Marcel Kurz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marcel Kurz

Marcel Louis Kurz (born June 24, 1887 in Neuchâtel NE ; † July 21, 1967 ibid) was a Swiss topographer , alpinist , expedition mountaineer, pioneer of winter mountaineering and author .

Life

Marcel Kurz studied engineering topography at the ETH Zurich from 1909 to 1913 and worked for the Federal Office of Topography from 1913 to 1922 .

At the age of eleven he went on his first mountain tours with his father, the violin teacher and alpinist Louis Kurz. From 1907 he undertook high alpine ski tours and winter ascents, including many ski and winter first ascents. From 1909 he was a member of the Academic Alpine Club Zurich .

In the rock he succeeded u. a. 1919 the first ascent of the Hug-Kurz-Route in the Salbitschijen southwest face with Oskar Hug and Giacomo Bertolini.

His fundamental work Alpinisme hivernal was published in 1925 , he wrote the three-volume ski guide through the Valais Alps and the guide of the Swiss Alpine Club for the Valais and Uri Alps and the Bernina region and edited his father's Mont Blanc guide.

In 1921, Marcel Kurz visited the still barely developed Olymp Mountains and was the first to ascend the throne of Zeus (Stefani 2,909 m), wrote a monograph and a map. In 1926/27 he achieved great mountain tours in New Zealand . In 1930 he came to the Himalayas for the first time with Günther Dyhrenfurth's expedition . He took part in the first ascent of Jongsong Peak , the highest mountain on earth climbed to date, and created a map of the Kangchenjunga massif. In 1932 he roamed Sikkim , Garhwal and Kashmir .

From 1947 to 1953 Marcel Kurz was editor of the book series Mountains of the World published by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research . His Chronique Himalayenne , published in 1957 and supplemented in 1963, was a standard work in Himalayan literature.

Marcel Kurz was an honorary member of numerous mountaineering associations, including the Alpine Club , Groupe de Haute Montagne , Swiss Alpine Club , Club Alpino Italiano , Austrian Alpine Club , and Swiss Alpine Club Section Neuchâtel. His estate is kept in the central library of the Swiss Alpine Club .

The Pointe Marcel Kurz , a 3498 m high elevation on the west ridge of Mont Brulé in the Valais Alps, is named after him. A second point in Kurz in the Aiguilles Rouges du Dolent in the Mont-Blanc group is dedicated to his father Louis Kurz (1854–1942), who in 1888 succeeded in climbing the 3680 m high granite peak for the first time.

First ski ascents (selection)

First winter ascents (selection)

Works (selection)

  • Le Mont Olympe. Verlag Attinger, Neuchâtel 1923.
  • Alpinisme hivernal: le skieur dans les Alpes. Payot, Paris 1925.
  • Guide des Alpes Valaisannes. Club Alpin Suisse, 1920–1947.
  • Guide du Skieur dans les Alpes Valaisannes. Club Alpin Suisse, 1939.
  • Club guide through the Bündner Alps, Bernina Group. Swiss Alpine Club, 1932.
  • Foreign mountains - distant goals: the work of Swiss researchers and mountaineers abroad. Mountains of the World, Volume 3, Zurich 1948.
  • Chronique Himalayenne. Fondation suisse pour explorations alpines, Zurich 1959. Supplement 1963.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Anker : "Without the slightest difficulty" First ski ascent at Rimpfischhorn. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . March 23, 2012.
  2. ^ Arnold Lunn : A History of Ski-Ing. Oxford University Press, London 1927.
  3. ↑ Homage to Monsieur Marcel Kurz: membre d'honneur de la section neuchâtelise du Club alpin suisse. Neuchâtel 1949.
  4. ^ Matterhorn, Dent Blanche, Weisshorn. SAC-Verlag 2010.
  5. ↑ A great explorer: Marcel Kurz (1887–1967). In: Daniel Anker : Piz Bernina. AS Verlag , Zurich 1999.
personal data
SURNAME In short, Marcel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES In short, Marcel Louis (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss topographer, alpinist, expedition mountaineer, pioneer of winter mountaineering and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuchâtel NE
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 1967
Place of death Neuchâtel NE