The Matterhorn is a mountain in the Swiss alps, on the border of Switzerland and Italy and looking over the village of Zermatt. The peak of the Matterhorn is near-symmetric and pyramidal, making it a difficult summit. The Disney version of the Matterhorn is filled with caves, caverns and tunnels.
Disney's Matterhorn is also home to a mysterious ape cryptid known as, "The Yeti" (or, "Harold") who is violently territorial of the mountain. Humans are known to regularly intrude on the yeti's woman despite this, such as yodellers who climb up the mountain and bobsledders who ride sleds through the Matterhorn's caverns. It can be assumed that at some point in time, the Matterhorn had a gondola style, "Skyway" passing through it before it was shut down (presumably due to the Yeti).
Features[]
Citadel: The Citadel refers to the peak of the mountain.
Crystal Caves: The Matterhorn has been shown to have caverns of luminescent crystals, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Caves.[1] The nature of these crystals are unknown.
Lift Hills: Near the village at the base of the Matterhorn are a pair of tunnels entering the mountain. Within are two lift-hills made for lifting up the two bobsledding tracks.
Matterhorn Trail: The Matterhorn Trail is a trail going around the mountain and which is in the vicinity of its nearby village.
Splashdown Pools: These are pools at the base of the mountain supplied by the Matterhorn's waterfalls and are where bobsleds return from the mountain.
Village Base: At the base of the Matterhorn is a Swiss village (presumably Zermatt). A particular outpost at the base of the mountain is responsible for overseeing bobsledding expeditions through the mountain.
Harold the Yeti's lair
Waterfall Bridge: There is a small waterfall on the side of the mountain which a bridge passes in-front of. This bridge has switched between being natural or stone-work.
Yeti's Lair: Within the Matterhorn is a snowy den where the Yeti keeps trophies of past victims. This is primarily composed of different bobsleds which it attacked over the years, but also includes mountaineering equipment, a yodeller's horn, and a skyway bucket.
History[]
Background[]
Early history[]
The Matterhorn is a mountain in the Swiss Alps which has received many visitors. In 1865, the Citadel was climbed atop of by a team including English mountaineer Captain John Winter and kitchen-helper Rudi Matt whose father was previously killed making the summit.[2]
Around the late 19th century, the Matterhorn was visited by guests in, "Dream Flyer" hang glider-machines created by the late Camellia Falco, and guided by the spirit of her pet falcon Aletta. By 1938, a book was written on the Matterhorn titled, "Scaling the Matterhorn".
Matterhorn Bobsleds[]
Throughout the 20th century, many travelled to the mountain for mountaineering, yodelling and bobsledding activities through its caverns. Many of these individuals became targets of the Yeti who made various attacks throughout the years. A party known as the, "Wells Expedition" travelled through the mountain and seemingly disappeared there. It is likely that the Yeti was involved in the expedition's fate as Harold kept a crate belonging to them in his lair.
The skyway through the Matterhorn
At some point in time, a Skyway gondola system was presumably constructed, passing through the Matterhorn. The Yeti attacked at least one of these skyway buckets and the system was seemingly dismantled.
On the May 27th of 1978, a, "Matterhorn Expedition" discovered the footprint of the Yeti on the mountain's south slope. A cast was made of this footprint and it was put on display in the village at the foothills of the Matterhorn; though the creature retained its cryptid status.
Bobsledding through the mountain would continue for years. The mountain's peak would also be a sight visited by passengers of the hang glider service, "Soarin'" from EPCOT.
Development history[]
Walt Disney travelled to the real Matterhorn for filming of the 1959 film, Third Man on the Mountain. He then sent a post-card with an image of the Matterhorn back to imagineer/architect Vic Greene with the message, "Vic. Build This. Walt".[3]
This article is a stub. You can help Disney Parks Wiki by expanding it.
The Disneyland Casting Agency has an advertisement reading, "Mountain Climbers: Sought for alpine-themed production. Auditions First Snowfall, Matterhorn Mountain Features.".[4]
Matterhorn Trail alongside Matterhorn Bobsleds is themed to being in the mountain's vicinity. There is a posting which shows a detailed map of the Matterhorn's hiking trail.
Skipper Canteen[]
There is a book in the library titled "Scaling the Matterhorn" and another book called, "A View from Above" by S.W. Buckets, referencing the Skyway which passed through the Matterhorn.
The Matterhorn and the Forbidden Mountain are both Disney Parks mountains with territorial yetis.
The Wells Expedition is a tribute to former Walt Disney Company president Frank Wells who was an avid mountaineer that was close to completing the Seven Summits prior to his death in 1994.
Big Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn and the Forbidden Mountain are all Disney Parks mountains which are setting for rollercoasters, and home to violent legendary protector entities.
![Image source[6]](/wiki/File:Snowman_wells_expedition.webp "Snowman wells expedition.webp (50 KB)")
