Matthias Robl

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Matthias "Hias" Robl (born December 15, 1969 in Oberstdorf ; † May 11, 2008 in Innsbruck ) was a German alpinist , performance , ski and high altitude mountaineer .

Life and achievement

Robl was already a climbing talent as a teenager. At the age of 17 he had completed all the difficult routes in the Allgäu.

Most recently he was a paramedic and army mountain guide with the rank of sergeant major at the mountain and winter combat school of the Bundeswehr ( mountain hunters ) in the on-site medical center of the Edelweiß barracks in Mittenwald (Upper Bavaria), where he has also lived in recent years. Robl completed a total of around 2,500 rock and ice tours, including more than 30 first ascents. His specialty was ice climbing , which earned him the nickname "the icicle climber". His greatest sporting successes were the ascent of Cho Oyu (8,188 m, sixth highest peak on earth) on May 9, 2004 from the Tibetan side (together with his wife Alexandra Robl; without additional oxygen) and the Ama Dablam (6,856 m) in Nepal. On Mount Everest (8,848 m), he tried to go it alone over the northern flank in 2002, but turned back three hundred meters below the summit due to a sudden fall in the weather for safety reasons.

Robl also carried out many other first ascents and route developments in rock and ice:

  • On July 22nd, 2006 a team consisting of Matthias Robl, his wife Alexandra Robl , and the glaciologist Dr. Matthias Braun and the altitude medicine specialist Dr. Markus Tannheimer (expedition leader), who carried out pulse oximetric research there (on oxygen saturation in the blood), the first ascent of Shimshal Whitehorn in the Shimshal Valley in Pakistan (6,304 m) , which the DAV sponsored as a performance expedition. In the run-up to this first ascent, they carried out another five first ascent in this area, including the Chu Kurtha Dust (Chu Kurrti) east summit (5,366 m) and west summit (5,685 m), as well as the Sunrise Peak (5,755 m).
  • On August 4, 2007, Matthias (as expedition leader) and Alexandra Robl - with a group from the organizer DAV Summit Club as the first German expedition to mark the 50th anniversary of the DAV - reached the summit of the 7,064 meter high Koskulak Tagh in Kunlun, China , via the northwest ridge -Mountains, without the use of additional oxygen; then they carried out another ascent on skis and a subsequent ski descent from the mountain. The Koskulak Tagh had previously only been climbed by a Russian team of two and a Korean-Japanese expedition. Alexandra Robl was the first woman on the summit.

Sport climbing and waterfall climbing were other specialties of the couple. Just six days after climbing Koskulak Tagh (2007), Matthias Robl set a new high-altitude mountaineering speed record on Mustagh Ata (7,545 m, third highest peak in the Pamir Mountains) in China . He needed just eight hours and 37 minutes for the ascent and descent on skis (from the 4,370 meter high base camp, 3,175 meters above sea level) and thus undercut the previous record he had held by over an hour. Two years earlier, Robl had completed this tour together with Benedikt Böhm from Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Sebastian Haag from Munich in 10 hours and 41 minutes. Robl and his wife took further at various skialpinistischen competitions (eg. As diverse ski marathon , German championships in alpine skiing, Diamirrace / Dammkarrennen , Gunten run ) and reached frequently front ranks.

The Robl couple were members of the “ Salewa AlpineXtrem Team” and tested mountaineering equipment in practice for the company. They also gave numerous multivision lectures on his and joint tours. Robl was a mountain guide in the DAV and a member of the Oberstdorf mountain guide association.

Since 2005, Matthias and Alexandra Robl have set up 27 routes that they both started for the first time on Öfelekopf near Leutasch (Puitbach district) in Tyrol (climbing area "Hong Kong", sector "Chinese Wall"), including routes with the highest levels of difficulty (7, 8, 9- ). On May 10, 2008, Robl crashed in front of his wife on the same "Great Wall of China" while setting up a new tour. He suffered severe head injuries, of which he died on May 11, 2008 in Innsbruck Hospital .

Book publications

  • Co-author of: Eiskletterführer Bregenz - Garmisch , Panico Alpinverlag, Köngen, 1st edition 2007, 2nd edition 2008, ISBN 978-3-926807-67-0
  • Co-author of: Waterfall climbing between Bregenz and Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Vorarlberg, Bregenz Forest, Allgäu, Lechtal, Ammergau, Wetterstein, Loisachtal (series: Eiskalt, 3), Panico Alpinverlag, Köngen 1st edition 1998, ISBN 3-926807-67- 9

References and comments

  1. ↑ Drama about climbing ace , press release on the death of Matthias Robl, tz -online, May 12, 2008; According to other sources, he started climbing at the age of 22 (1991).
  2. ↑ shortly before the summit attempt, Dr. Matthias Braun and had to stay in base camp.
  3. ^ First ascents in Pakistan , Climbing.de
  4. ↑ Daniela Hilbrand, who was also participating, had to turn back at an altitude of 6,400 meters due to problems with the cold and her legs.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Robl, Matthias
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robl, Hias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German alpinist, performance, ski and high altitude mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH 15th December 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberstdorf
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 2008
Place of death innsbruck