Theodor Harpprecht

Theodor Harpprecht

Theodor Harpprecht (born August 8, 1841 in Stuttgart , † August 31, 1885 near Ludwigsburg ) was a German alpinist who became known for numerous first ascents and first ascents , especially in the Ortler Alps .

Theodor Harpprecht studied law in Stuttgart. He traveled to the Alps for the first time at the age of 20 and became passionate about mountaineering. In 1869, led by the Kals mountain guide Josef Schnell, he was able to record his first ascent with the Kesselwandspitze ( 3414  m above sea level ). On August 20 of the same year he again achieved his greatest alpine success with Schnell, the first ascent of the Thurwieserspitze ( 3652  m slm ). This tour, during which 50 ° steep snow and ice were conquered without an ice ax and crampons , was considered so difficult at the time that the ascent was questioned. A year later, Harpprecht repeated the route and erected a cairn at the summit to prove it . The guide on this second ascent was Peter Dangl, a mountain guide from Sulden , with whom he also undertook many other tours. In October 1869 he founded the Swabian section of the German Alpine Club (DAV) together with 18 other mountaineers .

Harpprecht also managed several important tours on the Ortler ( 3905  m ): On July 19, 1872, he and Peter Dangl rediscovered the long-forgotten path over the back ridge and, on the descent, opened up the route over the Stickle-Pleiß- Rinne. A year later, on August 9, 1873, the two found a new path from the Suldenferner to the Hochjochgrat with the Harpprecht Gully and reached the Ortler summit for the first time. Other notable achievements were the third ascent of the Hochgall ( 3465  m ) and the first crossing of the Großvenediger ( 3662  m ). Harpprecht was considered an extremely sporty and particularly fast mountaineer.

In 1877 Theodor Harpprecht had to give up his mountaineering activity due to spinal cord problems. In 1885 he died after a long illness in the care facility Karlshöhe Ludwigsburg . In 1886 his autobiographical work Bergfahrten was published. Today the Harpprechtweg am Hochgall and the Harpprechthaus of the Swabian section on the Swabian Alb are named after him.

plant

• Theodor Harpprecht: Mountain rides . A. Bonz 'heirs, Stuttgart 1886.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Wolfgang Pusch: Ortler - Königspitze - Zebrù . Rother, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7633-7027-7 , pp. 50 .
2. ↑ 140 years of the Swabian section. (No longer available online.) DAV Section Swabia, archived from the original on January 13, 2010 ; Retrieved March 21, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Alpenverein-Schwaben.de: History of the Harpprechthaus