Josef Aschauer

Josef Aschauer (born January 16, 1902 in Berchtesgaden ; † December 18, 1995 there ) was a German mountaineer , mountain rescuer , skier and ski jumper .

Life

Josef Aschauer was born in Berchtesgaden, grew up there and began an apprenticeship as a printer and typesetter at the age of 13 . He worked in this profession until 1924. From the age of 17, Aschauer was involved in most mountain rescue operations around Berchtesgaden, headed the Berchtesgaden Alpine Rescue Center from 1925 to 1938 and was awarded the Alpine Club Rescue Medal and the State Rescue Medal for his commitment. He worked for EDEKA for two years and gained commercial experience in order to be able to take over the parental delicatessen business. As a mountain guide, he was always out and about on the Watzmannstock; and Hermann Goering counted repeatedly to its customers. When the Second World War broke out , Aschauer was drafted and used as an air fighter and flight detector at various locations. In the last two years of the war he taught at the Army and High Mountain School in Fulpmes . In 1949 Aschauer was one of the founders of the Berchtesgadener Bergbahn GmbH and pioneer of her projects for the Obersalzbergbahn (1949) and the Jennerbahn (1952/53). In 1952 he became a Kehlstein advisor in the Berchtesgaden section of the German Alpine Club . Aschauer also appeared several times in literary terms, including in the book "Death as a Rope Companion" by Walter Pause .

His son was the sculptor Alfred Aschauer (1931–2013).

Alpinistic achievements

Josef Aschauer was one of the climbing elite Berchtesgaden in the 1920s. At the age of 17 he climbed the east face of the Watzmann . He appeared with a large number of first ascents in the rock faces of the Berchtesgaden Alps , of which the most important are listed below:

• 1920 Watzmannfrau , direct west wall (without hook )
• 1921 Watzmann-Hocheck, direct east face
• 1921 Hoher Göll , direct west face
• 1922 Hoher Göll, west wall, "Big funnel"
• 1922 Watzmann-Jungfrau, direct east face
• 1923 Kleines Palfelhorn , southeast face
• 1925 Large friction from and to Berchtesgaden in 18 hours
• 1927 1st Watzmann child, direct west face
• 1927 Watzmann-Ostwand, Salzburger Weg, 1st ascent in the descent
• 1930 on Whitsunday on Whitsunday with skis in 11 hours from the Kärlingerhaus to the Hochkönig and back
• 1931 on foot from Berchtesgaden through the Hagengebirge to the Hochkönig, from there descent and descent to Bischofshofen, by train back to Berchtesgaden - all within 23 hours
• 1931 Großer Hachelkopf , north face
• 1942 ascent of Elbrus
• 1947 Watzmann east face, Berchtesgadener Weg. The first ascent of this easiest and nowadays most popular route through the Watzmann east face was accidentally; Aschauer and Schuster actually wanted to take the Münchner Weg, but got off the route and by chance found the even easier ascent of the Berchtesgadener Weg. Josef Aschauer climbed the Watzmann east face over a hundred times.

The "black day" on the Watzmann

Josef Aschauer also gained notoriety because, in June 1922, he was involved in the greatest tragedy that has ever happened on the Watzmann. Seven mountaineers - including Aschauer - climbed through the east face of the Watzmann in two rope teams and had to deal with adverse weather during the tour, which continued to deteriorate in the course of the afternoon. When the first mountaineers around Aschauer reached the Watzmanngrat, the rain turned into snow, and the tragedy loomed: the other rope team, hampered by heavy backpacks, made poor progress, and one climber after another was affected by exhaustion and hypothermia . Only Willi Pöhlmann and Josef Aschauer survived the sudden fall in the weather, the other five died one after the other - one still on the east wall, the others on the ridge.

Other sporting achievements

Josef Aschauer was also an excellent skier and took part in various FIS races until 1929 and in the 1929 World Championships in Zakopane . At the German ski championships in 1925 he was third in the combination. Aschauer was awarded the Golden Badge of Honor by the German Ski Association . He continued to ski until he was 80.

literature

• Berchtesgadener Anzeiger No. 245 of December 21, 1995 (obituary)
• Bergsteiger , June 1978, p. 344
• Horst Höfler : Berchtesgadener Alpen , Rosenheim 1993. pp. 87-92
• Hellmuth Schöner (ed.): The Berchtesgadener Land through the ages. Supplementary volume I to the work by A. Helm published in 1929 . Berchtesgaden 1982, pp. 41-42

Web links

• Personal folder on Josef Aschauer (collection of materials). (pdf; 3.6 MB) Historical Alpine Archives of the Alpine Clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol, accessed on November 13, 2011 .