topic:"History" found 1 record - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Abstract: In the months before his death in 1913, from falling more than 300 metres during an attempt to make the first free solo ascent of the North Ridge of the Mandlkogel, Paul Preuss’s public presentations on his climbing adventures filled concert halls in Austria, Italy, and Germany. George Mallory, the famed English mountaineer who died on Mount Everest in 1924, said “no one will ever equal Preuss.“ Reinhold Messner, the first climber to ascend all fourteen 8000 metre peaks, was so impressed by the young Austrian’s achievements that he built a mountaineering museum around Preuss’s piton hammer, wrote two books (in German) about him and instituted a foundation in Preuss’s name. Alex Honnold, the first and only person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, has thought about Preuss’ untimely and surprising death and imagined it to have likely been “the worst four seconds” of Preuss’ life. Although he died at only 27 years old, modern climbing may never have developed the ethical, existential core that it has today if not for Preuss’s bold style. Even the most trenchant traditionalists remain unsure about whether to add him to their pantheon or dismiss him as at worst a lunatic or at best an indelicate subject better left ignored. Smart’s biography is the first English language volume to be published and is certain to bring the remarkable story of Paul Preuss to a whole new generation of climbers. (from Rocky Mountain Books website)

Contents: Introduction : Paul Preuss; The boy who loved flowers and mountains; The student mountaineer : Vienna, 1907-1910; Schneid : Planspitze, Matterhorn, 1908; Jesus of the Dorotheergasse, 1909; Dolomites : the Devil's Lair, Summer 1910; In Munich, the city of climbers; Allein : five days that changed climbing, summer 1911; A crazy notion : the great dispute, 1911-12; Doctor Preuss presents; Life as a trifle : the Kaisergebirge, Northern Limestone and the Western Alps, 1912-13; Valhalla : Mandlkogel North Face, October 1913; The sleeper of Altaussee; Acknowledgements; Selected bibliography; Notes; Index

Notes: Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival 2019 shortlist for Mountain Literature

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