Mountaineers’ Cemetery

Mountaineers’ Cemetery

A place of remembrance for the lost adventurous.

An exclusive cemetery for those who have lost their lives in these mountains. The climbers here came from all over the globe, as can be seen on their recently cleaned tombstones. There are climbers from Oxford and New York to Simla and Scotland, all young men too of course.

Zermatt stands at one end of the Matter Valley, an offshoot of the River Rhone, and is encompassed by high peaks of the Pennine Alps, including the famous Monte Rosa.

When you use apartments in Zermatt for your break to enjoy winter sports there, you’ll be off to a great start. With no set meal times to observe, you can take your time on the slopes or enjoy one of the many walking tours available. The scenery in these high Alps is quite breathtaking, and with so much going on in the busy season the time just slips away.

The first conquest of the Matterhorn peak lost four of of its seven members, and the small display in the nearby Matterhorn Museum relates the saga. Presumably it was considered a price worth paying for national as well as personal prestige.

For sight-seeing hikers and skiers alike, the village of Zermatt acts as a base camp for a hike up the slopes. A couple of major routes lead from here to Chamonix in France, via the so-called Haute Route, and the Patroulle des Glaciers. The whole town is geared towards supplying the needs of skiers and mountaineers. When you visit here from your apartments in Zermatt, you’ll be sure of a warm welcome from the locals.

As the first conquerors of the Matterhorn found to their cost, there can be fun as well as tragedy in these mountainous paradises. This you can witness for yourself in the town of Bergsteiger Friedhof, conveniently close to apartments in Zermatt.

A rather touching motif on the tombstones is that of a pick axe and a climbing rope. Many climbers in the high Alps of course were lost and never found, and in the cemetery here there is one tombstone to stand for them. The motif on this grave is a figure of Christ carrying a pick axe and climbing rope rather than a cross, with blossoms of edelweiss at his feet.

Hopefully, from your apartments in Zermatt, you won’t end up on the wrong end of a mountain’s temper, as so many others have done.

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