Dragutin Brahm (26 August 1909,

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

– 27 June 1938, Starigrad) was a Yugoslav mountain climber. He died while attempting the first ascent of the Anica kuk wall in the

Paklenica The Paklenica karst river canyon is a national park in Croatia. It is near Starigrad, northern Dalmatia, on the southern slopes of Velebit mountain, not far from Zadar. It contains two canyons, Mala (Small) and Velika (Big) Paklenica. Today the ...

climbing area, making him the first casualty in the history of Croatian rock climbing.

Life in brief

House painter and decorator A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...

by profession, Brahm was noted in his early age as table tennis player and skier. He obtained various positions with Zagreb-based ''Cepin'' Alpine Club. Apart from climbing in the western parts of the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herz ...

, in the early 1930s Brahm bagged successfully the summits of Jalovec, (Couloir route), Triglav over the north face, and

Grossglockner The Grossglockner (german: Großglockner ; or just ''Glockner'') is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glock ...

Death and aftermath

On June 26, 1938, shortly after midnight, Brahm and three others took a train from Zagreb to Gračac. From there, they hired a car to Obrovac where they boarded a boat for Starigrad. At 3 a.m. the next day, they hiked into

gorge to the foot of the 350 m high Anica kuk face. After a six-hour climb and about 3/4 of the route completed, Brahm fell , his head bouncing off the rock and his body landed in squat position on the ledge where his belaying partner was. Despite the rescue effort - the other two went for help to Starigrad and came back with mule loaded with of fishermans rope - it turned to be all in vain as Brahm was dead already due to severe

skull fracture A skull fracture is a break in one or more of the eight bones that form the cranial portion of the human skull, skull, usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive, the bone may fracture at or near ...

. Once his partner unbelayed Brahm's corpse, already dead Brahm leaned backwards and fell again, this time the entire length of the Anica kuk face. In the two years following the accident, no other climbing attempt in Paklenica occurred. On the 2nd anniversary of Brahm's death (June 27, 1940), Marijan Dragman/Drago Brezovečki party completed the unfinished job. The route was named in honor of Brahm. These days, the Brahm route is considered the classic, and it is the oldest climbing route at the entire Paklenica climbing site.

References

* ''Hrvatski planinar'', 1938, vol. 7, pages 51–52 * Poljak željko, ''Zlatna Knjiga Hrvatskog Planinarstva'', LIBERA EDITIO d.o.o., 2004:

External links

Brahm' route at Summitpost.comBrahmov smjer

"Vreme", 6. jul 1938
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahm, Dragutin 1909 births 1938 deaths Mountaineering deaths Sport deaths in Yugoslavia Yugoslav mountain climbers