2011 marks the centenary of the death of Edward Whymper, one of the most important figures in the history of mountaineering. His ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865, and the deaths of four members of his party on the way down, attracted attention throughout the world, bringing him praise and criticism in equal measure. In later years, he largely devoted his life to lecturing and writing guidebooks, touring Britain, Europe and America. Whymper was an early member of the Alpine Club and in the club's archives is a set of magic lantern slides he used to illustrate his lectures. Based on extensive research, former AC Archivist Peter Berg has combined these images with extracts from Whymper's books and diaries and writings by his contemporaries, to recreate the lecture 'My Scrambles amongst the Alps', first given in 1895. These pictures, mostly not seen for 100 years and never been published as a set before, give us a unique glimpse of the mountain world at the end of the 19th century. We visit the Zermatt valley and its peaks, passes and glaciers, experience Whymper's many attempts to climb the Matterhorn, explore the Mont Blanc region, including the ill-fated building of an observatory on the summit, and share some of the joys and sorrows of mountaineering. Setting the lecture in context, is a foreword by the distinguished mountaineer and former AC President, Stephen Venables.

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first climb of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and his party in July1865, this large format pictorial book features over 100 pages of photographs of the world's most recognisable mountain, together with tantalising extracts from Whymper's own book The Ascent of the Matterhorn, and the details of Graeme Wallace's attempt to traverse the summit up via the Lion Ridge in Italy and down the Hornli Ridge in Switzerland, 150 years later in 2015. Back in 1865, a series of remarkable coincidences brought together several ambitious British mountaineers in a race to first ascend the 4478 metre Matterhorn. Referred to as The Devil's Mountain and believed to be the place where only spirits dwelt, the Matterhorn was considered un-scalable. While the hurriedly formed British team tackled the unknown north-east ridge, a well-funded Italian team, with a two day head start, approached up via the south-west ridge. The race to finally conquer the mighty Matterhorn was truly on.Success was followed by disaster and despite becoming the most successful mountaineer of his day, stories of triumph, transgression and tragedy would follow Whymper for the rest of his 46 years of life.

Eager to bring her crippled grandson, Conrad, news of the wedding celebration of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia, Dame Ursula sets out for the village, but finds herself harassed by the unruly crowd. A kindly blacksmith comes to her aid, and she welcomes his offer to visit Conrad, but soon becomes suspicious that he and his friend, Ned Trueman, are Lollards, followers of John Wycliffe. Unable to refuse anything that might please Conrad, she allows the visits to continue, and even allows their friend to teach Conrad to read, but passionately warns Conrad of the dangers of evil "heresy." Conrad decides to become a famous Doctor of the Church, so that he will be able to combat heresy, but he wonders why all the remedies of the Church fail to cure him. He is also troubled by the fact that he doesn't have a father like other boys. As Conrad pursues his studies as a young man, he has the opportunity to hear Wycliffe preach and is surprised by what he hears. At last, seeking answers to his past, Conrad leaves England and returns to his native Bohemia where John Huss is boldly preaching against the corruption of the Church. What Conrad learns in Bohemia will change his life forever.