Hias Noichl

Matthäus "Hias" Noichl (born October 17, 1920 in Jochberg , † December 19, 2002 in St. Johann in Tirol ) was an Austrian cross-country skier , mountaineer and mountain guide . He took part in two Olympic Winter Games and was six times Austrian champion. As a mountaineer, Noichl made several first ascents in the Alps . Among other things, he was chairman of the Association of Austrian Mountain and Ski Guides and the International Association of Mountain Guide Associations.

biography

Noichl grew up as the oldest of four children on a mountain farm in Jochberg in Tyrol , where he attended elementary school. During his military service in World War II , he was stationed on the Arctic Front in northern Norway . There he came into contact with cross-country skiing for the first time and took part in the first competitions for the 6th Mountain Division. Wounded several times, he returned to Austria in 1944, where he continued to practice this sport. After the war, Noichl was quickly accepted into the Austrian national team and celebrated some successes, especially at national level. In March 1946, he scored the Austrian countries meeting in Seefeld in Tirol in second place behind Oskar Schulz in the 18-km cross-country and first place in the 4 x 10-kilometer relay race with the Tyrolean season, the next Noichl and Schulz nor Hans Jamnig and Alois Unterrainer belonged. In the winter of 1947 he achieved, among other things, two fifth places in 18-km races in Kitzbühel and Chamonix . In 1948 Noichl was nominated for the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz , where he finished 45th out of 83 runners in the 18 km cross-country skiing. In the following years he won a total of six Austrian championship titles , five of which with the Tyrolean relay in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953 and 1954, as well as a single title in 16 km cross-country skiing in 1950. He was eliminated from the 1950 World Cup in the United States However, it was not sent for cost reasons. In 1952 Noichl was used a second time at the Winter Olympics . In Oslo he reached the 28th place over the 18 km distance. From the mid-1950s, he increasingly withdrew from competitive sports.

Noichl passed the Tyrolean mountain and ski guide examination in 1947, and the state ski instructor examination a year later. In autumn 1948 he took over the management of the St. Johann in Tirol ski school , which he held for a total of 38 years, and opened one of the first ski rentals in Austria. Noichl was chairman of the St. Johann in Tirol ski club for several years and from 1950 chairman of the Wilder Kaiser St. Johann in Tirol section of the Austrian Alpine Club for over 16 years . He also headed the St. Johann in Tirol local branch of the Austrian Mountain Rescue Service for 25 years . In 1952 he married his wife Gisela, with whom he had three daughters. Noichl became known as a mountaineer through numerous first ascents in the Kaiser Mountains and in the Dolomites . In 1958, after falling rocks, he managed to save himself from the north face of the Eiger despite serious injuries . The experienced mountain guide headed the Association of Austrian Mountain and Ski Guides for 15 years and the International Association of Mountain Guide Associations for several years . For twelve years he led the alpine courses he initiated for the state ski instructor training, and he was instrumental in setting up a mountain rescue and mountain guide system in Iran . Noichl was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria and the Cross of Merit of the State of Tyrol .

literature

• Austrian Ski Association (Ed.): Austrian Ski Stars from A – Z. Ablinger & Garber, Hall in Tirol 2008, ISBN 978-3-9502285-7-1 , p. 300.
• Hias Noichl in memory. Obituary in the Kitzbüheler Anzeiger, January 3, 2003, p. 20 ( online ).
• Heinrich Harrer: The white spider, the history of the Eiger north face. Ullstein Verlag 1998 ISBN 978-3-548-34612-0

Web links

• Hias Noichl in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

References and comments

1. ↑ Sometimes the first name Matthias can also be found.
2. ^ Anneliese Gidl, Karl Graf: Skisport in Innsbruck. From the beginning to the 21st century. Haymon, Innsbruck-Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-85218-591-0 , p. 92.
3. ^ Victories by Hias Noichl at Austrian cross-country skiing championships. ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 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. ÖSV winner table, accessed on September 26, 2012 (according to the obituary in the Kitzbüheler Anzeiger there were a total of 8 Austrian championship titles).