The second ascent of the Matterhorn was accomplished in July 1865, only three days after the successful (with 4 fatalities) expedition led by Edward Whymper on the Zermatt side. The second was effected on the Italian side by Jean-Antoine Carrel and Jean-Baptiste Bich with the abbé Amé Gorret and Jean-Augustin Meynet who followed them near to the summit. The party started from Breuil on 16 July and reached the top the following day. The successful ascent followed a long series of attempts that took place on the southwest ridge of the Matterhorn. The Italian side was considered easier than the Swiss side but despite appearances, the southern routes were harder, and parties repeatedly found themselves having to turn back. Since 2015, the route on the Italian side has gained popularity, as the Hörnlihütte on the Swiss side was rebuilt with a limited number of beds and charges a higher lodging fee. This popularity also brought a rising number of climbing accidents on the Italian route, while the number on the Swiss side dropped.
Background and preparations
The Valtournanche natives who started to facilitate the way up the southwest ridge of the Matterhorn for Felice Giordano and Quintino Sella, pitched their tent upon Whymper's third platform, at the foot of the Great Tower (3,960 m), and enjoyed several days of bad weather under its shelter. On the first fine day (13 July) they began their work, and about midday on the 14th got on to the Shoulder, and arrived at the base of the final peak (the point where Tyndall and his guide Bennen stopped on 28 July 1862). The counsels of the party were then divided. Two —Jean-Antoine Carrel and Joseph Maquignaz wished to go on; the others were reluctant. A discussion took place, and the result was they all commenced to descend, and whilst upon the "cravate" (4,122 m) they heard Whymper and others crying from the summit. Upon the 15th they went down to Breuil and reported their ill-success to Giordano. "An evil day!" wrote the latter in his diary, dating the entry the 15th. "Early in the morning Carrel, more dead than alive, came to tell me he had been forestalled. He had reckoned on climbing to the top today, and expected to be able to force a passage not by the highest tower, which he considers impossible, but on the Zmutt side, where the snow is. I have decided that he and others shall at least try and ascend and plant our flag." So Giordano attempted to recruit men from Breuil to make another attempt. He was in a most unfavourable position: he was at any rate uncertain whether the last bit was passable. The men who had been with Carrel steadily refused to try again, as if they were overcome with terror of the mountain. It was in vain that Giordano attempted to rouse them out of their depression, and explained to them that till that day he had expended money and labour for himself, with the object of being the first to reach the top; but that now, such good fortune being denied to him, he was only acting for the honour and in the interests of the guides of Valtournanche. The guides' replies were most discouraging but the abbé Amé Gorret came forward and offered to accompany Carrel. The latter accepted the volunteer, and thus two of those who, eight years before, had taken the first steps towards climbing the Matterhorn, were together in the last attempt. Carrel and Gorret would have set out by themselves had not Jean-Baptiste Bich and Jean-Augustin Meynet (two men in the employ of Favre the innkeeper) come forward at the last moment. Giordano would have joined them, but Carrel refused absolutely to take him with them; he said he would not have the strength to guide a traveller, and could neither answer for the result nor for any one's life. Giordano, for his own credit, desired Carrel to state as much in writing. At the end of the day he makes the following note in his pocket-book: "Walked a mile, suffering the pangs of disappointment. A very bad night with fever. Only one barometrical observation."
The ascent On Sunday, the 16th, after hearing mass at the chapel of Breuil, the party started. Giordano was left sad and lonely at Breuil. " I have once more made the great sacrifice of waiting at the foot of the peak instead of climbing it," he wrote in another letter to Sella, "and I assure you that this has been most painful to me." He saw them through his telescope pitching their tent at the customary bivouac at the foot of the Tower at 2 p.m. Amé Gorret has described this ascent with enthusiasm: "At last we crossed the Col du Lion and set foot upon the pyramid of the Matterhorn!" The four men, having left Breuil at 6.30 a.m., arrived at the third tent platform at 1 a.m. and there passed the night. The passage of the cleft that separates the Pic Tyndall from the main peak, named the enjambée, and that stopped Tyndall and Bennen, was accomplished. We were about to enter unknown country, "wrote Gorret," for no man had gone beyond this point."
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