Some US media outlets are claiming that an 11-year-old boy is the youngest ever to climb to the top of Switzerland’s iconic mountain.
Here’s the indisputable fact: Colorado native Sam Evermore did climb the Matterhorn this summer — a moment duly memorialised by a photo on the family’s Instagram account.
There, we can see young Sam standing on the mountain’s 4,478-metre summit next to his US-flag waving father, with a caption saying ‘Youngest American to climb the Matterhorn’.
You’ll note that the family never claimed he was the youngest ever – only the youngest American.
But as happens with these things, news travels. The Instagram post was picked up by US news outlets, which reported the story with varying degrees of accuracy, with some even calling Sam’s accomplishment a “world record.”
It’s beyond doubt that this was quite an accomplishment in young Sam’s life, but he’s not the youngest person to ever climb the Swiss landmark.
Others before him
In fact, at least two other children — one of them younger than Sam — are known to have reached the Matterhorn’s peak.
One was Jules Molyneaux, an 11 year-old from Perthshire in the UK, who accomplished this feat in 2020.
But even he wasn’t THE youngest.
That title goes to (and remains to this day) with a Swiss boy, Kevin Lauber, who scaled the Matterhorn in 1999 at the age of 8.
As he later recalled, the feat was no big deal, as he lived in Zermatt, the village located right at the foot of the Matterhorn.
“Among the locals, there are a few who climbed the Matterhorn at a young age,” he said.
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How difficult is it to climb the Matterhorn?
According to the website of Zermatt tourism body, “Matterhorn is the most difficult classic in the Alps. The climb and descent is done exclusively over rocks and ice, and it requires outstanding fitness and experience in rock climbing with and without crampons.”
And as ABC News told it, “through snow and challenging terrain, [Sam and his father] navigated the treacherous rocks of the iconic peak that stands between Switzerland and Italy.”
But there are easier routes as well.
The most popular and considered the “easiest” is the Hörnli Ridge; it takes four to five hours to climb to the peak via this route.
