Albert Bitterling

Albert Bitterling (born October 12, 1910 in Kempten (Allgäu) , † August 15, 1995 in Berchtesgaden ) was a German hut keeper and mountain guide .

Life

After completing a commercial apprenticeship and working for several years in the industry, Albert Bitterling was a mountain guide for the mountain troops from 1939 to 1945 . From 1945 he held the position of winter hut warden of the Watzmannhaus and made meteorological observations there. During this time he also worked as a mountain and ski guide . From 1955 to 1978 he ran the Watzmannhaus together with his wife Gabriele.

Expeditions to the Himalayas

Albert Bitterling was a co-founder of the German Institute for International Research. Together with other members of the institute, he undertook several expeditions to the Himalayan region .

German-Austrian Willy Merkl Memorial Expedition 1953

During the first ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953 by Hermann Buhl , Bitterling was deputy expedition leader, main camp manager and carried out meteorological observations on the mountain. Hans Ertl made the documentary Nanga Parbat about this expedition .

German Himalayan Expedition 1954

Bitterling also supported the expedition to Broad Peak in 1954 as deputy to the expedition leader K. Herrligkoffer .

Sigi Löw Memorial Expedition 1970

At the age of 60, Bitterling led the convoy with the expedition equipment on a three-week journey from Munich to Rawalpindi . He no longer took part in the ascent of Nanga Parbat , where Günther and Reinhold Messner , Felix Kuen and Peter Scholz finally reached the summit.

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Notes from the estate of A. Bitterling

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Horst Höfler: The history of the Watzmannhaus on alpenverein-muechnen-oberland.de, accessed on July 19, 2020, for the facts themselves - the dates for the couple are missing.