Hermann Steuri

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hermann ("Mändel") Steuri (born September 8, 1909 in Grindelwald ; † August 17, 2001 there ) was a Swiss mountain guide and alpine ski racer . He won several international ski races in the 1930s and is considered one of the most famous Grindelwald mountain guides of the 20th century.

Hans Haidegger, Mäusi Lüthi, Hermann Steuri after the first ascent of the Kingspitz north-east face on September 25, 1938

biography

Hermann Steuri was born as the second son of the Grindelwald mountain guide and three-time Swiss champion Fritz Steuri . Fascinated by mountaineering as a child, Hermann Steuris decided to become a mountain guide like his father in the summer of 1926, when he was working as porter for the renovation of the Konkordia hut . After completing the mountain guide course, he received the mountain guide license on October 30, 1930. He had already undertaken demanding mountain tours with his father and other guides. In 1930 he climbed in the Dolomites with the famous Italian mountaineer Angelo Dimai .

The mountain guide Hermann Steuri undertook countless tours in the entire Alpine region , especially in the Swiss and French Alps as well as in the Dolomites. On July 26, 1934, he and the German Arthur Bauer made the second ascent of the Mönch north face via the Lauper route and two days later the second ascent of the Wetterhorn north face. The third ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn followed on July 24, 1935 , for the first time without a bivouac , and on August 9, 1936, the first ascent of the north-west face of the Klein Fiescherhorn with Mäusi Lüthy from the Swiss Women's Alpine Club . On August 17, 1936, Hermann Steuri was the first to climb the Kingspitz east face in the Engelhorns with Mäusi Lüthy and on September 25, 1938 the Kingspitz north east face with Hans Haidegger and Mäusi Lüthy, with whom he also undertook other tours. While Steuri's route through the Kingspitz east face was rarely used later, the one through the north east face developed into a "classic". Again together with the German farmer, he climbed Mont Blanc on July 24, 1937 as the third rope team over the Sentinelle Rouge and on August 4 over the Innominatagrat. He also climbed numerous peaks in the Dolomites in the same year. The Eiger north face near his hometown Grindelwald had never climbed Steuri. He certainly had the mountaineering skills - even for a first ascent, which was finally achieved in July 1938 by a German-Austrian rope team with Anderl Heckmair , Ludwig Vörg , Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek - but as a conscientious professional mountain guide he did not want to face objective dangers expose to such an ascent. On the other hand, he climbed the northeast face of the Eiger in 1945 with his brother Fritz Steuri junior and the Swiss cigar manufacturer Hediger as the third group. In 1948 he climbed the Gross Fiescherhorn with Hediger via a new route in the north face. For three years Steuri climbed with the German actress and director Leni Riefenstahl , whom he met in 1935 on the Jungfraujoch. She needed climbing skills for the film.

Outside the Alps, Steuri was involved in the Swiss Andes expedition in Peru in 1966 , led by Ernst Schmied . He climbed the southern summit of Yerupaja and Nevado Rasac with other mountaineers and climbed Rasac Central alone . In the same year he undertook another Andean expedition with the Swiss industrialist Karl Merz and in 1971 he led Merz to the 5119 meter high Margherita Peak in Africa. He also went on tours in the Canadian Rockies , the Himalayas and the Pyrenees .

The experienced mountain guide also gained a high reputation as a trainer: Steuri led courses for mountain training in the military and, after the Second World War, mountain guide courses for a long time. Among other things, he was Vice President of the Swiss Mountain Guide Association and was elected chairman of the International Association of Mountain Guide Associations in the 1970s .

Hermann Steuri also played in the team of the Grindelwald ice hockey club , but in addition to his work as a mountain guide, he also appeared as an excellent ski racer , especially in slalom. In 1928 and 1932 he won the «Jungfrau Prize» for winning the three-man combination at the summer ski race on the Jungfraujoch and in 1929 the junior downhill run at the «23. Big ski race in Switzerland »in Arosa . At the 1st Swiss relay race in 1933 in Grindelwald, he was the starting runner of the second-placed Grindelwald relay. Steuri took part in Alpine World Ski Championships three times : in 1932 in Cortina d'Ampezzo he was ninth in the slalom, seventeenth in downhill and twelfth in combination . In 1936 he finished the descent in Innsbruck in 19th position despite a shoulder dislocation that he suffered in the upper part of the route. But he could no longer compete in the slalom the next day. In 1937 in Chamonix he achieved tenth place in the slalom (at the same time with the Italian Vittorio Chierroni ). He celebrated his greatest successes in 1935 with the slalom victory at the Arlberg-Kandahar races in Mürren and in 1936 with the slalom victory at the Lauberhorn races in Wengen , where he also came third in the combination.

From 1932 to 1937, Hermann Steuri was also the coach of the Swiss national ski team, mainly the women's team, which he prepared for the 1936 Winter Olympics and the 1936 and 1937 World Championships, among other things. As a ski instructor he worked at the Grindelwald Ski School, which was founded in 1932, and taught Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands , for example, in 1939 , but also taught in his own advanced school. He demonstrated his elegant driving style in the educational film made in 1934 and premiered in December 1935 by the newly founded Swiss Ski School Association with the name "Swiss Ski School Grindelwald - a chapter on ski technology demonstrated by Hermann Steuri".

Statistics & successes (skiing)

World championships

More Achievements

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Hermann Steuri personal folder (with unknown newspaper report, around 1960) in the Historical Alpine Archives of the Alpine Clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol, accessed on July 12, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Daniel Anker : Hermann Steuri - versatile with elegance. In: The Alps. Journal of the Swiss Alpine Club. Issue 11/2001, pp. 26-27.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 208.
  4. ↑ Hermann Steuri Guide, Museum Grindelwald.
  5. ^ Samuel Brawand : Grindelwald mountain guide. Heimatvereinigung Grindelwald, Grindelwald 1973, p. 83.
  6. ↑ tour book Hans Haidegger.
  7. ↑ a b c Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 209.
  8. ^ Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 173.
  9. ^ Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 171.
  10. ^ Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 181.
  11. ^ Rudolf Rubi : From mountain farming village to tourist resort: hospitality, alpinism. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume II). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1986, p. 219.
  12. ↑ "The best leader one." Echo von Grindelwald , June 13, 2005, accessed on July 13, 2011.
  13. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, p. 126, 128.
  14. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, p. 203.
  15. ↑ Fritz Erb : The 23rd major Swiss ski race in Arosa. In: The mountain hare. Yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club. Volume 1, No. 3, 1929, pp. 215-231.
  16. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, p. 184.
  17. ↑ 50 km run and 1st relay race in Grindelwald. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. Volume 29, 1933. pp. 169–170.
  18. ^ A. Hochholdinger: FIS race in Cortina d'Ampezzo 1932. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. Volume 28, 1932. pp. 163-165.
  19. ^ Willy Bonomo: The FIS races in Cortina d'Ampezzo. In: The mountain hare. Yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club. Volume 2, No. 6, 1932, pp. 213-220.
  20. ^ Heinrich Fueter: The World Championships 1936 in Innsbruck. In: The mountain hare. Yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club. Volume 3, No. 10, 1936, pp. 366-373.
  21. ^ Paul Simon: FIS race in Innsbruck 1936. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. Volume 32, 1936. pp. 172-181.
  22. ^ Walter Amstutz : The Ski World Championships 1937. In: Der Schneehase. Yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club. Volume 3, No. 11, 1937, pp. 513-516.
  23. ↑ Courses de la FIS in Chamonix. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. Volume 34, 1938. pp. 102-104.
  24. ^ Fritz Ringgenberg: 8th Arlberg-Kandahar race in Mürren. 9/10 March 1935. In: The mountain hare. Yearbook of the Swiss Academic Ski Club. Volume 3, No. 9, 1935, pp. 242-244.
  25. ^ Hans Stuber: Annual report of the technical management. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. 31st year, 1935. p. 138.
  26. ↑ Martin Born: Lauberhorn - the story of a myth. AS Verlag, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-909111-08-4 , pp. 37 and 234.
  27. ^ A b Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, p. 198.
  28. ^ IV. Olympic Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In: Yearbook of the Swiss Ski Association. Volume 32, 1936. pp. 162-170.
  29. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, pp. 220-221.
  30. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, pp. 219-220.
  31. ^ Rudolf Rubi : The summer and winter health resort: roads and railways, winter sports. (= In the valley of Grindelwald . Volume III). Verlag Sutter Druck, Grindelwald 1987, p. 219.
personal data
SURNAME Steuri, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steuri, Mändel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mountain guides and ski racers
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Grindelwald , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 17, 2001
Place of death Grindelwald , Switzerland