But now, the mountain - one of Europe's tallest and most celebrated peaks - is falling to bits due to climate change, according to a new scientific report.
As with other Alpine mountains, experts have already documented the retreat of the peak's glaciers and the thinning of its permafrost in the wake of rising temperatures.
But scientists now say they have evidence that these rising temperatures are also prompting the physical disintegration of the mountain itself.
Researchers from the University of Zurich, who have been studying the mountain closely since 2007, say melting water is permeating exposed cracks and crevices on the 4,478m (14,690ft) mountain, which straddles the Swiss-Italian boarder. Subsequent cycles of freezing and thawing in these gaps are creating subtle movements under the rock surface, causing ever-widening fissures with the result that lumps of rock are falling off, the researchers say.
Their investigation, which relies on sophisticated monitoring devices situated on 17 key parts of the mountain, was prompted by a huge rock fall from the Hörnligrat part of the mountain in July 2003, when more than 50 climbers had to be airlifted off the mountain in the one of the big- gest rescue operations ever mounted in the Alps.
The disintegration of the Matterhorn, which the researchers warn is symbolic of the problems affecting the rest of the Alps, appears to have continued since, the Swiss research team's report in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Read the full report here.
Source: Michael Day, The Independent, U.K.
