Anderl Heckmair

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Andreas "Anderl" Heckmair (born October 12, 1906 in Munich ; † February 1, 2005 in Oberstdorf ) was a German mountain guide and alpinist .

Life

Heckmair route in the Eiger north face

Anderl Heckmair spent part of his childhood in an orphanage in Munich. He was twelve years old when he was in Switzerland for recreation . This awoke his love for the mountains.

First, however, Heckmair did an apprenticeship as a gardener (1920), and later (1927–1929) trained as a horticultural technician. During the Great Depression (from 1929) he kept afloat with odd jobs, such as B. as hut bearer and “wild”, ie unauthorized mountain guide. He also gave smaller lectures on his tours.

As a climber, he mastered extreme walls in the Eastern and Western Alps, for example in the Dolomites . He became world famous in July 1938 for the first ascent of the famous Eiger north face with his friend Ludwig Vörg and the two Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek . The route they found was later named after him.

This inspection gave Heckmair and his rope team a reception with Adolf Hitler in August 1938 . Then he was appointed to his first regular job as a "community leader and mountain sports guide" at the Ordensburg Sonthofen , although he was not a member of the NSDAP .

During the Second World War , Heckmair was deployed on the Eastern Front , among others . In 1954 he took part in a Karakoram expedition, then led his own expedition trips, e.g. B. to Africa, the Andes and the Himalayas. Heckmair lived in Oberstdorf, but he made his tours across the Alps. The Association of German Mountain and Ski Guides (VDBS) was founded in 1969 on his initiative.

He gave lectures about his mountaineering ventures and was also active as an author. He wrote several mountain books and on the occasion of his 85th birthday his autobiography Anderl Heckmair: So wars .

"In my mountaineering activities, I have always had the principle: It is not the performance that counts, but the experience."

- Anderl Heckmair

In memoriam

  • Anderl-Heckmair-Stüberl: Since 2005 there has been the "Anderl-Heckmair-Stüberl" in Hattingen in Elfringhauser Switzerland , in which friend and biographer Uli Auffermann reminds of Anderl Heckmair with photos, small exhibitions or lectures
  • Since 2009, the “Anderl-Heckmair-Weg” has also started at the same point, an approximately 2.5 km long, marked walk on which ten signposts provide information about the life and work of Heckmair
  • The municipality of Oberstdorf has set up a small Heckmair path on the Söllereck (Allgäu Alps); it begins at the Schönblick inn
  • In the summer of 2011, Walter Hölzler and Karl-Heinz Hollmann set up and first climbed the "Anderl Heckmair Gedächtnisweg", a climbing route on the Widderstein with difficulty level VIII.
  • In 1991 his son Andreas Heckmair explored the Heckmair Route , a mountain bike route from Oberstdorf to Riva del Garda .

literature

  • Uli Auffermann : What counts is the experience: Anderl Heckmair - alpinist and bon vivant; the portrait of the great mountain guide and first-time climber of the Eiger north face . (Foreword by Martin Schliessler ). Semann Verlag, Bochum 2002, ISBN 3-00-008873-3 .
  • Uli Auffermann, Anderl Heckmair: Fortunately, it's going uphill. (Foreword by Harry Valérien ). Tyrolia Verlag, Innsbruck 2005, ISBN 3-7022-2690-7 .
  • Uli Auffermann: Anderl Heckmair - A life in pictures. (Preface by Dani Arnold ). Semann Verlag, March 2020, ISBN 978-3-946862-15-4
  • Uli Auffermann: Crossing - moment. Semann Verlag, Bochum; perpetual calendar for Anderl Heckmair; A3 format with 13 exposures
  • Anderl Heckmair: That's how it was. Oberstdorfer Alpenverlag, 1991.
  • Anderl Heckmair: Eiger north face, Grandes Jorasses and other adventures. (Foreword by Reinhold Messner ). AS Verlag , Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-905111-38-1 .
  • Anderl Heckmair: My life as a mountaineer. Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-485-01755-8 .
  • Franz Albert Heinen : NS-Ordensburgen - Vogelsang, Sonthofen, Krössinsee , Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86153-618-5 .
  • David Pagel: My Dinner with Anderl. In: Allen Steck, Steve Roper: Ascent . AAC Press, Golden, CO, 1999, ISBN 0-930410-80-7 , pp. 13-26.

Web links

Commons : Anderl Heckmair  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinen: Ordensburgen, p. 93.
  2. ↑ Anderl Heckmair Memorial Path. (PDF; 433 kB) at: walter-hoelzler.de
personal data
SURNAME Heckmair, Anderl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heckmair, Andreas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mountaineer and mountain guide
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 2005
Place of death Oberstdorf