Josef Pichler (mountain guide)

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The first ascent of the Ortler by Josef Pichler, picture by an unknown artist on the Churburg
The obelisk on Stilfser-Joch-Strasse, with the Ortler in the background

Josef Pichler (also Pseirer Josele or Pseyrer Josele , * 1765 in St. Leonhard in Passeier , † May 1, 1854 in Schluderns ) was a South Tyrolean chamois hunter and mountain guide . He became known as the first to climb the Ortler .

Life

Josef Pichler spent his childhood and youth in the Passeier Valley. He later got a job as a chamois hunter for the Trapp family on the Churburg in Schluderns. As such, he was extremely skilled, he is said to have usually killed 50 to 60 chamois per year. When the civil servant Johannes Gebhard traveled to Sulden in 1804 to organize the first ascent of the Ortler on behalf of Johann von Austria and to offer the locals money to find a way to the summit, Pichler reported and quickly won Gebhard's trust, as he was in opposition wanted to demand wages from other applicants only if successful. Together with the Zillertal mountaineers Johann Leitner and Johann Klausner brought by Gebhard, Pichler reached the summit on September 27, 1804 from Trafoi via the Hinteren Wandlen . This path is considered difficult and dangerous and Pichler's ascent with insufficient equipment (without rope and ice ax ) is therefore an excellent alpine achievement. The exact route was only reconstructed on the basis of later inspections, there is no report from Pichler himself, as he was illiterate just like his rope companions .

In the following years Pichler also played an important role in the development of the Ortler. In 1805 he found the way from Sulden over the Hintergrat , which is still one of the most popular climbs to the Ortler today. This path is also considered difficult for the time. Pichler and his helpers equipped the back ridge with fixed ropes to enable Gebhard to climb as well and built a first refuge below the ridge, which is considered the first refuge in Tyrol and the forerunner of today's Hintergrathütte . Furthermore, Pichler brought combustible material to the summit in order to prove the ascent of the Ortler by means of a fire and began work on the construction of a stone pyramid as a summit sign, which was not completed.

In 1826 Pichler led an inexperienced alpinist from Vienna named Schebelka to the Ortler, in 1834 the alpinist Peter Karl Thurwieser . On this last ascent, however, the seventy-year-old Pichler himself no longer reached the summit.

Josef Pichler is buried in Schluderns, his grave can still be visited today. The Austrian Alpine Club erected an obelisk in his honor at the Weißen Knott on Stilfser-Joch-Strasse in 1884, and a monument to Josef Pichler erected in 2004 in Schluderns.

Web links

Commons : Josef Pichler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Rampold:  Pichler Josef. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 8, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2 , p. 55.
  2. ↑ Lutz Maurer: It is finished, the great work . In: Wolfgang Jochberger, Südtiroler Kulturinstitut (Ed.): Ortler - The highest Spiz in all of Tyrol . Athesia, Bozen 2004, ISBN 88-8266-230-6 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Pusch: Ortler - Königspitze - Zebrù . Rother, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7633-7027-7 , pp. 29-34 .
  4. ↑ Werner A. Widmann, Thomas P. Widmann: ADAC travel guide South Tyrol: Hotels, works of art, churches, museums, restaurants, festivals, wine bars, cities, castles . Ed .: Werner A. Widmann. ADAC Verlag DE, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89905-510-8 , p. 130 ( Google Books [accessed March 19, 2010]).
personal data
SURNAME Pichler, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pseyrer Josele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hunters and mountain guides
DATE OF BIRTH 1765
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Leonhard in Passeier
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1854
Place of death Schluderns