Albert Hirschbichler

Albert Hirschbichler (born November 21, 1931 in Sankt Gallen , Styria , Austria ; † June / July 1959 in the Batura Muztagh Mountains, Gilgit-Baltistan , Pakistan ) was a German mountaineer of Austrian origin.

Life

Hirschbichler lived in Berchtesgaden and worked as a customs officer. He was married and is the father of extreme mountaineer Barbara Hirschbichler .

Hirschbichler climbed some of the most famous Alpine faces , including the Bischofsmütze north face, the Große Zinne north face, the Civetta north west face and the Piz Badile north east face. He also climbed the direct southern edge of the Great Mühlsturzhorn , which was one of the most difficult climbing tours in the Northern Limestone Alps at the time. In August 1953 he and Erhard Riedl climbed the north face of the Eiger within three days , which was only the twelfth ascent of this face at the time.

In 1958 he climbed the Peuterey ridge of Mont Blanc , the longest combined ridge climb in the Alps. In a sudden fall in the weather he assisted three English climbers who, in return, invited him to the Batura-Muztagh-Expedition in 1959 , during which the first ascent of Batura Sar (7795 m) was to be carried out. On the ascent to the summit, Hirschbichler, the German Martin Günnel and the English Keith Warburton, Richard Knight and Harry Stephenson disappeared in a storm front. Their bodies were never recovered. It remained unclear whether any of them reached the summit.

A plaque on the Pfaffenkegel in Berchtesgadener Land commemorates Hirschbichler .

Web links

• Personal folder on Albert Hirschbichler (PDF) in the historical Alpine archive of the Alpine clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol (temporarily offline)
• Hirschbichler Albert in AlpinWiki