Of
Wolfgang Görl
It was a clear night with a full moon when the brothers Franz and Toni Schmid set out on July 31, 1931 after a few hours of restless sleep to climb the north face of the Matterhorn. They pitched their tent on the Stafelalp above Zermatt, their rucksacks are packed with crampons, carabiners, ice and rock hooks, some provisions and two 40-meter ropes. Even in a moonlit night, they march over the Matterhorn glacier to a steep ice field that leads into the almost vertical black rock face. When morning dawns, they get in. Boulders, pieces of ice, rock debris pelt down, as if the mountain were defending itself against the intruders.