Ulrich Inderbinen

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Inderbinen fountain in Zermatt

Ulrich Inderbinen (born December 3, 1900 in Zermatt ; † June 14, 2004 there ) was a Swiss mountain guide . He climbed the Matterhorn 371 times , Mont Blanc 84 times and the Dufourspitze , the highest mountain in Switzerland, 81 times .

Life and career

The son of mountain farmers grew up with eight siblings. None of his half-siblings reached adulthood, and two of his siblings died in childhood. At the age of five he worked as a cowherd. He was earning money as a shepherd at the age of 13, and later as a construction worker, carpenter or electrician.

In 1921 the Zermatt climbed the Matterhorn for the first time together with his sisters. In 1925 he graduated from the mountain guide school. It wasn't until the 1960s that he had enough work as a mountain guide thanks to the tourist boom. In 1990, Inderbinen attracted worldwide attention when he climbed the summit again at the age of 89 as part of a television broadcast on the 125th anniversary of the first ascent of the Matterhorn.

At the age of 80 he began to take part in ski races . Since he mostly drove without competition in his age group, he mostly won. At the age of 95 he last took part in the mountain guide ski race.

Inderbinen showed little interest in modern security methods. In 1983 he was still leading his tourists through the glacier breaks with the hemp rope around their stomachs.

Last years

Inderbinen worked as a mountain guide until he was 96 years old. A fall forced him to end his mountain guide career. At the age of 96, the devout Catholic fulfilled a lifelong dream: He traveled to Rome to receive the blessing of Pope John Paul II . In 2000 the municipality of Zermatt dedicated an exhibition to him on his 100th birthday, and at the same time a fountain dedicated to him was inaugurated in the center of Zermatt. He died in 2004 at the age of 104. At the time of his death, he was the oldest man in the canton of Valais .

Inderbinen was also mentioned in the SWR production "Eisenbahnromantik" episode 333 (The Gornergratbahn) and episode 565 in the three-part series about the then 75-year-old Glacier Express.

literature

  • Heidi Lanz, Liliane De Meester: Ulrich Inderbinen - I am as old as the century. 7th edition Rotten, Visp 1996, ISBN 978-3-907816-44-8 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Inderbinen, Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss mountain guide
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd December 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Zermatt
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 2004
Place of death Zermatt