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188 M. Marthaler and H. Rougier Fig. 13.1 Location of the Matterhorn and Zermatt in South-west Switzerland. The Matterhorn (red circle) is situated at the border with Italy (Valtournenche Valley), in the upper part of the Mattertal, a valley drained by the Vispa River, a tributary of the Rhone River (swisstopo) from the south, it does not have the majesty that one rec- ognizes when it is observed from Zermatt (Fig. 13.3). A mountain unique by its shape and geological history (Marthaler 2001, 2004), the Matterhorn is also unique by the fascination it has always exerted on mankind: “face au Cervin, face à l’œuvre accomplie depuis des millénaires, comment ne pas rêver?” (facing the Matterhorn, facing the work accomplished over millennia, how can we not dream?) said mountaineer Gaston Rébuffat (1965). Considered as the “last problem of the Alps” by the nineteenth-century clim- bers, it was indeed one of the last summits to be climbed: it was not until 14 July 1865 that it was conquered. Edward Whymper (1871) wrote: “At 1.40 P.M. the world was at our feet, and the Matterhorn was conquered”. Unfortunately, the descent was fatal to four of the seven members of the expedition mounted by Whymper, which accentuated Mat- terhorn myth. Thus a trilogy was created very quickly: a high mountain environment, a tourist resort, a name. This trilogy is based on geological and geographical contexts. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Emile Argand (1908) noticed a geo- logical enigma, visible on both sides of the Italian–Swiss border: how is it that Paleozoic continental rocks (those of the pyramid) are stacked, in reverse of the logic of time, on Mesozoic rocks of oceanic origin? This enigma was solved and explained by the presence of a thrust (Figs. 13.4 and 13.5) at the base of the Dent Blanche nappe, which played the role of a “crushing sledge” moved over the remains of the disappeared Tethys Sea. Argand had discovered evi- dence of continental drift, fossilized and visible in the mountains. In direct connection with the tectonic movement, the action of geomorphological processes took place at the same time as the mountain was being established: orogen- esis, tectogenesis and morphogenetic processes worked together. The Matterhorn experienced successive glaciations during the Quaternary: one reads perfectly the legacies of this grandiose sculpture, pursued by the strong action of contemporary processes.PDF Image | An Outstanding Mountain The Matterhorn
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