Tragedy on Dent Blanche
Some say that Dent Blanche is the most magnificent of the Valais 4000 meter peaks. T. Kennedy and party made the first ascent along the south ridge, today’s normal route, in 1862. The route on the more difficult west ridge was first climbed in 1882 by a foursome including the Grindelwald guide Ulrich Almer. The ridge is named Viereselsgrat after Almer’s comment after reaching the summit after 12 hours; “Wir sind vier Esel” (We are four asses). At their return to the Stockje Hut, at the far end of the Zmutt glacier, the exhausted foursome was taken care of by W. E. Gabbett and his guides Joseph-Marie Lochmatter and his son Alexander.
The Englishman W. E. Gabbett, from the Universty of Durham, had climbed in the Dauphiné Alps and had now come to Valais. Next morning the foursome descended to Zermatt while the Gabbett party set out to climb the Dent Blanche. They were seen toiling up toward Col d’Hérens on their way to the start of the south ridge. They were never to be seen alive again.
When Gabbett and his guides did not appear as expected in Zermatt a rescue party was formed. In total eleven guides and three Englishmen set out to search. It was first thought that the accident had happened on the eastern side of the mountain but there nothing was to be found there. Eventually the three bodies were located on western (Ferpècle) side below the bergschrund. Fifteen meters apart they formed an equilateral triangle having fallen 800 m from a point near the summit. No one will ever know what really happened. Mr Gabbet’s grave can be found in the Zermatt cemetery while the two guides were buried in their home village St. Niklaus.
Some years later in 1899 a party set out to climb Dent Blanche by the unclimbed rocky western ridge also called the Ferpècle ridge. The group included the able English climber Owen Glynne Jones, his partner F. W. Hill and three Swiss guides. More than half the way up the ridge the way was blocked by a vertical section covered with verglas. The guide Elias Furrer tried to bypass the difficulties turning to the right. Clemenz Zurbrigen and Joens tried to help by putting up an ice axe under Furrer’s foot. At the crucial move trying to reach a ledge Furrer slipped taking four of his friends with him in the fall. Hill was saved by the rope breaking between him and Jean Vuignier. Left with only a ten meter rope he succeeded in climbing to the summit, to bivouac during a stormy night and to descend along the south ridge. Forty-eight hours after the accident he was able to tell the tragic news in Zermatt.
From a personal point of view I planed to climb Dent Blanche ten years ago. I had studied the south ridge in great detail and knew of all the difficult passages. Staying in the village Zinal several days, waiting for the weather to improve, we finally had to give up. Was it a decision made higher up not to let me climb this beautiful and dangerous mountain?
The Englishman W. E. Gabbett, from the Universty of Durham, had climbed in the Dauphiné Alps and had now come to Valais. Next morning the foursome descended to Zermatt while the Gabbett party set out to climb the Dent Blanche. They were seen toiling up toward Col d’Hérens on their way to the start of the south ridge. They were never to be seen alive again.
When Gabbett and his guides did not appear as expected in Zermatt a rescue party was formed. In total eleven guides and three Englishmen set out to search. It was first thought that the accident had happened on the eastern side of the mountain but there nothing was to be found there. Eventually the three bodies were located on western (Ferpècle) side below the bergschrund. Fifteen meters apart they formed an equilateral triangle having fallen 800 m from a point near the summit. No one will ever know what really happened. Mr Gabbet’s grave can be found in the Zermatt cemetery while the two guides were buried in their home village St. Niklaus.
Some years later in 1899 a party set out to climb Dent Blanche by the unclimbed rocky western ridge also called the Ferpècle ridge. The group included the able English climber Owen Glynne Jones, his partner F. W. Hill and three Swiss guides. More than half the way up the ridge the way was blocked by a vertical section covered with verglas. The guide Elias Furrer tried to bypass the difficulties turning to the right. Clemenz Zurbrigen and Joens tried to help by putting up an ice axe under Furrer’s foot. At the crucial move trying to reach a ledge Furrer slipped taking four of his friends with him in the fall. Hill was saved by the rope breaking between him and Jean Vuignier. Left with only a ten meter rope he succeeded in climbing to the summit, to bivouac during a stormy night and to descend along the south ridge. Forty-eight hours after the accident he was able to tell the tragic news in Zermatt.
From a personal point of view I planed to climb Dent Blanche ten years ago. I had studied the south ridge in great detail and knew of all the difficult passages. Staying in the village Zinal several days, waiting for the weather to improve, we finally had to give up. Was it a decision made higher up not to let me climb this beautiful and dangerous mountain?