Obituary: Ulrich Inderbinen

Ulrich Inderbinen, who died in Switzerland aged 103, was almost certainly the oldest active mountain guide in the world.

He climbed the Matterhorn for the 370th and last time in the summer before his 90th birthday, on the 125th anniversary of the first climb by Victorian mountaineer Edward Whymper.

Inderbinen took just four hours to reach the summit, leaving men of less than half his age trailing in his wake.

He reluctantly gave up ski guiding at 95, but he continued mountain guiding in summer until he was 97. Then, after taking 10 minutes longer than he had set himself for the descent of the 4164 m Breithorn, he decided the moment had come to hang up his ice-axe.