Adolf Schulze (alpinist)

Adolf Schulze (born April 16, 1880 at Orizaba , † 1971 in Cusco ) was a German mountaineer and mining engineer . In the years before the First World War , he was one of the best German alpinists. He was best known for the first ascent of the Ushba in the Caucasus in 1903, which was then considered the most difficult mountain in the world.

Life

Schulze was born as the son of Adolf Schulze sen. From Munich , who emigrated to Mexico in the 1860s . and Maria Ziehl, also of German descent, was born at the Hacienda San Marcial near Orizaba. He was the second oldest of five sons. His parents ran the hacienda until the family returned to Germany in 1884 due to a serious illness in their father. A few weeks later his father died, the widow and five sons stayed in the father's hometown.

After graduating from high school, Schulze began studying geology and mining engineering, which he finished in 1908. In 1909 he went to Norway for a year , where he met his wife Ragna Baehr Claussen. The two married in 1911 and left Germany at the end of that year. In early 1912 the couple settled in La Paz , Bolivia , and began working in the local mining industry. Schulze worked as a freelance engineer for various clients. In 1919 he and his wife moved from La Paz near the city of Sorata , about 150 km away , where he took over the management of a gold mine . Little is known about his further life in the next few years, it is believed that he went to Peru in the late 1920s . Schulze lived in Arequipa from 1939 at the latest . His wife died around 1940. Schulze then moved to Cusco, where he stayed until his death. Since the marriage remained childless and Schulze, as a freelance engineer, received no significant pension payments, he remained dependent on working as an engineer into old age. He died in Cusco in the early summer of 1971.

Achievements as a mountaineer

The double summit of the Ushba

Adolf Schulze and his younger brother Gustav became a member of the Munich Academic Alpine Club in 1899 . At that time, the AAVM decided to build a hut in the Hornbach range , which later became the Hermann von Barth hut . Like other members, Schulze began with his first tours in the eastern Allgäu . While repeating the south face of the Trettachspitze that Josef Enzensperger had first climbed , he discovered an entry variant, and a year later he and his brother were the first to descend the south face. Other peaks in the Allgäu that Schulze climbed, some on the most difficult routes, were the Mädelegabel and the Höfats . Schulze completed a total of twelve first ascents in the Allgäu in the summer of 1900. The collaboration with Felix von Cube erstbegangene Südkamin at the southern tip of Wolf Ebner makes this the first climbing route in the difficulty level V in the Allgäu is. In 1903, the east wall of Enzensperger held nor impassable following the Trettachspitze. Schulze also completed various winter first ascents around the Hermann-von-Barth-Hütte.

Schulze also quickly made a name for himself outside the Allgäu with difficult high-altitude tours and first ascents, especially in the Northern Limestone Alps . In the Wilder Kaiser , among other things, the east wall of the Totenkirchl in 1901 . In the Wetterstein Mountains , however, Ludwig Heis came a few days earlier on the first ascent of the north face of the Hochwanner in June 1904. Together with Hans Leberle, the south face of the Scharnitzspitze followed on June 23, 1905 . In the years from 1904 to 1907, he crossed various of the long ridges of the Wetterstein Mountains, sometimes alone .

Adolf Schulze's most famous first alpine ascent was the northern edge of the Crozzon di Brenta , which he climbed on July 20, 1905 together with Fritz Schneider. In 1906 he completed various difficult first ascents in the Carnic and Julian Alps together with Georg Leuchs , for example on the Mangart and Wischberg . The Naval Observatory at Wolayer lake was climbed by Schulze for the second time ever. Schulze was also active outside the Limestone Alps and made tours in the Valais Alps and the Mont-Blanc group .

Schulze became known to a larger audience outside of alpine circles through his participation in the 1903 expedition to the Caucasus , organized by Willi Rickmer Rickmers , which climbed the 4,737 m high Ushba , which was then classified as the most difficult mountain in the world. The easier and only 4,698 m high northern summit of the Ushba had already been climbed in 1888. The first ascent of the south summit had already been attempted twenty times before 1903, but failed due to the enormous difficulties involved in building the summit. Rickmers had already started three attempts in 1895 that were unsuccessful. For his 1903 expedition, Rickmers gathered a total of eleven participants, including Oscar Schuster , one of the earliest explorers of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, and Heinrich von Ficker with his sister Cenzi von Ficker .

On July 20, 1903, Schulze began a first attempt together with Rickmers, the Ficker siblings and a porter. Shortly before the end of the exit wall, Schulze fell over 20 m and suffered a heavily bleeding head wound with a concussion. With Heinrich von Ficker, who had secured Schulze with the rope, the rope cut deep into the safety hand due to the fall. Despite these injuries and the onset of a thunderstorm, the rope team managed to retreat to base camp for a long time. Just six days after his serious injury, Schulze started a second attempt together with Oscar Schuster, Robert Helbling, Fritz Reichert and Albert Weber. With his head still bandaged, he managed to overcome the key point just below the summit, which he reached as the first person on the evening of July 26, 1903. This success was followed in August 1903 by the first ascent of the 4,320 m high Schechilditau and further peaks in Besengi around the Dychtau .

After his return to Germany, Schulze was celebrated many times and was known as "Uschba-Schulze". Prince Dadeschkeliani of Svaneti , on the other hand, was more impressed by the courage of Cenzi von Ficker - she received the Ushba as a formal gift.

After emigrating to South America, Schulze stayed true to mountaineering. His first tours in 1915 include the second highest Bolivian mountain, the 6,460 m high southern summit of Illimani and the first ascent of 5,864 m high Mururata , the latter single-handedly . In 1919 the last major tour was the 6,427 high Ancohuma , probably also the 6,200 m high Haucana . It is uncertain whether Schulze undertook further mountain tours in the following years.

literature

• Stefan Meineke: A life full of adventure. Adolf Schulze - a forgotten pioneer of modern alpinism . in: Alpenvereinsjahrbuch 2001, pp. 96–109

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Meineke: A life full of adventure. Adolf Schulze - a forgotten pioneer of modern alpinism . in: Alpenvereinsjahrbuch 2001, p. 108
2. ↑ Stefan Meineke: A life full of adventure. Adolf Schulze - a forgotten pioneer of modern alpinism . in: Alpine Club Yearbook 2001, p. 97
3. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Meineke: A life full of adventure. Adolf Schulze - a forgotten pioneer of modern alpinism . in: Alpine Club Yearbook 2001, p. 98
4. ↑ Stefan Meineke: A life full of adventure. Adolf Schulze - a forgotten pioneer of modern alpinism . in: Alpenvereinsjahrbuch 2001, p. 101
5. ^ Karl Lukan : Mountains. The great adventure , Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1979, p. 125
6. ↑ 100 years of the Hermann von Barth Hut , in: DAV Panorama 6/2000, pp. 36–39 ( PDF )
7. ^ Karl Lukan: Mountains. The great adventure , Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1979, p. 126