Christian Klucker (28 September 1853 – 21 December 1928) was a Swiss

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

who made many

first ascents In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused ...

in the Alps, particularly in the

Bernina Range The Bernina Range is a mountain range in the Alps of eastern Switzerland and northern Italy. It is considered to be part of the Rhaetian Alps within the Central Eastern Alps. It is one of the highest ranges of the Alps, covered with many glaciers ...

, the

Bregaglia Bregaglia (Italian and ) is a municipality in the Maloja Region in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. It was formed by the 2010 merger of the municipalities of Bondo, Castasegna, Soglio, Stampa and Vicosoprano, all located in the Val Br ...

and the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (, , , ), sometimes referred to as the Valais Alps (which are just the Northern Swiss part of the Pennine Alps), are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Italy (the Aosta Valley and Piedmont) an ...

. Amongst his first ascents were: :*''Gurgel'' (couloir) on north-east face of

Piz Bernina Piz Bernina (Romansh language, Romansh, , ) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It rises and is located south of Pontresina in the Bernina Region and ne ...

on 18 June 1890 (with L. Norman-Neruda) :*North-west face of

Piz Scerscen Piz Scerscen ( Romansh, , formerly ''Monte Rosso di Scerscen''), culminating at 3,970 m above sea level, is one of the highest peaks in the Bernina Range, straddling the border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a satellite peak of Piz Bernina ...

on 9 July 1890 (with L. Norman-Neruda) :*North-east face of

Piz Roseg Piz Roseg (pronounced as ''peetse rawzech'') is a mountain of the Bernina Range, overlooking the Val Roseg in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. There are two summits on its main ridge: :*the south-east and higher summit (3,935 m) :*the north- ...

on 16 July 1890 (with L. Norman-Neruda) :*East-north-east ridge of the

Ober Gabelhorn The Ober Gabelhorn (4063 m) is a mountain in the Pennine Alps in Switzerland, located between Zermatt and Zinal. Geography The Ober Gabelhorn lies in the Swiss canton of Valais at the southern end of the Zinal valley (part of the Val d'Annivi ...

on 1 August 1890 (with L. Norman-Neruda) :*'Norman-Neruda route' on the north-east face of

Lyskamm Lyskamm (, formerly ''Lyskamm'', literally "crest of the Lys"), also known as Silberbast (literally "silver bast"), is a mountain () in the Pennine Alps lying on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It consists of a five-kilometre-long ridge ...

on 9 August 1890 (with L. Norman-Neruda and J. Reinstadler) :*''Nadelgrat'' from the Hohberghorn to the Lenzspitze in 1892 :* Peuterey ridge to the summit of

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

via a couloir on the Brenva face on 15–19 August 1893 (with

Paul Güssfeldt Dr Paul Güssfeldt (spelled Güßfeldt in German) (14 October 1840 – 18 January 1920) was a German geologist, mountaineer and explorer. Biography Güssfeldt was born in Berlin, where he also died almost 80 years later. After attending the C ...

Emile Rey Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

and César Ollier) :*West-south-west ridge of

Piz Badile Piz Badile (3,308 m) is a mountain of the Bregaglia range in the Swiss canton of Graubünden and the Italian region of Lombardy. The border between the two countries runs along the summit ridge. Its north-east face, overlooking the Swiss Val B ...

on 14 June 1897 (with Anton von Rydzewski and M. Barbaria) :*First traverse from the Italian side of the ''Porta da Roseg'' on Piz Roseg on 21 June 1898 (with M. Barbaria) Klucker appeared as the character ''Otto Spring'' (a guide) in the 1929

mountain film A mountain film is a film genre that focuses on mountaineering and especially the battle of human against nature. In addition to mere adventure, the protagonists who return from the mountain come back changed, usually gaining wisdom and enlighten ...

, '' The White Hell of Pitz Palu'', directed by

Arnold Fanck Arnold Fanck (6 March 1889 – 28 September 1974) was a German film director and pioneer of the mountain film genre. He is best known for the extraordinary alpine footage he captured in such films as '' The Holy Mountain'' (1926), '' The White H ...

References

*Collomb, Robin, ''Bernina Alps'', Goring: West Col Productions, 1988 *Collomb, Robin G., ''Bregaglia West'', Goring: West Col Productions, 1984 *Collomb, Robin G., ''Pennine Alps Central'', London: Alpine Club, 1975 *Dumler, Helmut and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994 *Klucker, Christian, ''Adventures of an Alpine Guide'', London: John Murray, 1932

External links

List of first ascents with Anton von Rydzewski in the Bregaglia (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klucker, Christian 1853 births 1928 deaths Alpine guides Swiss mountain climbers