Hansjörg Auer (; 18 February 1984 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian mountaineer, noted for his free solo climbs, and particularly of ''Fish Route'' in the Italian

Dolomites The Dolomites ( ), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Va ...

, the first-ever big wall solo at . ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' described him as "one of the boldest and best climbers in the world", and he won the 2019

Piolet d'Or An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow or ice covered (e.g. ice climbing or mixed climbing) conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its sim ...

for this free solo ascent of the Lupghar Sar West, in northern

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He died in an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

while climbing on

Howse Peak Howse Peak is the highest mountain in the Waputik Mountains, a subrange of the Canadian Rockies. It is located west of the Icefields Parkway, above Chephren Lake, on the continental divide between Alberta and British Columbia. At , it is the 4 ...

in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies () or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part of the Canadian Cordillera, w ...

Personal life

Auer was born in

Zams Zams is a municipality in the district of Landeck in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography The Inn River runs through Zams, which is situated in the river's basin together with its neighbour town Landeck. The geographical location is . Here, the ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

, on 18 February 1984, and lived in the

Ötztal The Ötztal () is an alpine valley located in Tyrol, Austria. The Ötztaler Ache river flows through the valley in a northern direction. The Ötztal separates the Stubai Alps in the east from the Ötztal Alps in the west. The valley is long. The ...

area of Tyrol. In 2017, he published an autobiography entitled ''Südwand'', in which he describes his problems with

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

. He considered the

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

ean alpinist

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent o ...

to be a role model.

Career

Auer's first major free solo climb was ''Tempi Moderni'' ("Modern Times"), an route of 27 pitches graded , on the south face of

Marmolada Marmolada (Ladin language, Ladin: ''Marmolèda''; German language, German: ''Marmolata'', ) is a mountain in northeastern Italy and the highest mountain of the Dolomites (a section of the Alps). It lies between the borders of Trentino and Ven ...

in the

in northeastern Italy, which he climbed in 2006. The climb took 2 hours 40 minutes. He is perhaps best known for his 2007 free solo climb of the ''Via Attraverso il Pesce'', commonly known as ''Fish Route'', also on Marmolada's south face. The 37-pitch () route, named for a fish-shaped niche in the 20th pitch, is highly committing, and is graded . There are eight particularly hard pitches bracketing the niche, including some overhanging sections. The route was first free climbed by the Czech Jindrich Sustr and the Slovak Igor Koller in 1981, using ropes in a

traditional climbing Traditional climbing (or trad climbing) is a type of free climbing in rock climbing where the lead climber places removable protection while simultaneously ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber ...

manner. It was rope soloed by the Italian climber Maurizio Giordani in 1990; Giordani used a rope to belay himself on some of the pitches and took 10 hours. Auer had failed to redpoint the climb with a partner in 2004. He started his 2007 attempt on 28 April by practicing sections, after

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

in from the top of the wall. He then fully free-soloed the route on 29 April (i.e. without using any rope), in 2 hours 55 minutes. Auer's free climb has been compared with the 2017 free solo climb of

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

in the

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

Alex Honnold Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a f ...

. ''

Alpinist Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes (e.g. multi-pitch or big wall) in an alpi ...

'' magazine described it in 2007 as "one of the most difficult, long free solos ever tackled", commenting that it could be described as a "speed ascent". He subsequently focused on mountains of over in the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

and the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

ranges, and was known for making several first ascents. These included the south face of Nilgiri South in the

Annapurna Massif Annapurna (; ) is a massif in the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes one peak over , thirteen peaks over , and sixteen more over . The massif is long, and is bounded by the Kali Gandaki Gorge on the west, the Marshyangdi River on t ...

, Nepal, the west wall of Lupghar Sar, and the south-west face of Kunyang Chhish East in the

Karakorum Mountains The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

, Pakistan. His first ascent of Lupghar Sar West was climbed solo. He was posthumously honoured with a

in 2019 for this achievement.

Death

Auer and fellow climbers Austrian

David Lama David Lama (; 4 August 1990 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian rock climber and alpinist. He won the European Championship in competition bouldering in 2007 and the European Championship in competition lead climbing in 2006. He is known for h ...

and American Jess Roskelley died on the descent after reaching the summit of

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

of the

on 16 April 2019. The group completed a difficult variation of a route on the east face of Howse Peak known as M-16. The Auer-Lama-Roskelley variation took a line to the left of M-16, after the first difficult waterfall pitch on that route. Their bodies were found on 21 April 2019. Photographic and GPS evidence recovered from the accident site and from Jess Roskelley's iPhone show they left their camp at the base of the east face at approximately 05:30 AM, climbed the first difficult ice pitch on M-16 by 07:19 AM, and then traversed left on new terrain into a left-leaning ramp. After a pitch and a half up the ramp, they traversed left again and climbed an exceptionally difficult unclimbed waterfall, which brought them to a long, steep snow gully. They climbed the gully and then traversed over a snow rib further left into the large snow basin that is drained by the icefall route, "Life by the Drop". They climbed up the snow basin to the south ridge, which they ascended to the summit. Their summit photos were taken at 12:41 PM and 12:44 PM. The last photo on Auer's camera places them rappelling into the top of the snow basin at 1:27 PM. It can be deduced from a photograph taken from the highway by a local climber from Canmore that a large cornice broke off above the snow basin and swept the route above "Life by the Drop" at 1:58, 31 minutes after they dropped into the basin to descend their route. Their bodies were recovered from an avalanche cone below "Life by the Drop" on 21 April 2019. The shallow layer of snow covering the bodies is a further indicator of a cornice break as the cause of the accident.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Hansjorg 1984 births 2019 deaths Austrian mountain climbers People from Zams Sportspeople from Tyrol (federal state) Deaths in avalanches Free soloists Piolet d'Or winners Sport deaths in Canada

Personal life

Career

Death

See also

References

External links