Karl Herrligkoffer

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Karl Maria Herrligkoffer (born June 13, 1916 in Schweinfurt , † September 9, 1991 in Munich ) was a German doctor . Between 1953 and 1986 Herrligkoffer organized and led numerous German and Austrian expeditions to eight-thousanders in the Himalayas and Karakoram .

Life

His parents were the railway chief inspector Rudolf Herrligkoffer and his wife Therese, née Merkl. In 1920 the family moved to Traunstein . Karl attended high school in Rosenheim . When he decided to become a doctor and not a forester, as his father wanted, he was disinherited. After graduating from high school, he studied medicine at the University of Munich from 1935 to 1940 and then became an assistant doctor in Munich. During the war he worked in the police hospital in Munich, from 1946 he was a general practitioner, from 1948 in his own practice in Munich. From 1946 to 1951 he studied psychology in parallel.

Herrligkoffer was Willy Merkl's younger half-brother , who had led the German Nanga Parbat Expedition in 1934 and died there in a snow storm with two German mountaineers and six Sherpas . Herrligkoffer continued the mountaineering ethos of his half-brother, and he made the planning, organization and management of eight-thousander climbs a goal in life. He concentrated on the financing and preparation as well as the organizational management of the expeditions from the base camp. He never climbed any of the high peaks himself.

Between 1953 and 1975 the Nanga Parbat (8125 m) was the destination of his expeditions eight times. On July 3, 1953, the first ascent of Nanga Parbat was achieved via the north side by Hermann Buhl as part of the Willy Merkl memory expedition led by Herrligkoffer . Herrligkoffer's expedition in 1962 mastered the first ascent over the Diamir flank (west face). The third wall of Nanga Parbat, the 4500  m south-sloping Rupal flank, was first climbed in 1970 under Herrligkoffer's direction as part of the Sigi Löw memorial expedition to Nanga Parbat . During this expedition, Günther Messner died on the descent after he had reached the summit with his brother Reinhold Messner .

Herrligkoffer also led expeditions to the Himalayas in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975. In 1974, 1976 and 1977 he was in the Arctic. In 1978 he led an expedition to Mount Everest in which seven climbers reached the summit, including the Germans Hillmaier, Engl and Mack. In 1986, on his 70th birthday, he personally led an expedition to the Karakoram Mountains to K2 for the last time .

reception

Herrligkoffer was controversial about his authoritarian leadership style on expeditions. There were also conflicts in connection with exploitation rights. In this way, Herrligkoffer secured all exploitation rights in the run-up to an expedition. Resistance to this practice, for example from Hermann Buhl or Reinhold Messner (who published their own publications about their experiences on the mountain with Herrligkoffer), led to lengthy court cases, which Herrligkoffer won. The majority of the mountaineers he committed were aware that they owed their participation in an expedition to Herrligkoffer's skill in raising funds through sponsors. British mountaineers sarcastically called it the "sterling suitcase".

The often-voiced accusation that Herrligkoffer banned Hermann Buhl from going to the summit in 1953, thereby proving his incompetence as an expedition leader, is put into perspective in view of the fact that Buhl was only able to survive his risk through great luck with the weather and Herrligkoffer instructed himself to descend in view of the risk removed from the responsibility for Buhl's solo effort. Hans Ertl made the documentary Nanga Parbat about this expedition .

“Whatever he was, he was an extraordinary person. You liked him or you were repulsed by him. His three great passions were young medical students, organizing expeditions and leading litigation. Basically we all owe him a lot, especially Reinhold Messner became the 'Rolling Stone' of pop climbers on his back. "

- Hans Saler : Between light and shadow.
Herrligkoffer's tomb

The portrayal of Herrligkoffer's personality in Joseph Vilsmaier's feature film Nanga Parbat in 2010 saw Herrligkoffer's son Klaus as "abuse and denigration", which is why he publicly demanded an apology from the production company.

Herrligkoffer was buried in the cemetery of the Catholic parish church St. Laurentius in Rottach-Egern (Bavaria).

Publications (selection)

  • Nanga Parbat. Ullstein, Berlin 1967.
  • My way to the Himalayas. Pietsch, Stuttgart, 1989.
  • Nanga Parbat 1953. Lehmann, Munich 1954.
  • Germans at Broad Peak 8047 m. Through Pakistan to the wonder world of the Himalayas. Lehmann, Munich 1955.
  • Victory on Kanchenjunga. The first German ascent. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-426-03716-5
  • Farewell to the Himalayas. Success and tragedy on K2 and Broad Peak. Bayerland, Dachau 1989, ISBN 3-89251-029-6 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Maria Herrligkoffer (1916 - 1991) on bergfieber.de
  2. ↑ Chris Bonington: Quest for Adventure . 1981, ISBN 978-1-911342-71-7 , pp. 352 .
  3. ↑ Hans Saler: Between light and shadow . Munich 2003, ISBN 3-927743-65-8 , pp. 63 .
  4. ↑ Nanga Parbat: Herrligkoffer son attacks Messner film sharply. In: Spiegel Online . January 15, 2010, accessed April 2, 2013 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Herrligkoffer, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herrligkoffer, Karl Maria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Schweinfurt , Germany
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1991
Place of death Munich , Germany