Gottlieb Samuel Studer (5 August 1804,

Langnau im Emmental Langnau im Emmental is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is situated in the upper Emmental between Bern and Lucerne. It has about 9,000 inhabitants and is the most important ...

– 22 December 1890,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) was a Swiss

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, notary public and draughtsman. Studer was the son of Sigmund Gottlieb Studer. After the death of his father, the Studer family moved to Bern, where Studer was secretary to the

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Con ...

justice and police department, later becoming

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

(''Regierungsstatthalter'') of the city of Bern. In September 1843 he made the first ascent of the

Wildhorn The Wildhorn is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais. At above sea level, it is the highest summit of the Bernese Alps west of the Gemmi Pass. It forms a large glaciated massif, about 10&nb ...

(3,248 m) in the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

. Together with the geologist Theodor Simler and Dr Melchior Ulrich, Studer was inspired by the establishment of the British

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

in 1857 to form a Swiss counterpart. This led to the founding on 19 April 1863 of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) at a meeting in the ''Bahnhofbuffet Olten'', the railway restaurant in the Swiss town of

Olten Olten (High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten's railway station is within 30 minutes of Zürich, Basel, Bern, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of ...

. The club was 'a broader and more democratic association than the Alpine Club'.Claire Engel, ''Mountaineering in the Alps'', London: George Allen and Unwin, 1971, p. 136 Studer was president of the Bern section of the SAC from 1863–1873, and he was honorary president from 1873 to his death. In 1866 Studer left the service of the state and dedicated himself to the history of Alpine exploration. The years 1869–1871 were spent writing ''Über Eis und Schnee'', a three-volume history of the climbing of the Swiss Alps. Over the course of 60 years Studer climbed 650 summits, in the Bernese Alps, the

Pennine Alps The Pennine Alps (german: Walliser Alpen, french: Alpes valaisannes, it, Alpi Pennine, la, Alpes Poeninae), also known as the Valais Alps, are a mountain range in the western part of the Alps. They are located in Switzerland (Valais) and Italy ...

, the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

, the

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

, the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. At the age of 68 he climbed

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and ...

; when he was 79 he climbed Pic d'Arzinol in the Valais; and at 81 the Niederhorn.

Bibliography

*''Berg- und Gletscherfahrten in den Hochalpen der Schweiz'', 2 volumes, Zürich 1859–1863 *''Über Eis und Schnee'', Bern 1869–1871 ** Vol. 1: ''Nordalpen'', pp. 535 ** Vol. 2: ''Südalpen'', pp. 580 ** Vol. 3: ''Südalpen, Ostalpen'', pp. 508

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Studer, Gottlieb Samuel People from Emmental District Swiss mountain climbers 1804 births 1890 deaths