Meta Brevoort - The first woman to traverse the Matterhorn
Although Meta Brevoort misses out on her dream to be the first woman to climb the Matterhorn, she never gives up and attains a different achievement of her own.
The Matterhorn is seen as the pinnacle of achievement for female climbers, in the same way it is for the men. And so it was that Margaret Claudia Brevoort, known as Meta Brevoort (1825-1876), dreamt of being the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn.
As one of the strongest female alpinists of her time, she made her first attempt on the Matterhorn in 1869. She launched her assault from the Italian side at a height of 4,000 metres, but poor weather forced her to turn back. Two years on and she was ready to try again. She plans to travel to Zermatt and launch a new attempt on the mountain. But her rival Lucy Walker is already there, finds out about Meta's plan and snatches the glory with her own climb.
Meta doesn't let herself be deterred by Lucy's achievements on the Matterhorn. She waits for the right conditions on the mountain and becomes the first woman to traverse the "Horu" from Zermatt to Breuil-Cervinia. In the following two weeks she also becomes the first woman to reach the summit of 4,506 m Weisshorn and the 4,357 m Dent Blanche. In 2019 a bronze plaque was embedded in the Bahnhofstrasse Walk of Climb in recognition of Meta's alpine achievements.
Source: Caroline Fink, Karin Steinbach: Erste am Seil – Pionierinnen in Fels und Eis.