The Matterhorn Trivia
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48 free The Matterhorn trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Matterhorn trivia quiz covers the mountain that straddles the Swiss–Italian border above Zermatt and Breuil-Cervinia. It starts with the numbers: the height, the four faces and the ridges between them, the 500-plus climbers who have died there, and the surprising fact that its summit rocks began life on the African plate. It explains the names too, from Matte and Horn to Cervin, Mons Silvius and Servius Galba. The climbing history takes up the middle: the Carrels' Italian attempts, John Tyndall's shoulder, Edward Whymper's seven failures and the 14 July 1865 first ascent that ended with four men falling to their deaths and a broken rope, Carrel's Italian ascent three days later, Lucy Walker in a white print dress, Mummery on the Zmutt ridge, the Schmid brothers cycling from Munich to the north face, Bonatti's winter solo and Ueli Steck's speed record. The last section covers railways and cable cars, the car-free village, the Hörnli and Solvay huts, Toblerone and the Disneyland ride that copied the peak. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Switzerland and famous mountains quizzes next.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which monster did Disneyland add to its Matterhorn Bobsleds ride in 1978?
The Abominable Snowman
The Abominable Snowman arrived in a 1978 revamp that also brought two-car bobsleds, greatly increasing how many riders the ride could carry.
Q 02In the 1890s, what was proposed to carry visitors up the Matterhorn but never built?
A railway
A railway was proposed, but while the same builder's line to a nearby viewpoint opened in 1898, the Matterhorn line was dropped.
Q 03Which Disneyland ride used to pass straight through the park's copy of the Matterhorn?
The Skyway
The Skyway ran through the mountain until 1994, and the Matterhorn itself was built partly to hide the Skyway's big support tower.
Q 04Which Italian resort town sits below the Matterhorn's south face?
Breuil-Cervinia
Breuil-Cervinia is where Jean-Antoine Carrel's Italian party set off in July 1865, only to be beaten to the summit by a British-led team.
Q 05In which Swiss canton is the Matterhorn?
Valais
Valais is home to Zermatt, which the 1865 first ascent turned from a farming village into a famous mountain resort.
Q 06What did Whymper name the ghostly apparition with two giant crosses that the survivors saw after the 1865 Matterhorn fall?
A fog bow
A fog bow: Whymper later drew the ghostly scene, crosses and all, as the frontispiece of his book about the climb.
Q 07Which ridge is the Italian normal route to the summit?
Lion
The Lion ridge is where Carrel's Italian party was still climbing in 1865 when the British-led team reached the summit, and the Italians turned back.
Q 08By what nickname, translated from German, is the Matterhorn sometimes known?
Mountain of Mountains
Mountain of Mountains translates Berg der Berge, a name it carries even though neighbouring Monte Rosa stands taller.
Q 09What do the German words behind the name Matterhorn mean?
Meadow and horn
It is often translated as the peak of the meadows.
Q 10What did many villagers below the Matterhorn once believe lived on the mountain?
Evil spirits
Evil spirits were said to live on it, and many locals believed the mountain could not and should not be climbed at all.
Q 11Which Genevan geologist first measured the Matterhorn's height in 1792?
Horace-Bénédict de Saussure
He used a sextant and a 50-foot chain laid out on the Theodul glacier.
Q 12Roughly how many climbers are estimated to have died on the Matterhorn since its first ascent in 1865?
About 500
About 500: deaths have fallen since the 1990s, and Swiss reports credit this partly to more climbers hiring local guides.
Q 13What kind of rock makes up most of the Matterhorn's upper pyramid?
Gneiss
Gneiss makes up the pyramid, rock that was folded and thrust upward as Africa slowly pushed toward Europe.
Q 21What did Whymper find about the rope that snapped on the 1865 descent?
It was the weakest they had
It was the weakest they had, an old spare rope, and an official inquiry later cleared the survivors of cutting it.
Q 22How did Whymper's party signal the losing Italian party from the summit in 1865?
By hurling rocks down at them
By hurling rocks down at them: Whymper and his guide prised crags loose until the Italians, far below, turned and fled.
Q 23Before the 1865 race, what did the Italian backers of Carrel's party do to thwart Whymper?
Hired all the best local guides
Q 14What process gave the Matterhorn its pyramidal shape?
Cirque erosion by diverging glaciers
Cirque erosion by diverging glaciers carved the near-perfect pyramid behind its reputation as the world's most-photographed mountain.
Q 15Which glaciated pass just east of the Matterhorn is the main crossing between its Swiss and Italian valleys?
Theodul Pass
Theodul Pass lies under ice, so travellers crossing between the two valleys long had to hire mountain guides to get over it.
Q 16Which 1871 book by Edward Whymper tells the story of the Matterhorn's first ascent?
Scrambles Amongst the Alps
Scrambles Amongst the Alps ends its story with Whymper's warning: climb if you will, but courage and strength are naught without prudence.
Q 17The Matterhorn's 1865 first ascent is said to mark the end of which era in mountaineering?
The golden age of alpinism
The golden age of alpinism ended in tragedy: four of the seven men who reached the summit died on the descent.
Q 18Which monarch, shocked by the Matterhorn deaths of 1865, wondered whether climbing should be banned?
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria wondered whether climbing should be outlawed, yet no ban followed and the Matterhorn became Switzerland's best-known symbol.
Q 19Which guide from Chamonix was killed in the 1865 Matterhorn disaster?
Michel Croz
Michel Croz was placing the novice Hadow's feet on the descent when Hadow slipped and fell onto him, dragging them both down.
Q 20Which member of the 1865 party's body was never found?
Lord Francis Douglas
Lord Francis Douglas had just climbed the nearby Ober Gabelhorn, a feat Whymper admired, and he eagerly joined the Matterhorn party.
Hired all the best local guides, one backer boasted in a letter, so Whymper crossed to Zermatt and joined forces with other British climbers.
Q 24Which physicist gave his name to the Matterhorn shoulder he reached with his guides in 1862?
John Tyndall
John Tyndall turned back below the summit in 1862, but returned in 1868 to lead the first party ever to traverse over its top.
Q 25Who became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn, in 1871?
Lucy Walker
Lucy Walker hurried up when she heard her American rival Meta Brevoort had arrived, and Brevoort made the first female traverse that same year.
Q 26Which climber, with Alexander Burgener, made the first ascent of the Zmutt ridge in 1879?
Albert F. Mummery
Albert F. Mummery died on Nanga Parbat in 1895, killed by an avalanche with two Gurkha companions while scouting a route.
Q 27What happened to Edward Whymper on a solo attempt on the Matterhorn in 1862?
He survived a 60-metre fall
He survived a 60-metre fall while climbing alone, yet three years later he led the first ascent of the mountain.
Q 28How did brothers Franz and Toni Schmid travel to their 1931 first ascent of the Matterhorn's north face?
By bicycle from Munich
By bicycle from Munich: the Schmid brothers kept their plans secret, and after the climb they rode all the way home again.
Q 29Which Italian climber soloed the North Face Direct in February 1965?
Walter Bonatti
His route was not repeated solo for 29 years, until Catherine Destivelle in 1994.
Q 30Which Swiss climber raced up the Matterhorn's north face in under two hours in 2009?
Ueli Steck
Ueli Steck later died in a fall on Nuptse, near Everest, in April 2017, while preparing for an Everest climb.