In 2015 Zermatt will celebrate the Matterhorn year. It will be 150 years since the first ascent of the peak. On that occasion Zermatt Tourism has prepared the special webpage where you can read about the first ladies of the Matterhorn, among others.

In 1865 English mountaineer Edward Whymper successfully led a group of seven to the Matterhorn summit (4478 m). Only four persons survived when the rope broke while going down. Zermatt will be celebrating the ascent in 2015, but Zermatt Tourism has already published an interesting webpage where you can find old photos, upcoming events, videos, and reports. One of them seems to be worth noticing, as female alpinists are not so visible in the history of alpinism. 

Lucy Walker was the first woman who climbed the Matterhorn. In fact, on the 22th July 1871 the Englishwoman won the race with the American, Meta Brevoort. Both ladies were well-known in the mountaineering world of the 1860s. In fact, Brevoort had had a great chance to be the first woman on the Matterhorn when in 1869 she had reached the altitude of just under 4 000 m. However, the weather conditions had been so bad that she was forced to go down. Several years later she decided to try again.

When Walker, at that time already in Zermatt, heard about Brevoort coming again, she decided to make an attempt and climb the Matterhorn. She began and completed the ascent, in her long Victorian dress. Lucy Walker became the first women who reached the Matterhorn peak and one of the most famous female alpinist in the history. 

<img alt="The first women climbing the Matterhorn" src="portals/0/images/news/2014/First-ladies-of-the-Matterhorn.jpg title=" src="portals/0/images/news/2014/First-ladies-of-the-Matterhorn.jpg title=" the="" first="" women="" climbing="" matterhorn"="">