Charles Barrington (1834 – 20 April 1901), an

Irishman The Irish ( ga, Muintir na hÉireann or ''Na hÉireannaigh'') are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been c ...

from Fassaroe, Bray County Wicklow, was a merchant with little or no mountaineering experience who led the first team to successfully climb the Eiger on 11 August 1858.

Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, ''Oberscharführer'' in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), and author. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of th ...

, in his book about the Eiger north face – ''

The White Spider ''The White Spider'' (1959; with chapters added in 1964; original title: ''Die Weisse Spinne'') is a non-fiction book by Heinrich Harrer that describes the first successful ascent of the infamous north face (''Nordwand'') of the Eiger, a mounta ...

'' (1959) – noted that Barrington would have attempted the first ascent of the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

instead, but he did not have enough money to travel to

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) ...

. With the support of two mountain guides,

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and died ...

and

Peter Bohren Peter Bohren (June 20, 1822 – July 4, 1882) was a Swiss mountain guide from Grindelwald. Peter Bohren made three first ascents in the Bernese Alps. On August 11, 1858, he jointly made the first ascent of the Eiger (3967 m above sea level), clim ...

, he reached the summit of the Eiger via the west flank. After the ascent, Charles Barrington returned to Ireland and never visited the Alps again. He owned and trained a famous racehorse, "Sir Robert Peel", that won the first

Irish Grand National The Irish Grand National is a National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of about 3 miles and 5 furlongs (5,834 ...

in 1870. Barrington organized the first Irish mountain race in 1870, offering a gold watch to the winner of this running event, which was held on the Sugar Loaf mountain in County Wicklow. He died at his family home in Earlsfort Terrace in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

on 20 April 1901, and is buried in

Mount Jerome Cemetery Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

References

External links

Charles Barrington's letter to his brother detailing his Eiger ascent
from the 1884

Alpine Journal The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world. History The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrington, Charles Irish mountain climbers 1834 births 1901 deaths People from Bray, County Wicklow

See also

References

External links