Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860-69 by Edward Whymper

"What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other peaks -- themselves rooted to the ground -- whose sides, equally rent, indicate an immense mass of debris, of which we do not see any trace in the neighbourhood. Doubtless this is that debris which, in the form of pebbles, boulders, and sand, fills our valleys and our plains. " De Saussure

Two summits amongst those in the Alps which yet remained virgin had excited my admiration. One of these had been attacked numerous times by good mountaineers without success; the other, surrounded by traditional inaccessibility, was almost untouched. These mountains were the Weisshorn and the Matterhorn.