Josef Knubel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franz Lochmatter and Josef Knubel around 1920

Josef Knubel (born March 2, 1881 in St. Niklaus ; † May 31, 1961 Visp ) was a Swiss mountain and ski guide . He is known as the “King of the four-thousanders” because in his professional career, Josef Knubel has climbed a four-thousand-meter peak over eight hundred times .

Life

Josef Knubel was a son of the mountain guide Peter Knubel (1832-1919) from St. Niklaus in the Swiss canton of Valais, who, together with Josef Marie Lochmatter , was the first guide to climb the Matterhorn after the accident of the first climber from the Swiss side via the Hörnligrat. On July 21, 1896, when he was fifteen, he took his son Josef with him to the summit. Josef Knubel belonged a. a. with Alexander Burgener and Franz Lochmatter to the second generation of Swiss mountain guides from the pioneering days. In an obituary in the magazine Die Alpen of the Swiss Alpine Club, he is described as “the last of the old mountain guide guard of the Mattertal”.

Knubel's guests included the British alpinists Geoffrey Winthrop Young and Arnold Lunn and the Swiss Alfred Zürcher and Hans Lauper . His skills in ice and rock were legendary, as evidenced by the knubel crack in difficulty level 5+ on the east face of the Aiguille du Grépon in the Mont Blanc area .

In the mountain guide museum in St. Niklaus Dorf you can find a. Josef Knubel's ski guide diploma from December 14, 1925 and a separate print from Berge der Welt 1958/1959 with the handwritten dedication by Alfred Zürcher to Josef Knubel regarding the first ascent of the north face of the Eiger .

First ascents (selection)

  • August 28, 1905: Southeast face of the Weisshorn with Geoffrey Winthrop Young , VJE Ryan and guide Josef Lochmatter
  • August 11, 1906: Southwest face of the Täschhorn with GW Young, Ryan and the guides Josef and Franz Lochmatter
  • August 18, 1906: Younggrat am Breithorn with GW Young, RJ Major, CD Robertson and M. Ruppen
  • August 21, 1907: Zinalrothorn east face with GW Young, CD Robertson
  • August 31, 1909: Northeast face of the Weisshorn with GW Young and OP Smith
  • August 9, 1911: Brouillardgrat on Mont Blanc via Col Émile Rey with GW Young, Karl Blodig and HO Jones
  • August 11, 1911: Hirondellesgrat on the Grandes Jorasses in descent with GW Young and HO Jones
  • August 14, 1911: West ridge of the Grandes Jorasses with GW Young and HO Jones
  • August 19, 1911: East face of the Aiguille du Grépon with GW Young, HO Jones, R. Todhunter and the guide H. Brocherel
  • July 14, 1914: Southwest ridge of the Gspaltenhorn with GW Young, S. Herford and the guide H. Brantschen
  • June 18, 1917: First ski ascent of the cathedral with Arnold Lunn
  • September 10, 1929: northeast face of Scheidegg-Wetterhorn on the Wetterhorn with FJ Biner and NS Finzi
  • August 18, 1930: Piz Bernina west face with Thomas Graham Brown, Alexander Graven and Alfred Zürcher
  • 23 August 1930: Piz Roseg northeast face with T. Graham Brown, A. Graven and A. Zürcher
  • August 20, 1932: Northeast face of the Eiger with A. Graven, Hans Lauper and A. Zürcher (Lauper Route)
  • the other first ascents see below under literature

See also

literature

  • Christian Imboden: Mountains: job, calling, fate . Rotten Verlag , Visp 2013, ISBN 3-907624-48-3 . Pages 100 ff .: Josef Knubel (1881-1961) , pages 136 ff .: The first ascents
  • Emil Zopfi : Little Josef was really big. In: Daniel Anker, Caroline Fink, Marco Volken: Dom & Täschhorn. Mischabel crown. AS Verlag, Zurich 2012.
  • Marco Volken : The first mountain guides. In: Daniel Anker, Marco Volken: Weisshorn. Diamond of the Valais. AS Verlag , Zurich 2011.
  • Dominique Roulin: Josef Knubel. In: Die Alpen, magazine of the Swiss Alpine Club , 8/1997.
  • Geoffrey Winthrop Young : My ways in the Alps. Hallwag Publishing House, Bern 1955.
  • Geoffrey Winthrop Young: On High Hills. Memories of the Alps. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London 1927.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knubel, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knubel, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mountaineer, mountain and ski guide pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Niklaus
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1961
Place of death St. Niklaus