. On the day itself, the mountain should be left in peace. Therefore the Matterhorn will be closed for ascents on 14 July – in order to remember all the people who died on the mountain.

In the ninth attempt

Edward Whymper (in 1910)

More than 500 climbers have so far lost their lives on the Matterhorn – among them four of the seven first ascenders. It was the most famous mountain tragedy of the 19th century. The first ascent of the Matterhorn was the number one in the ranking of the mountain projects in the 1860s, comparable with the first ascent of Mount Everest in the 20th century. Each climber knew: The one, who was able to climb the prestige mountain first, would not only write Alpine history, but would become famous worldwide. The project evolved into a race between the Briton Edward Whymper and the Italian Jean-Antoine Carrel. First both failed eight times on the Matterhorn, in some of the attempts together.

Faster approach

Triumph …

In that week of July 1865, Carrel ascended from Italy via the Lion Ridge. By then Whymper had also taken this route. But when he heard that Carrel had already set off for his potentially decisive summit attempt, he engaged with the proposal of mountain guide Peter Taugwalder senior from Zermatt who thought that it was possible to climb via the Hörnli Ridge. Whymper, Taugwalder and his son Peter junior, the French mountain guide Michel Croz and the Britons Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson and Robert Hadow were the members of the rope team. Taugwalders route via the Hörnli Ridge proved faster. At 1.40 p.m., Whymper reached the summit. When Carrel saw the roped party at the highest point, himself being about 400 meters lower, he was very disappointed and turned back.

One victim still missing

… and tragedy

On the descent of the successful rope team, the tragedy happened: Hadow slipped and pulled Douglas, Hudson and Croz with him. Quick reacting, Taugwalder senior wrapped the rope around a rock – in vain. “The rope snapped, as if it was only a piece of string, and the four young men were no longer visible. It happened so quickly as a lightning”, Taugwalder junior wrote later. The four unfortunate climbers fell down the North Face to death. Three bodies were recovered in the following days. Lord Francis has remained missing until today – and with him one end of the snapped rope. The other can be seen today in the Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt. This autumn, there will be another search for Douglas at the foot of the Matterhorn North Face.

Low blow

The three survivors – Whymper and the two Taugwalders – faced fierce criticism. Whymper later accused Taugwalder senior to have used deliberately the thinner rope between him and the others. The mountain guide career of Taugwalder ebbed away because he could not find foreign clients any more. “Whymper had no respect for the mountain guides”, the living climbing legend Reinhold Messner told the Swiss newspaper NZZ. “He didn’t even thank Taugwalder for saving his life by wrapping the rope around the rock at the moment of the fall.”

Carrel’s death on the Matterhorn

On 17 July, just three days after Whymper’s summit success, Jean-Antoine Carrel succeeded in making the second ascent of the Matterhorn via the Lion Ridge. The race for the first ascent of the mountain did not divide Whymper and Carrel. Later they went together on expedition to South America. In 1880, they made, inter alia, the first ascent of the 6267-meter-high Chimborazo in Ecuador. In 1890, Carrel’s life ended – at the Matterhorn. After a sudden fall in temperature, he succeeded in bringing his companions through the deep snow to safety, but then he died of exhaustion.

P.S. On the occasion of the Matterhorn anniversary, you can read here on my blog in the next few days three interviews. In each of them only the first and last question are identical. The Matterhorn from three perspectives: that of a mountain guide, a mountain rescuer and a professional climber. I hope I’ve made you curious.