author
Edward Whymper
1840–1911
Best known for making the first ascent of the Matterhorn, he lived the drama, ambition, and danger of 19th-century mountaineering at full stretch. He was also a skilled illustrator and writer who turned extreme travel into vivid adventure books.
2 Audiobooks
Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69
by Edward Whymper
The Ascent of the Matterhorn
by Edward Whymper
About the author
Born in London in 1840, he trained as a wood engraver and illustrator before a sketching trip to the Alps changed his life. The mountains became his great subject, and he went on to build a reputation as one of the most daring climbers of his age.
He is most closely linked with the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. The climb made him famous, but the descent ended in disaster when four members of the party were killed, a tragedy that became one of the defining stories of mountaineering history.
Whymper did far more than chase a single summit. He made important climbs in the Alps, traveled in Greenland and South America, and wrote popular accounts of his adventures, including Scrambles Amongst the Alps. His mix of explorer, artist, and storyteller still gives his work a special energy today.