Jean-Antoine Carrel

Carrel was born on 16 January 1829 in Valtournenche, in the Aosta Valley, an Arpitan-speaking village of Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy) which lies at the foot of the Matterhorn.

[3] Carrel first attempted to climb the Matterhorn's Lion Ridge in 1857—by which time the mountain was the tallest unclimbed peak in the Alps—with his uncle and Amé Gorret.

In the early 1860s, Carrel made numerous attempts to climb the Matterhorn, often in the same party as Edward Whymper and John Tyndall, and at other times competing against them to reach the summit first.

Ultimately, Whymper's party outclimbed the Italians and reached the summit on 14 July 1865, marking the first ascent of the Matterhorn.

[5] Carrel died in August 1891 while guiding a party on the south side of the Matterhorn.