Heini Holzer

Heini Holzer's grave, Schenna cemetery

Heini Holzer (actually Heinrich Holzer ; born April 7, 1945 in Taufers im Münstertal ; † July 4, 1977 at Piz Roseg ) was a South Tyrolean alpinist who was best known as an extreme skier and was considered the best steep wall skier of the 1970s.

Life

Heini Holzer grew up in difficult family circumstances: his father was missing in the war, his mother, a poor maid, had to take care of Holzer. In 1946 she married again, Holzer was unable to develop a good relationship with his new stepfather, a serious alcoholic. Most of the family lived in Schenna , but changed their place of residence frequently and lived temporarily in the Martell Valley and in Passeier. From the age of five Holzer spent the summer alone as a shepherd boy in the mountains, during the school year he earned money as a musician by entertaining tourists in the hotels by playing guitar and harmonica. At the age of eight, Holzer learned to ski on his first found pair of skis, which he himself fitted with a roller-skate binding. He later entered the commercial school and began an apprenticeship as a chimney sweeper at the age of 14, and at 15 he began to undertake his first mountain tours. Soon afterwards he became a member of the mountain rescue and the Alpine Association of South Tyrol . At the age of 18, Holzer was declared unfit for military service because of his small body size (it is given as 147 to 156 cm, but mostly 153 cm) and began climbing in extreme form. At this time he also completed his first ski tours . He soon became a rope partner to well-known alpinists such as Günther and Reinhold Messner , Peter Habeler , Leo Breitenberger , Helmut Larcher , Dieter Drescher , Roberto Reali , Walter Bonatti and Sepp Mayerl . Since he married at the age of 23 and soon had children, he did not travel to the Himalayas and other distant mountains like many of his climbing partners, but instead concentrated on the Alps. In 1970 he started his steep face descents. His marriage soon broke up due to the high risk involved in his tours and his female rope partners, whom he preferred to men because of his own weight of less than 50 kg. Heini Holzer died in July 1977 when he fell while trying to climb the Piz Roseg north-east face. He is buried at the Schenna cemetery. The northwest channel of the Sass Pordoi , which he first traveled, was named after him Heini-Holzer-Rinne or Canale Holzer . In 2016 a newly built via ferrata on the Ifinger was dedicated to him.

Alpinistic achievements

As a climber, Holzer was mainly known for his solo trips and winter tours, including numerous winter first ascents. Among other things, Holzer was able to book the north pillar of the Thurwieserspitze in 1964 , the direct north-east face of the Aiguille d'Argentiere and the north face of the Civetta in 1967 as the first ascent . Among his first winter ascents were the north face of the Vertainspitze in 1963 , the Schückrinne on the Ortler in 1964 and the south chimneys on the Piz Ciavazes in 1973 . He was also able to carry out the first solo ascents of the Solleder guide on the Furchetta , the western intersection on Piz Ciavazes, the Piaz guide on the Torre Roma and other difficult routes.

Among Holzer's skier runs around 1970 are the north face of the Marmolada , the Cima Tosa , the Cima Brenta , the Hohe Angelus , the Hohe Schneide , the Monte Pasquale , in 1971 the Schückrinne on the Ortler, the Monte Cristallo , the northeast face of the Königspitze , the Mischbachferner on the Habicht , the Tuckettspitze , Trafoier Eiswand , 1972 the northwest gully of the Sass Pordoi , 1972 the north face of the Hochgall , the right hanging glacier on Piz Palü , 1973 the Biancograt on Piz Bernina and the east face of Gran Paradiso , 1974 the Kleine Ifinger , the north face of the Aiguille d 'Argentiere, 1975, the eastern flank of Monte Pelmo , the Lammer Lead on Lodner the Direct Minnigeroderinne am Ortler , the north face of Piz Palu, the Brenvaflanke on Mont Blanc , the north wall of the Aletsch horn , the North Face of Lyskamms , 1976, the northern flank of the Alpine peaks , the east wall des Peitlerkofel and in 1977 the north face of Monte Zebrù . He made many of these trips alone. In total, in the seven years of his skiing career, Holzer was able to carry out 104 steep wall runs with inclines of up to 55 °.

Holzer is often referred to as the "philosopher of the mountains". He was considered a sharp critic of the commercialization of mountain sports and, unlike other extreme skiers, refused to use artificial climbing aids such as lifts and helicopters and always climbed up to his descents on his own. He also attached great importance to his job and, like other top alpinists, refused to become a professional. However, he developed into a well-known publicist who, in addition to articles in the magazines Bergsteiger and Alpinismus , also wrote for the daily newspaper Dolomiten .

literature

• Markus Larcher, Heini Holzer: My track, my life. Crossing the border of an extreme mountaineer . Ed .: Alpine Association South Tyrol . Edition Raetia, Bozen 2000, ISBN 88-7283-136-9 .

Web links

• Personal folder for Heini Holzer (I) (PDF) in the historical Alpine archive of the Alpine clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol (temporarily offline)
• Personal folder on Heini Holzer (II) (PDF) in the historical Alpine archive of the Alpine clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol (temporarily offline)
• Virginia Neradt: Heinrich Holzer. Short persons support, accessed March 22, 2010 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} The extreme mountaineer and chimney sweeper Heini Holzer died 30 years ago . In: Schenna village newspaper . tape 27 , no. 8 . Schenna August 2007, p. 9 ( [1] [PDF; accessed on January 31, 2015]).
2. ^ ^{A b} Virginia Neradt: Heinrich Holzer. (No longer available online.) Short persons support, archived from the original on December 24, 2015 ; accessed on March 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Uli Auffermann: Back then. Bergnews.com, accessed March 22, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Markus Larcher, Heini Holzer: My life, my track. P. 15.
5. ↑ Sass Pordoi north face 2950 m - "Canale Holzer". On: summitpost.org. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
6. ↑ Heini Holzer via ferrata , accessed on October 11, 2017
7. ↑ ^{a b} Markus Larcher, Heini Holzer: My life, my trace. Pp. 171-178.
8. ↑ Markus Larcher, Heini Holzer: My life, my track. P. 32.
9. ↑ Markus Larcher, Heini Holzer: My life, my track. P. 17.