Franz Lochmatter (mountaineer)
.jpg)
Franz Lochmatter (* 1878 in St. Niklaus ; † August 17, 1933 on the Weisshorn ) was a Swiss mountaineer and mountain guide .
family
Franz Lochmatter from St. Niklaus in the Swiss canton of Valais was the fifth son of the mountain guide Josef Marie Lochmatter , the founder and progenitor of the well-known St. Niklaus mountain guide dynasty.
In the first years of his career, Franz Lochmatter was the second leader of both the rope team
- with his older brother Josef Lochmatter (1872-1915) and the Irish guest Valentine John Eustace Ryan as well as that
- with his cousin Josef Pollinger (1873–1943) and the English guest William Edward Davidson.
His only son, Franz Lochmatter junior (1924–1988), who in addition to studying medicine also trained as a mountain guide, accompanied an expedition to the Himalayas in 1954.
Foreign guide
Franz Lochmatter was best known for his three trips to the Karakoram in 1922, 1925 and 1929–1930 with the Dutch mountaineer and alpine explorer Philips Christiaan Visser-Hooft. On this third trip abroad, Franz Lochmatter discovered a new species of butterfly from the Arctiidae family (German: bears), to which science named Micrarctia lochmatteri in his honor . In the mountain guide museum in St. Niklaus Dorf you will find, among other things, a small original notebook in pocket size from 10.5 by 6.5 cm and an original sketchbook in format 15.5 × 10 cm, which Franz Lochmatter used on these trips abroad.
Accidental death
On August 17, 1933, Franz Lochmatter and his guest Hermann Hotz fatally fell during the descent from the Weisshornspitze over the east ridge on the Great Gendarme, which is now called the Lochmatterturm . On the 25th anniversary of Franz Lochmatter's death, a memorial plaque made of St. Niklaus quartzite was attached to the site of the accident on the great gendarme of the Weisshorn . On the occasion of his 100th birthday in 1978, the mountain guides of the Nikolaital put a metal cross on the top of the Weisshorn.
First ascents
As the first leader of a rope team, Franz made the following first ascents in the Alps:
- 1904 Strahlhorn over the southwest ridge (variant for the ascent of Alois Burgener and A. Andenmatten from 1891)
- 1909 southern tip of the Inner Barrhorn (descent via the eastern flank)
- 1909 Dürrenhorn over the eastern flank
- 1910 Hohberghorn over the northeast flank
- 1923 Nordend over the north ridge (variant of the ascent from 1906 with his brother Josef Lochmatter (first guide))
See also
literature
- Christian Imboden: Mountains: job, calling, fate . Rotten Verlag , Visp 2013, ISBN 3-907624-48-3 . Pages 104 ff .: Franz Lochmatter (1878-1933) , pages 136 ff .: The first ascents
Web links
- 7 photos by Franz Lochmatter
- Franz Lochmatter's guide book 1899–1933, Alpine Club Archives
- Franz Lochmatter junior, Hans Näf's mountain guide
- Bernard Truffer: Lochmatter. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Mountain Guide Museum
Individual evidence
- ^ Annual report of the Swiss Alpine Club of the Basel section, 1933
- ↑ Palearctia gratiosa lochmatteri or Micrarctia lochmatteri on Wikispecies
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lochmatter, Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss mountaineers and mountain guides |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Niklaus , Canton of Valais, Switzerland |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 17, 1933 |
| Place of death | Weisshorn , Canton of Valais, Switzerland |