Matterhorn/Cervino - Italy Switzerland 1

The Matterhorn/Cervino is perhaps the most familiar mountain in the European Alps. On the border between Switzerland and Italy, it towers over the Swiss village of Zermatt and the Italian village Breuil-Cervinia in the Val Tournanche.

The mountain has four faces, facing the four compass points, respectively, with the north and south faces meeting to form a short east-west summit ridge. The faces are steep, and only small patches of snow and ice cling to them; regular avalanches send the snow down to accumulate on the glaciers at the base of each face

It’s a year of anniversaries for the Matterhorn/Cervino. The first one commemorates an event that took place 140 years ago and featured Lucy Walker from England, who became the first woman to climb the majestic mountain. Walker began her Alpinist career in 1858 when she was advised by her doctor to take up walking as a cure for rheumatism. Accompanied by her father Frank, her brother Horace and the Swiss guide Melchior Anderegg, she started to explore the Alps.