Mathias Rebitsch

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Mathias (Hias) Rebitsch (born August 11, 1911 in Brixlegg ; † March 11, 1990 in Innsbruck ) was one of the best mountaineers of his time before and after the Second World War and, from today's perspective, a pioneer of free climbing .

Mountaineering achievements

Rebitsch studied chemistry and dealt with philosophy , went into the mountains with enthusiasm and quickly rose to the ranks of the best rock climbers. His ability to climb the highest levels of difficulty with elegance and his renunciation of climbing with hooks made him one of the classic representatives of the Sestogradists (Italian for: sixth degree , i.e. climbers of the VIth degree ) and a model of the free climbing movement. Rebitsch was not only one of the best in rock, but also an "extreme mountaineer" due to his ice climbing skills.

  • In 1937, Rebitsch, together with Ludwig Vörg, took some of its nimbus from the notorious Eiger north face : Although he did not succeed in the first ascent that was longed for at the time, he did the first successful retreat from this face after a sudden fall in the weather , in which the two climbers had previously stayed for 100 hours.
  • In 1938 Rebitsch refrained from attempting to climb again and instead took the opportunity to participate in a Nanga Parbat expedition, during which he reached the famous silver saddle on this eight-thousander , but not the summit.
  • Hias Rebitsch also managed the second ascent of the Schmid-Krebs route on the north face of Laliderer .

National Socialism

Rebitsch's political stance was clearly national even while he was still in high school in Innsbruck. In 1929 he joined the German national "Real Alpen Club" and in 1932 became a member of the NSDAP and the SA . After the NSDAP was banned in Austria in June 1933, he spent a total of 192 days in custody on charges of having painted huge swastikas on inaccessible rock faces in the Inn Valley . According to the author Nicholas Mailänder , the “angry student and SA man Rebitsch (...) did not avoid fights with politically dissenters.” Later he moved to the German Empire with his brother Josef and became a member of the Austrian Legion . In the summer of 1934 he returned to Austria with his brother. Criminal proceedings because of his membership in the Austrian Legion ended in September with an acquittal for Hias Rebitsch, while his brother was sentenced to one year of heavy imprisonment for high treason. Rebitsch served with other well-known mountaineers in the Army High Mountain School in Fulpmes, which was founded in 1939 .

However, soon after the “Anschluss” , the alpinist also offended the Nazi authorities, to whom he openly complained about the anti-Jewish riots in Innsbruck during the “Reichskristallnacht” .

post war period

After the war he devoted himself - in addition to studying prehistory - to extreme rock climbing and again achieved the highest levels of difficulty. He was often on the way on the walls of the Wilder Kaiser , but he was also known as the first ascent of around 30 often remote, fragile and dangerous routes.

In 1947 Rebitsch, together with Franz Lorenz, opened a new route that was to be one of the most difficult and largest climbing tours in the northern Limestone Alps for years : the northern intersection of the Laliderer north face .

In 1954 Rebitsch tried in vain to reach the summit of Rakaposhi in the Karakoram . This expedition, in which mountaineer Anderl Heckmair also participated, is the subject of the documentary film Im Schatten des Karakoram by Eugen Schuhmacher from 1955.

Free climbing as an ideal

In contrast to the general trend of technical climbing that began in the 1950s and where extreme routes of the VI. Grades were defused by hooking numerous hooks and also using them to move around, Rebitsch remained true to his ideals and practiced a pure free climbing style until the end of his career as an extreme climber in 1951 due to an accident, which, according to today's knowledge, suggests that Rebitsch already in places back then VII degree , a degree that was only officially introduced in 1977. Rebitsch was a spirit of research who was always on the lookout for new things, wanted to live without being bound and went on several expeditions, etc. a. in the Andes , went. 1972 Rebitsch was appointed honorary professor of archeology appointed.

The most important first ascents

Fonts

  • The silver gods of Cerro Gallan , Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung GmbH, 1st edition, 1957.

literature

  • Peter Grimm:  Rebitsch, Mathias. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 226 ( digitized version ).
  • Horst Höfler (Ed.): Hias Rebitsch - The mountain is not everything. Climbing pioneer, free spirit and altitude archaeologist . Tyrolia-Verlag, Innsbruck 2010. ISBN 978-3-7022-3083-8
  • Rudi Mayr: Silent adventures between the Andes and the Himalayas. With contributions by Mathias Rebitsch , Steiger Verlag, 1st edition, 1985, ISBN 3-85423-039-7
  • Robert Rebitsch: Death and dying on the mountain from the perspective of an alpinist. Reflections and research by mountaineer Mathias Rebitsch (1911–1990) . In: Michael Kasper u. a. (Ed.): Dying in the mountains. Reality - Staging - Processing, Vienna a. a .: Böhlau 2018 (Montafon Summit; 3), pp. 425–444.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nicholas Mailänder: Top mountain sports. In: Berg Heil! Alpine Club and Mountaineering 1918–1945. Vienna 2011, pp. 87–173, here p. 132.
  2. ^ Nicholas Mailänder: Top mountain sports. In: Berg Heil! Alpine Club and Mountaineering 1918–1945. Böhlau, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20830-1 , pp. 87–173, here p. 162.
  3. ↑ Horst Höfler: Hias Rebitsch - The mountain is not everything . Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2010, ISBN 978-3-7022-3083-8 , p. 14 .
personal data
SURNAME Rebitsch, Mathias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rebitsch, Hias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Brixlegg , Austria
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1990
Place of death Innsbruck , Austria