Karlheinz Gonda

Karlheinz Gonda (born March 27, 1930 in Dresden , † August 22, 1953 in the north face of the Eiger ) was a German climber and mountaineer . Until his death on the Eiger he was one of the best sandstone climbers and mountaineers of his time. Gonda achieved first ascents both in Saxon Switzerland and in the Alps , which were among the most difficult trails of their time.

Life

Gonda was born in Dresden in 1930. After elementary school , he completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter . Initially inclined to water sports, he discovered climbing as a teenager in his native Saxon Switzerland . On October 21, 1944, at the age of 14, he climbed the nun and the valley guard near Rathen as his first summit. Just six months later, he rendered his first lead climbing in difficulty VII , then the top of the Saxon difficulty scale.

Gonda became a member of the climbing club "Märchentürmer" and was quickly considered one of the greatest young climbing talents after the Second World War . On July 7, 1946, he made his first ascent in today's level of difficulty VIIIa, the eastern edge of the Kesselturm. His other first ascents in the following years included the dagger on the Rohnspitze (VIIIb), the valley path on the Rokokoturm (VIIIa), the Pfingstweg on the Heringstein, the south face on the Bloßstock (VIIb) and which was later named after him at the suggestion of Dietrich Hasse Edge of the gondola on the Rauschenstein (VIIIa). The gondola ladder at the tower at the Verborgenen Horn (VIIb) was also named after him . Many of Karlheinz Gonda's trails are still among the demanding “classics” among the climbing trails in Saxon Switzerland.

In 1951 Gonda left the GDR for the west. From Munich he explored the Alps. In the following years he mastered some of the most difficult climbing tours , especially in the Wetterstein Mountains around the Oberreintalhütte , in the Karwendel and in the Dolomites . His most important first ascent was the northern intersection at the Oberreintaldom. He also drew attention to himself with various solo tours , some in winter too. This included, for example, the Alpspitz north face and the first winter solo tour over the 15 km long Wetterstein ridge. Also solo, he climbed Preußriß the Preußturm and Fehrmannweg the Small pinnacle .

Gonda went to the Eiger in August 1953 with the Swiss mountaineer Uli Wyss . After two days, the two had conquered the north face of the Eiger and reached the summit ridge. Shortly before the summit, both of them fell to their deaths from a snowfield. Their bodies were recovered from the wall after a few days.

literature

• Helmut Richter: On the 50th anniversary of Karlheinz Gonda's death , in: Der neue Sächsische Bergsteiger, SBB newsletter, 14th year, No. 2, June 2003, pp. 35–37
• Hans Joachim Scholz: Up to the summit , Lößnitz-Druck Radebeul, 2008
• Wolfgang Müller and Joachim Schindler: Karlheinz Gonda - a Dresden mountaineer of stature. In: The Tourist. 1990, No. 4, pp. 7-8
• Gisbert Ludewig: Karlheinz Gonda would have turned 65 this year. In: Der neue Sächsische Bergsteiger, Mitteilungsblatt des SBB, Dresden 1995, Issue 4, pp. 28-29

Web links

• Souvenir article in the Sächsische Zeitung from April 20, 2007

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Dietmar Heinicke (Ed.): Climbing Guide Saxon Switzerland, Volume Schrammsteine, Schmilkaer area. Berg- & Naturverlag Rölke, Dresden 1999, ISBN 3-934514-01-4 , p. 213
2. ↑ Alpine documentation "Climbing Zone" (press release on the 19th International Berg + Ablebnis Filmfestival Graz, 2007) (accessed on December 30, 2012; PDF; 1.0 MB)
3. ↑ Reminder article in the Sächsische Zeitung from April 20, 2007 (accessed December 30, 2012)
4. ^ Sächsischer Bergsteigerbund (Hrsg.): 100 years of the Saxon Mountaineering Association. Review and Outlook , Dresden 2011, p. 113
5. ↑ The classic climbing routes in the Elbe Sandstone (accessed on December 28, 2012)