While this Swiss town celebrates the 125th anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn, for the mountain it's been business as usual -- 10 lives lost in the first four weeks of the summer.
"You can't stop people if they want to throw themselves off the Golden Gate bridge," said veteran guide Richard Andenmatten. "And we can't close off the mountain to reckless amateurs."Fixed ropes now make the climb to the top of the arrowhead peak which towers over this Swiss town relatively easy, but it can still be a killer.
Eight of the victims died on the Hoernli ridge, the normal route to the 14,688-foot summit which was pioneered by Englishman Edward Whymper on July 14, 1865.
Like all the Matterhorn's victims, they paid the price of going up without a guide.
Zermatt guides pride themselves on not having had a fatal accident in 40 years. They maintain their record by taking up only fit and experienced climbers, and perhaphs more importantly, knowing when to turn back.
Climbing up and down the ridge with a guide, it is easy to see how the mountain can turn into a death trap that claims an average of one life a week each summer.
Parts of the ridge, which looks virtually unscalable from the valley floor in Zermatt, are extremely exposed and even in summer the upper sections are often coated in a treacherous layer of ice and snow.
At almost every stage in the four-hour ascent one slip or false move could send an unroped climber over the edge and possibly into a 3,300-foot fall onto glaciers.
Often what appears to be the next logical choice, such as going up a protected chimney rather than along an unprotected ledge, could be a fatal mistake.
The climb starts from the Hoernli hut on the lower spur of the ridge at 10,695 feet, a favorite tourist spot that can be reached from Zermatt on foot.
Climbers set off in the dark at around 4 a.m. and should be well above the final refuge, the Solvay hut at 13,133 feet, by the time the sun hits the mountain.
At that point they approach the hardest part, the sheer shoulder of the mountain where four of Whymper's party plunged to their deaths down the north face.
The Englishman's part in the accident remains controversial in Zermatt even now, for the story has it that he cut the rope from which the climbers hung.
The section is protected with cable-thick rope, but it is meant only to provide help and reassurance, and is not a means of pulling yourself up.
Above it, the Matterhorn levels out towards the summit, a razor-edged shelf that drops away steeply to Italy on the southern side and to Switzerland down the north face.
A new statue of Saint Bernard, the patron of mountain guides, has been erected just below the summit as part of the Whymper anniversary celebrations.
A lightning rod poking out of the saint's head is a reminder of the sudden electrical storms that can break out.
Including mountain hut charges and tip, a guide can run about $600, but no one who gets to the top with one appears to regret the expense.
"The allure of the Matterhorn may be bigger than the reality," said Californian architect Julian Pollak as he relaxed after the climb. "But I sure as hell wouldn't go near the place without a guide."