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 ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form pa ...

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

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' 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, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking ...

for this free solo ascent of the Lupghar Sar West. He died in an avalanche 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 ...

in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) 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 ...

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, th ...

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 ...

, 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 no ...

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

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

. He considered the

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

ean alpinist

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental ...

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: ''Marmolèda''; 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 Veneto. The Marmolada is an ultra-p ...

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 style of rock climbing in which the climber places all the necessary protection gear required to arrest any falls as they are climbing, and then removes it when the pitch is complete (often done ...

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 Redpoint ( gd, An Rubha Dearg) is a small settlement in the north west of Highland, Scotland. It takes its name from Red Point, a low promontory to the south, which marks a turn in the coastline from facing west to south east as it becomes Loc ...

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 the rope, in contrast to Bela ...

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 ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") 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, granit ...

in the

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Alex Honnold Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, a ...

. '' Alpinist'' 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 planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

and the

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

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

Annapurna Massif Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) 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 wes ...

, Nepal, and of the west wall of

Lupghar Sar Lupghar Sar is 108th on the list of world tallest mountains. It is located in Shimshal valley of Hunza Gojal. It is part of the Momhail Sar cluster of mountains and has an elevation of above sea level. In Wakhi language Lupghar Sar translat ...

(for which we won a 2019

) and the south-west face of Kunyang Chhish East in the Karakorum Mountains, Pakistan. His first ascent of Lupghar Sar West was climbed solo. He was posthumously honoured with a

in 2019 for this achievement.

Death

Auer died on the descent after reaching the summit of

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest 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 terrain, wi ...

of the

on 16 April 2019, with fellow Austrian

David Lama David Lama ( ne, डेभिड लामा; 4 August 1990 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian sport climber and mountaineer. He won the European Championship in bouldering in 2007 and the European Championship in lead climbing in 2006. He ...

and the American

Jess Roskelley Jess Fenton Roskelley (July 13, 1982 – April 16, 2019) was an American mountaineer. On May 21, 2003, at age twenty, he became the youngest American to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He died in an avalanche while climbing on Howse Peak ...

. 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 (state) Deaths in avalanches Free soloists

Personal life

Career

Death

See also

References

External links