Page 123 - Scrambles amongst the Alps - Whymper

Jean-Antoine Carrel (1829 – August 1891) was an Italian

mountain climber Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, ...

and

guide A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Expl ...

. He had made climbs with

Edward Whymper Edward Whymper FRSE (27 April 184016 September 1911) was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. W ...

and was his rival when he attempted to climb 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 ...

for the first time. Whymper ultimately succeeded in making the mountain's

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

in July 1865 while Carrel led the party that achieved the second ascent three days later. Carrel was in the group that became the first Europeans to reach the summit of

Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a currently inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. Chimborazo's summit is the farthest point on the Earth's surface from t ...

in 1880. He died from exhaustion when guiding a party on the south side of the Matterhorn.

Early life

Carrel was born on 16 January 1829 in

Valtournenche Valtournenche (local Valdôtain: ) is a town and '' comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy, above the sea level. It is named after and covers most of the ''Valtournenche'', a valley on the left side of the Dora Baltea, from ...

, in the

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

, an Arpitan-speaking village of

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

(now

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) which lies at the foot of the

. He served in the

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Army, which ...

, a

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

unit of the Piedmontese army. He resigned from the Bersaglieri to work as a hunter and

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

, but was recalled to duty in 1859 to defend Italy against Austria in the

Second Italian War of Independence The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...

, for which he won a French medal for the Italian campaign.

Ascent of the Matterhorn

Carrel first attempted to climb the Matterhorn's Lion Ridge in 1857—by which time the mountain was the tallest unclimbed peak in the Alps—with his uncle and

Amé Gorret Amé Gorret (1836-1907), known in his native Aosta Valley as the "Abbé Gorret" (''"Father Gorret"''), was a priest and Alpinist (mountaineer). He was a member of the group which in 1865 undertook the second successful ascent of the Matterhorn, ...

. In the early 1860s, Carrel made numerous attempts to climb the Matterhorn, often in the same party as

and

John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the p ...

, and at other times competing against them to reach the summit first. Carrel had agreed to accompany Whymper on his ascent of the Swiss side in 1865, but withdrew at the last minute when he was recruited by

Felice Giordano Felice Giordano (6 January 1825 – 16 July 1892) was an Italian engineer and geologist. Giordano was born at Turin. He had an important role in the organisation of a geological service in the Kingdom of Italy and in the foundation of the Italian ...

on behalf of the

Italian Alpine Club The Club Alpino Italiano is the senior Italian alpine club which stages climbing competitions, operates alpine huts, marks and maintains paths, and is active in protecting the Alpine environment. It was founded in Turin in 1863 by the then finan ...

to lead an Italian party up the Italian side at the same time. Ultimately, Whymper's party outclimbed the Italians and reached the summit on 14 July 1865, marking the

first ascent of the Matterhorn The first ascent of the Matterhorn was a mountaineering expedition made by Edward Whymper, Lord Francis Douglas, Charles Hudson, Douglas Hadow, Michel Croz, and two Zermatt guides, Peter Taugwalder and his son of the same name, on 14 July 1865. ...

. Carrel and his Italian party successfully summited the Matterhorn three days later. In September 1867, Carrel and his daughter

Félicité Carrel Félicité Carrel was an Italian mountaineer, known for her 1867 attempt to climb Mount Matterhorn. Biography Carrel was the daughter of Italian mountaineer Jean-Antoine Carrel Jean-Antoine Carrel (1829 – August 1891) was an Italian mounta ...

were among a party attempting to climb the Matterhorn, but most turned back before the summit. Félicité Carrel is the first known woman to attempt to climb the Matterhorn.

Death

Carrel died in August 1891 while guiding a party on the south side of the Matterhorn. After ensuring that his clients descended the mountain safely and easily in a severe storm, he collapsed from exhaustion and died on a rock at the mountain's base. After Carrel's death, Whymper wrote that Carrel was "a man who was possessed with a pure and genuine love of mountains; a man of originality and resource, courage and determination, who delighted in exploration ... The manner of his death strikes a chord in hearts he never knew."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrel, Jean-Antoine 1829 births 1891 deaths Alpine guides Italian mountain climbers Mountaineering deaths People from Aosta Valley