Edward Whymper was a leading climber during British mountaineering’s golden age. During the 1850s and 1860s, many of Europe’s big objectives were climbed and Whymper was a driving force behind many ascent. He worked as a wood engraver and in 1860 travelled to Switzerland to sketch mountain landscapes. He fell in love with the mountains during that visit and after eight attempts and five years later, made the first ascent of the Matterhorn. Whymper was the first person to ever stand on the peak.

On the descent towards their base in Zermatt, Whymper’s team suffered one of the most famous climbing accidents of all time. One of the climbers named Douglas Hadow slipped and took three other climbers to their death after a rope snapped. Whymper faced criticism and almost never climbed in the Alps again. Six years later, he published Scrambles Amongst the Alps and in it wrote, “Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime.”

A decade later, Whymper was in South America studying altitude sickness. He made two ascents of Chimborazo, including the first ascent. Over the next few years, he made first ascents of a number of big mountains and in 1892 published Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. His work earned him the Patron’s medal from the Royal Geographical Society for his work on altitude sickness. He then published How to Use the Aneroid Barometer, which helped with understanding high altitude climbing. In the 1890s, he published guides to Chamonix and Zermatt.

A few years later, Whymper visited Canada after being invited by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). He was asked to document the Rockies and to promote them on his Europe and Asia talks. The CPR paid the travel costs for Whymper and his four guides, including C Kaufmann, C. Klucker, J. Bossoney and J. Pollinger. They made the first ascents of Stanley Peak and Mount Whymper.

Whymper married in 1906 to Edith Levin and the couple settle in London, it was the only home he ever owned. Whymper gave Levin an ice axe for a wedding present. Their daughter Ethel went on to become a mountaineer, but Whymper and Levin divorced long before. Back in Chamonix in 1911, Whymper fell ill after a climb and locked himself in a room at the Grand Hotel Couttet where he died at 71. He is buried in Chamonix.