Matterhorn Village Mourns 'World's Oldest' Guide

Wed Jun 16, 2004 07:21 AM ET

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss village of Zermatt mourned the death of 104-year-old Ulrich Inderbinen on Tuesday, a man dubbed the "world's oldest mountain guide" who last climbed the 4,478-meter Matterhorn peak aged 90. The Zermatt resident died at his home on Monday, an obituary in the Walliser Bote newspaper said, paying tribute to the region's most famous mountain guide.

"Ulrich Inderbinen was well known beyond mountaineering circles and beyond this country's borders," the Zermatt tourist board said in a statement. "This not least because even at the lofty age of 90 he climbed the Matterhorn."

Inderbinen first climbed the craggy Matterhorn peak -- thought to be the inspiration behind the triangular shape of Toblerone chocolates -- in 1921 together with his sister.

One of nine children, his parents were mountain farmers and he began working life at the age of 13 as a goatherd.

Inderbinen climbed the mountain, Switzerland's third biggest, for the 371st and final time in 1990.

Some 2,500 to 3,000 people climb the peak each summer season, following in the footsteps of British climber Edward Whymper, the first to reach the top on July 14, 1865.

Whymper had failed seven times before reaching the peak. Even his successful climb ended in tragedy as four of his six-man team slipped to their deaths on the descent, opening the book on a long list of climbers to die on the mountain.

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