The Ascent of the Similaun Peak on 27 August 1839

Appendix.

The Ascent of the Similaun Peak in Schnals on 27 August 1839. 1/3

Two peaks rise into the blue of the air,

High above the generations of man,

There dance, veiled in golden haze,

The clouds, the heavenly daughters.

Schiller.

In the mighty mountain range of the Rhaetian Alps, which cut through Tyrol in an unbroken chain from the Ortler to the Brenner, the sublime Similaun peak is located in the Schnals valley, within the k. k. District Court of Schlanders and belonging to the Adige District.

The scaling of this mountain height was generally deemed impossible; although the Rev. Cooperator Thomas Kaaserer, then at Unser Frau in Schnals, had successfully climbed it in the summer of 1834 accompanied by Joseph Rafeiner, who lived at the foot of the mountain giant, this was doubted by many valley inhabitants and entirely disbelieved by others.

Having long been fond of scaling cheerful heights in our mountainous homeland, I resolved, in order to remove every doubt about its ascent, to journey to the Similaun, a purpose greatly encouraged by acquaintances among the honest valley folk.

Joseph Veithaler, Unterauer in Schnals, offered to scout an approach to the peak and report the result to me. And indeed, accompanied by the Rev. Cooperator Johann Egger of Unser Frau and his farmhand, commonly called Fuchs, he climbed the peak itself on 15 July of this year; and although the weather was not particularly favorable, they enjoyed a magnificent view as a reward for their pains.

As the weather had been very inviting for a mountain expedition for several days, on the afternoon of 25 August I traveled from my residence to the village of Staben, situated right at the entrance of Schnals, where I spent the night in order to continue on foot early on the 26th to the owner of the Leiter estate, Joseph Rafeiner, who had climbed the peak in 1834, and to lodge there. The distance from Staben to my second night's quarters northward along the valley was 4 ½ hours.

I may have covered a good hour's walk when I first caught sight of the destination of my journey. — From this side, the peak presented itself in the shape of a broad pyramid and seemed cordially to invite its new guest to tread upon its eternally white head.

I had hastened toward my destination for perhaps half an hour when it vanished from my sight, not to appear again until I had come within roughly 3 hours of it and found myself approximately 8,000 feet above the Adriatic sea level, by the so-called Kaaserer Marterle.

The rest of the day was spent engaging several guides and companions, and procuring travel equipment and provisions of all kinds.

In accordance with the arrangements made the evening before, the departure for the expedition took place on the 27th at 3:15 a.m. from the house of Joseph Rafeiner, who was joined by Joseph Veithaler, his son, and Fuchs, Veithaler's farmhand. In addition, I was accompanied by Messrs. Ladurner, surgeon, Anton Groß, schoolteacher, along with the innkeeper Spechtenhauser, all individuals from the Schnals valley.

For more than ten days previously the horizon had been clear, and neither I nor my traveling companions thought that rainy weather, or at least view-obscuring clouds, might play a foul trick on us; but it turned out otherwise. - Already in the evening, and even more so overnight, the horizon had clouded over and clouds hung from the mountains deep down into the valley. Yet we paid no heed, hoping that the first rays of the sun would pierce the clouds and scatter the mists. - We set out to pursue our goal. We took our way eastward, which began steeply in an almost straight line right from the entrance yard. After a good quarter of an hour we turned off to the left from a farm called Tiß, and a narrow footpath led us along steep heights over red sandy schist ground covered with increasingly sparse vegetation.

We may have walked for two hours and reached a considerable height, where every trace of a footpath vanished. Vegetation fell away more and more, for apart from alpine auriculas I rarely saw an alpine rose, whereas at the foot of the mountain I had even found Daphne mezereum. - Likewise, every trace of timber growth is erased above the Tiß farm. Just as little can one hope, in the whole course of the mountain trip, to refresh one's parched palate with a draught of fresh water (unless one makes do with glacier snow or ice); if one wishes otherwise to restore one's strength and have warm food, both must be carried up from the valley floor.

Apart from a hut assembled of stones, which at most could accommodate two people in case of emergency and is suited rather as a shelter for sheep than human beings, I found no shelter in this mountain region in the event of a severe thunderstorm or falling night.

Our path, which was very steep, led us uphill in a completely straight direction. The rubble grew coarser and coarser until we had to clamber with difficulty over fatiguing stone slabs. Vegetation vanished, and I found at most only lichens. Very quickly one believes oneself excluded from human society and displaced into an inhospitable region of Siberia or the deserts of the Sahara. Despite this, I saw several head of young cattle, a few sheep, and a couple of goats wandering about the mountains in the course of my journey, without knowing where they drew sustenance. We may have walked rapidly for a good hour when we reached a wall formed of large stones and earth — on the right were large stones over which we had to step. Before us was an opening looking out over a considerable valley depth, from where the glacier stretched up to the Similaun peak — which we saw here for the first time. Here was the so-called Kaaserer Marterle, and my guides now declared that half the way from the valley floor to the peak had been covered. It was only 6:30.

After having made a half-hour halt here, we availed ourselves of our provisions, then made a small deviation to the southeast without significantly losing sight of the linea recta initially taken.

We continued our journey, and with every step we drew nearer to the glacier, although we had long since ascended beyond its starting elevation. We crossed a ridge of stones hemmed in on both sides by the glacier, and after another march of more than 1 ½ hours we arrived again at a wall formed of large stones and earth, which protected us from the storm that had now begun. We made a halt and restored our strength. - It was 8:30.

On the peak mist, storm, and sunshine alternated, the horizon was overcast, and along the mountain chains mists hung deep into the valley. - To the west, the parted clouds allowed us for a few moments to see the whole mountain group of Martell with its summits, glaciers, etc. along the Ortler. The latter, like our peak, was shrouded in a dense cap of mist. - To the southeast before our feet lay the rugged glacier with its crevasses, an ice sea boundless to the eye as far as the mist permitted, where from Pfosenthal a glacier pyramid proudly raised its head awe-inspiringly into this icy realm. - A magnificent sight! What breast would not be elevated to higher feelings? And what a view would there be in completely clear weather here, roughly 1,200 feet below the summit, since ours was, alas, so confined! (To be continued.)