Santo Siorpaes

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Santo Siorpaes (1896)

Santo Severino Siorpaes (born May 2, 1832 in Cortina d'Ampezzo , Austria-Hungary ; † December 12, 1900 ibid), sometimes nicknamed Salvador , was an Italian mountaineer and militiaman in the service of the Imperial and Royal Monarchy. With over 20 first ascents in the Dolomites and the Carnic Alps, he is one of the region's most outstanding mountain guides.

Life

Santo Siorpaes was born in 1832 to Pietro and Rosa Siorpaes (née Ghedina) in Staulin, a village above Cortina d'Ampezzo . At a young age, the forester learned how to hunt with a weapon. His skill with the rifle and his excellent local knowledge opened the door to the Ampezzaner Landsturm , the local kk militia . He was later promoted to lieutenant . From the early 1870s he was a kk road attendant in Maion on the road to Gemärk . At the same time he started a highly successful career as a mountain guide.

The Cimon della Pala opened a series of summit victories in 1870.

After Paul Grohmann had already participated in the first ascent of Tofana di Rozes (1864) and Monte Cristallo (1865) , in June 1870 he himself led an important rope team to an undefeated summit for the first time. With the Englishman Edward R. Whitwell and the Swiss Christian Lauener, he climbed the Cimon della Pala, which was previously decried as "insurmountable" . Only a few weeks later, the three climbed two more important three-thousand-meter peaks : the Piz Popena and the Hohe Gaisl .

Between 1865 and 1881 Siorpaes climbed the three highest peaks of the Cristallo group .

These outstanding achievements made other alpinists aware of Siorpaes. In the following years he achieved several ascents with Maurice Holzmann and William E. Utterson Kelso, including the Cimon del Froppa and the Cima Bagni . His clients also included the Austrians Julius Meurer and Alfred von Pallavicini , whom he successfully led to the Pala di San Martino in 1878 .

The area of ​​his work as a mountain guide included the Dolomites, the Carnic Alps , Ortler , Adamello-Presanella and even parts of the Western Alps. In the Valais Alps, he climbed the Matterhorn , Obergabelhorn and Dent d'Hérens . His last triumph as the first to climb was the ascent of the Cima di Mezzo in 1881 . Santo died in 1900 at the age of 68.

Santo Siorpaes had a total of eight children with two different wives. His first wife Costanza gave birth to two sons, Pietro (* 1868) and Giovanni (* 1869), both later mountain guides, and two daughters, Maria Teresa and Filomena (* 1872). Costanza died in 1872 and Santo remarried because of his children. With his second wife Rosa he had a son, Angelo (1877-1881), and three daughters, Costanza (* 1873), Rachele (* 1880) and Anna (* 1881).

reception

Next to Michel Innerkofler , Santo Siorpaes is considered the most important and versatile Dolomite mountain guide of his time. While Innerkofler is more of a “mountaineer” in character, Siorpaes is considered the better mountain guide due to his social skills. The earliest pictorial representations show Siorpaes with the obligatory stern look in a classic mountain guide pose. A drawing in Elizabeth Tuckett's Zigzagging Amongst Dolomites (1873), on the other hand, shows him lifelike, smiling with his hat pulled on his face. He is described as extroverted and is said to never have met his customers in a submissive manner, regardless of their social position, unlike what was common at the time. Amelia Edwards characterized Siorpaes as follows:

“[…] A bright-eyed, black-haired mountaineer about forty; a mighty chamois hunter; an ex-soldier in the Austrian army, and now a custode of forests, and local inspector of roads; an active, eager fellow, brown as a berry, with honesty written in his face, and an open vivacious manner that won our liking at first sight. "

“[...] a light-eyed, black-haired mountaineer around forty; a powerful chamois hunter; a former soldier in the Austrian army, and now a guardian of the forests and local road inspector; an active, eager fellow, brown as a berry, with an honest face and an open, lively manner that won our favor at first sight. "

- Amelia Edwards (1872)

First ascents

Web links

literature

  • Ernesto Majoni: Santo Siorpaes Salvador (1832-1900). Vita e opere di una guida alpina d'Ampezzo . Tipolitografia Print House, Cortina d'Ampezzo 2004. (Italian).
  • Carlo Mazzariol: Santo Siorpaes . Sezione CAI di Treviso Biography (CAI) (Italian).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Carlo Mazzariol: Santo Siorpaes. CAI , accessed December 2, 2016 (Italian).
  2. ↑ Amelia Edwards : Untrodded Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys. Longman's, Green & Co., London [1]
personal data
SURNAME Siorpaes, Santo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Santo Severino Siorpaes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian climber
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH Cortina d'Ampezzo
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 1900
Place of death Cortina d'Ampezzo