If the Matterhorn could thus inspire men before the most famous siege in Alpine history had clothed its cliffs in romance, how much more must it move those for whom the final tragedy has become historical? The first view of the Matterhorn, and the moment when the last step is taken on to the final crest, are two moments which the mountaineer never forgets. Those who knew the old Zermat are unpleasantly fond of reminding us that the railway train and the monster hôtels have robbed Zermat of its charm; while the fixed ropes and sardine tins--[Those dear old sardine tins! Our Alpine writers would run short of satire if they could not invoke their aid]--have finally humiliated the unvanquished Titan. It may be so; but it is easy enough to recover the old atmosphere. You have only to visit Zermat in winter when the train is not running. A long trudge up twenty miles of shadowed, frosty valley, a little bluff near Randa, and the Matterhorn soars once more into a stainless sky. There are no clouds, and probably not another stranger in the valley. The hôtels are closed, the sardine tins are buried, and the Matterhorn renews like the immortals an undying youth. The great mountain remained unconquered mainly because it inspired in the hearts of the bravest guides a despairing belief in its inaccessibility. “There seemed,” writes Mr. Whymper, “to be a cordon drawn round it up to which one might go, but no further. Within that line gins and efreets were supposed to exist--the wandering Jew and the spirits of the damned. The superstitious natives in the surrounding valleys (many of whom firmly believed it to be not only the highest mountain in the Alps, but in the world) spoke of a ruined city on the summit wherein the spirits dwelt; and if you laughed they gravely shook their heads, told you to look yourself to see the castle and walls, and warned one against a rash approach, lest the infuriated demons from their impregnable heights might hurl down vengeance for one’s derision.” [Illustration: I.--THE MATTERHORN FROM THE NORTH-EAST (ZERMAT). The left-hand ridge in the Furgg Grat and the shoulder (F.S.) is the Furgg shoulder from which Mummery traversed across to the Swiss face on his attempt on the Furgg Grat. The central ridge is the North-east ridge. N.E. is the point where the climb begins. S is the Swiss shoulder, A the Swiss summit, B the Italian summit. The route of the first ascent is marked. Nowadays it is usual to keep closer to the ridge in the early part of the climb and to climb from the shoulder S to the summit A. Fixed ropes hang throughout this section. T is the group of rocky teeth on the Zmutt ridge.]