Peter Taugwalder
Swiss mountain guide (1820-1888)

Peter Taugwalder (4 April 1820 – 10 July 1888) was a Swiss mountaineer and guide. Along with his son of the same name, Taugwalder was one of seven men that made the first ascent of the Matterhorn in July 1865. He was also one of the three men that survived the descent, along with his son and Edward Whymper.
A native of Zermatt, Taugwalder also made the first ascent of Pollux (1864) and the Hohberghorn (1869). Other notable climbs include the second ascent of the Dunantspitze (1851) and the Ober Gabelhorn (1865).
Following the disastrous first ascent of the Matterhorn in which four men died, Taugwalder's conduct was the subject of an investigation in which he was cleared of responsibility. Nonetheless, Taugwalder suffered from recriminations and accusations by other mountaineers. He quit his guide job a few years after the accident and emigrated to North America. He died near Schwarzsee soon after his return to Zermatt.
Taugwalder had two sons, Peter and Joseph Taugwalder.
“Peter Taugwalder” enters the record as swiss mountain guide (1820-1888). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Peter, Taugwalder and Swiss can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 19, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q693041. VIAF identifies the subject as 307322662. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1820, 1888, 1865 and 1864.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peter Taugwalder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.