The Matterhorn is crumbling in front of our eyes — is it worth shutting down?
The magnificent pyramid of the Matterhorn — the most famous but not the highest mountain in the Alps — attracts tourists from all over the world. Meanwhile, scientists warn that the lofty peak is crumbling precipitously, like other Alpine four-thousanders.
With the intention of seeing (and of course photographing) the Matterhorn, 2 million people come to the village of Zermatt below it every year. It is the most popular tourist destination in Switzerland. On the street here you can meet visitors from all over the world. Among them are several thousand people who have come here for one reason only: to climb this great lonely mountain with its axe-sharp ridges and pointed summit at 4478 m above sea level. The Matterhorn rises on the Swiss-Italian border, and its name simply means “peak above the meadows”. (matte is German for “meadow” and horn for “peak”). The Italians and French call it their own, or Deer Mountain (Monte Cervino in Italian and Mont Cervin in French). The extraordinary pyramid has also earned many epithets, such as “queen of the Alps,” “mountain of the mountains,” but the people of Zermatt simply call it “Hore,” meaning “peak.” Although there are more than 30 four-thousanders in the area, including several higher than the Matterhorn, everyone knows that the Hore is only one.
