Mountain guide monument

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The mountain guide monument is a monument in St. Niklaus Dorf in the Swiss canton of Valais . It was founded in 1995 by Zaniglaser club mountain guides beings honor

built. Above all, it is intended to commemorate the pioneers of alpinism , who had a decisive influence on mountain guides around the world, especially over the first two generations . The mountain guides of St. Niklaus have made over 300 first ascents worldwide . No other community in the Alpine region has produced as many great mountain guides as St. Niklaus in Mattertal , which has developed into the center of mountain guides.

location

The mountain guide monument is located at 1116  m above sea level. M. on the church square of the parish of St. Niklaus . The location of the mountain guide memorial was chosen near the church, because a large part of public life takes place there and since twenty-one mountain guides from St. Niklaus have died a non-natural death to date (as of September 12, 2016).

The model of the mountain guide monument on a scale of 1:20

history

In order to put a stop to the general forgetting of the history of the Zaniglaser mountain guide system, the Zaniglaser mountain guide association was founded . This aims to process and maintain the mountain guide tradition of the St. Niklaus community. From the beginning, the aim was to create a memorial for all mountain guides in the St. Niklaus community. In order to be able to convince the patrons, parish and congregation, a model was also advertised, which was designed on a scale of 1:20 by the artist and architect Thomas Imboden. During the 10th home conference on June 4, 1995, the mountain guide monument was inaugurated in the presence of the Alpine Club , which was fully financed by sponsorship money.

Illumination of the mountain guide monument originally designed by the artist. Today it is lit from the front.

description

The mountain guide monument consists of two mighty Augengneis stones from the area of ​​the hamlets Hellenen and Brand, which are located on the right flank of the valley above St. Niklaus Dorf at 1523  m above sea level. M. and 1528  m above sea level. M. are located. The stones were left in their natural found shape. They stand on a foundation clad with St. Niklaus quartzite .

The pioneers

Original bronze badge (70 × 55 cm) of the certified mountain guides of the Swiss Mountain Guide Association (SBV) on the smaller stone of the mountain guide monument

The smaller stone with a height of 2.50 meters bears the original badge of the Swiss mountain guides in bronze (70 × 55 cm) and underneath a second bronze plaque (70 × 100 cm), which contains both the inscription

IN MEMORY OF

ZANIGLASER MOUNTAIN GUIDE

THE PIONEERS

as well as the names of the pioneers of mountain guides:

  • Josef Marie Lochmatter (1833–1882)
    • Founder and ancestor of the well-known Zaniglaser mountain guide system
    • "King of the Matterhorn " ( 4478  m above sea level ), he made the second ascent of the Hörnli ridge on the Matterhorn in 1868 and had a de facto monopoly on Dent Blanche ( 4357  m above sea level ) until his accidental death in 1882 Matterhorn tours
    • 1868 Builder of the first Matterhorn hut on the Hörnligrat at 3818  m above sea level. M.
  • Peter Knubel (1832-1919)
    • 1874 First ascent of the highest mountain in Europe , the Elbrus at 5642  m
    • Guides in old age, for example, at the age of 76, he still carried out Matterhorn tours, which are at least praised by guests in his guide book, even at the age of 80 he had climbed "his" mountain with mountain friends
  • Alois Pollinger (1844-1910)
    • Inventor of the modern abseiling technique with double rope
    • “King” of difficult climbing tours, for example in 1882 he carried out the first ascent of the Zinal ridge of the Dent Blanche ( 4357  m above sea level ), which, according to one of his words, is also known as the “Viereselsgrat”
  • Josef Imboden (1840–1925)
    • First mountain guide in the Himalayas
    • First Swiss mountain guide to exceed an altitude of 6,000 meters
    • 1899 First ascent of the mountain Imbodentind ( 1565  m ) in Norway, named after him
  • Peter Sarbach (1844–1930)
Mountain guide memorial with a total of seven bronze plaques. The fence was created later
The larger stone of the mountain guide memorial with four name boards. The fourth bronze plaque at the bottom right (55 × 114 cm) was updated for the first time in 2000 during the 11th home conference, so that the mountain guide monument commemorates a total of 105 mountain guides from that date.

The larger stone with a height of 3.70 meters bears four bronze plaques with the names and dates of birth and death of all other no longer living St. Niklaus mountain guides. On the top left of the first bronze plaque (55 × 99 cm) are u. a. the names of the mountain guides of Franz Josef Lochmatter (1825–1897), Alexander Lochmatter (1837–1917) and Niklaus Knubel (1841–1877) can be found:

  • Franz Josef Lochmatter (1825–1897), the eldest brother of Josef Marie Lochmatter, brought the first pimple that wasin usein Chamonix to the Mattertal and Switzerland around 1860. He was also the first to climb the Liskamm ( 4527  m above sea level )in 1861and the Jägerhorn ( 3970  m above sea level ) in 1867. He opened the first hotel in Macugnaga in 1854 and named it «Monte Rosa». He is the tourism pioneer of Macugnaga.
  • Alexander Lochmatter (1837–1917), the younger brother of Josef Marie Lochmatter, took part in the two rescue operations of those who had been injured on the first ascent of the Matterhorn. In this regard, he was called up as a witness on July 22, 1865. The appropriate court record appeared in 1920 in the periodical Alpine Journal of the Alpine Club in French, which also contains the statements of Alexander Lochmatter unfortunately of 14 July. 1865 In 1886 he opened the Hotel Lochmatter in St. Niklaus Dorf.
  • Niklaus Knubel (1841–1877), a younger brother of Peter Knubel, led Lucy Walker as the first woman to climb the Matterhorn ( 4,357  m above sea level )in 1871. Margaret Claudia Brevoort, under the guidance of Niklaus Knubel, was the first woman to traverse the Matterhorn from Zermatt to Breuil in 1871. Niklaus also led the first woman to the Weisshorn ( 4506  m above sea level ) and the Dent Blanche ( 4357  m above sea level ) in1871.

The sons

On the top right of the second bronze plaque (56 × 82 cm) of the larger stone of the mountain guide monument are u. a. to find the names of the sons of the pioneers of mountain guides by Josef Lochmatter , Josef Pollinger, Josef Knubel and Franz Lochmatter :

  • Josef Lochmatter (1872–1915)
    • Founder of the new school and great all-round mountain guide
    • 1913 first ascent of the Lochmatter chimney named after him on the Aiguille du Grépon ( 3482  m )
    • 1906 First ascent of the south face of the Täschhorn ( 4491  m above sea level ). In 1955, Geoffrey Winthrop Young reported : “It is only right to tell of this, for I hardly believe that in overcoming natural difficulties, resistance to the effects of cold, fatigue, and contagion through dejection and fear is in any area of ​​the Adventure or conflict was often unparalleled. "
    • 1905 First to climb the Furggengrat on the Matterhorn. The “King of Mountain Guides”, Alexander Burgener , declared the Furggengrat to be inaccessible
    • Josef Lochmatter traveled to Norway around 1900 to improve his skiing technique there
  • Josef Pollinger (1873-1943)
    • In 1894 led the first descent on the Zmuttgrat of the Matterhorn with Mrs. Lily Bristow
    • Member of the expedition of the successful first ascent of the highest mountain in America of Aconcagua ( 6958  m ), with which a new world altitude record was set
    • 1899 first ascent of the Aiguilles of Chamonix for the first time from the east side of the Mer de Glace
    • Mount Pollinger ( 2743  m ) in Canada named after him
  • Josef Knubel (1881–1961)
    • “King of the four-thousanders”, because in his professional career he has climbed a four-thousand-meter peak over eight hundred times
    • 1911 First to climb the Knubel chimney named after him on the Aiguille du Grépon ( 3482  m )
    • 1932 First ascent of the 1,800-meter-high Eiger north face via the east side, which is now known as the “Lauper Route” after the name of one of his guests
  • Franz Lochmatter (1878–1933)
    • 1912, 1922, 1925 and 1929 to 1930 foreign leaders of four Himalayan expeditions
    • By him in 1929 in Pakistan's Karakoram discovered and named after him Butterfly Micrarctia lochmatteri

The grandchildren

Below left on the third bronze plaque (55 × 98 cm) of the larger stone of the mountain guide monument are u. a. Finding the names of the grandchildren of the pioneers of mountain guides by Erwin Lochmatter and Ulrich Imboden , who were also successful entrepreneurs .

The guests

A seventh bronze plaque with the inscription hangs on the church wall next to the mountain guide memorial in honor of the mountaineers

BRITISH CLIENTS OF ST. NIKLAUS GUIDES

and the name

which led the St. Niklaus mountain guides safely to the numerous mountains of the world.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Mountain Guide Monument  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The first ascents of the St. Niklaus mountain guides to the present day. In mountains: job, calling, destiny. Rotten Verlag, Visp 2013, pp. 108–157.
  2. ^ Carl Egger: Pioneers of the Alps . 1946, p. 311.
  3. ↑ Paragraph 2 of the statutes of the Zaniglaser Mountain Guide Association .
  4. ^ Viktor Summermatter: St. Niklaus. Family statistics and chronicle , St. Niklaus 1975, p. 282.
  5. ↑ Alpine Journal Vol. IV, No. 22, August 1, 1868, pp. 65 f.
  6. ↑ Geoffrey Winthrop Young: My ways in the Alps. 1955, p. 157.
  7. ↑ Palearctia gratiosa lochmatteri or Micrarctia lochmatteri on Wikispecies

Coordinates: 46 ° 10 '38.1 "  N , 7 ° 48' 9.9"  E ; CH1903:  628117  /  114041