Matthias Zurbriggen

Matthias Zurbriggen ( born May 15, 1856 in Saas -Fee, † June 21, 1917 in Geneva) was a Swiss mountaineer.

At the age of thirteen, he left home and worked as a laborer in various countries. During construction of the Marinelli Hut in the east face of Monte Rosa, he obtained his mountaineer qualities. He was then longer active as a mountain guide, until it was discovered in 1892 by William Martin Conway.

Together they explored during a whole year glaciers and peaks in the Karakoram and put on a tributary of the Baltoro Kangri peak with 6890 meters the time high record. Then Zurbriggen was alone in India and Australia go. On January 14, 1897 he made ​​the first ascent of the 6958 meter high Aconcagua succeeded in the Andes in Argentina alone. A short time later he stood with Stuart Vines on Tupungato.

Later Zurbriggen traveled in the Tianshan and undertook in 1902 a further Himalayan expedition. In 1906 he was back on the road to the Monte Rosa, then ended his activities as a mountaineer. He crashed socially and became a hobo, on 21 June 1917, he was hanged at Geneva.

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