Edward Whymper

“ My old enemy—the Matterhorn—seen across the basin of the Z'Muttgletscher, looked totally unassailable. "Do you think," the men asked, "that you, or any one else, will ever get up that mountain?" And when, undismayed by their ridicule, I stoutly answered, "Yes, but not upon that side," they burst into derisive chuckles. I must confess that my hopes sank; for nothing can look, or he, more completely inaccessible than the Matterhorn on its northern and north-west sides.
"Forwards" once again. We overtopped the Dent d'Herens. "Not a thousand feet more; in three hours we shall be on the summit. ”

“ Kennedy, close to the top of the mountain. The wind and cold were terrible there. Progress was oftentimes impossible, and we waited, crouching under the lee of rocks, listening to 'the shrieking of the mindless wind,' while the blasts swept across, tearing off the upper snow and blowing it away in streamers over the Schönbühl glacier—"nothing seen except an indescribable writhing in the air, like the wind made visible."
Our goal was concealed by mist, although it was only a few yards away, and Croz's prophecy, that we should stay all night upon the summit, seemed likely to come true. ”

“ We passed the
"THE BERCSCHRUND ON THE DENT BLANCHE IN 1865."
bergschrund soon after nine in the morning, and during the next eleven hours halted only five-and-forty minutes. The whole of the remainder of the time was occupied in ascending and descending the 2400 feet which compose this south-western face; and inasmuch as 1000 feet per hour (taking the mean of ascent and descent) is an ordinary rate of progression, it is tolerably certain that the Dent Blanche is a mountain of exceptional difficulty. ”