Christian Klucker

Christian Klucker (born September 28, 1853 in Fex Valley ; † December 21, 1928 there ) was a Swiss mountain guide from the Engadine .

Klucker in his house in the Fex valley

Klucker was a pioneer in alpinism at the turn of the 20th century, a pioneer of a modern and comprehensive form of mountain guide profession and a fighter for the preservation of nature. Today he is also regarded as an early representative of free climbing. His single-handed attempt on the northern edge of Piz Badile is legendary , where he climbed two thirds of the edge in socks on July 11, 1892, mastering points of difficulty IV .

He made a large number of first ascents in Bergell and in other regions of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains and celebrated his 25th professional anniversary in 1901, during which he was able to look back on 3,000 mountain tours without the slightest accident.

His autobiography Memoirs of a Mountain Guide appeared after his death, became a bestseller, and has been translated into English and more recently into Italian. Emil Zopfi got a new German edition in 2010 for AS Verlag, Zurich.

Christian Klucker was u. a. the mountain guide from Paul Güssfeldt on the first ascent of the Peuterey ridge on Montblanc, from Ludwig Norman-Neruda u. a. on the first ascent of the northeast face of the Lyskamm, by Anton von Rydzewski and Theodor Curtius in the development of the Bergeller Mountains and by Edward Whymper in the Rocky Mountains. One of the tragic chapters in Klucker's biography is his strange involvement with the Russian Baron Anton von Rydzewski, who was an excellent mountain photographer, but only a moderately gifted mountaineer. Between 1891 and 1900, Klucker led the Baron on many first ascents and other difficult routes in Bergell during ten campaigns despite constant arguments .

In addition to his work as a mountain guide, Klucker held various public offices. He was twice mayor in Sils , and for many years he was in charge of school maintenance until his death. More than 2,500 letters in German, Ladin and Italian testify to his commitment to the community, sustainable tourism and school children. He also looked after the post office in his home.

Klucker died of sudden heart failure. His birthplace and home in Fex Platta can now be rented as a holiday home. A workbench, his seating area in the small room and the counter of the former post office still remind of him today.

In the feature film The White Hell from Piz Palü (1929) Klucker was portrayed by Otto Spring.

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  Anton von Rydzewski , Mansueto Barbaria, Christian Klucker (from left)

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  Christian Kaufmann, Josef Pollinger , Christian Klucker and Josef Bossonay (from left) accompanied Edward Whymper to Canada in 1901

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  Klucker (4th from left) with Theodor Curtius (3rd from left), in front of the Forno hut

Fonts

• Memories of a mountain guide. Edited and provided with a picture of life by Ernst Jenny. Rentsch, Erlenbach-Zürich 1930. New edition published and provided with a foreword by Emil Zopfi . AS, Zurich 2010.
  • Adventures of an Alpine Guide. Murray, London 1932.
  • Memorie di una Guida Alpina. A Cura di Giovanni Rossi, con una Prefazione di Roberto Osio. Edizioni Trararà, Verbania 1999.

literature

• Ursula Bauer, Jürg Frischknecht: A Russ in Bergell. Anton von Rydzewski 1838–1913. The first photographer in Bergell. Desertina, Chur 2007.
• Emil Zopfi: poet on the mountain. Alpine literature from Switzerland. AS, Zurich 2009.
• Emil Zopfi: Christian Klucker, the rebellious mountain guide from the Fex valley. In: Bündner Monatsblatt , 5/2011, pp. 371–394;

Web links

Commons : Christian Klucker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Christian Klucker in the catalog of the German National Library
• First ascent of Rydzewski and Klucker
• First ascent of Klucker ( memento from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Italian)