Bauer, Paul

Paul Bauer was born in Kuzel , Palatinate , Germany. With the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for the front. The end of the war was held in English captivity. Upon returning from captivity, he studied in Munich as a specialist in the field of law; during his studies, he became interested in mountaineering ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

In the fall of 1924, he, along with Willo Wielzenbach, went through the most difficult Fichtl-Weinberg route ( German Fiechtl-Weinberg ) in the massif to Predigtshtul ^[4] . In 1926 he made a number of first ascents in the Zillertal Alps to such peaks as Kasselerspitze (2952 m), Birbergbergspitse (2846 m), Gratyubergang Mugler (2954 m, Grundshartner massif) and others ^[5] .

In 1928, he led the first post-war German expedition to the Caucasus , during which ascents were made along new routes to Dykhtau (5204 m, along the southern ridge) and Shkhara (5193 m), as well as friendly relations were established with Soviet climbers ^[6] .

In 1929 and 1931, Paul Bauer led two German Himalayan expeditions to the top of Kanchenjunga (8586 m), during which a possible path to the top was determined and heights of 7400 and 7700 meters were reached.

In 1932, at the art competition of the X Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in the category of literature he received a gold medal for the manuscript of the book “On Kangchenjunga” ( Eng. On Kangchenjunga ), published earlier (in 1931) under the title “The Battle of the Himalayas” . The Battle for the Himalayas ) ^{[7] [8]} .

In 1936, Bauer led a small expedition to Sikkim , during which Karl Vin and Adolf Gottner ( German Adolf Gottner ) was conquered by Siniolichu (6888 m), the summit called by the famous English climber and traveler " beautiful in the world ”, Bauer himself made the first ascent to another peak of the Himalayas, Simvu Nord peak. In 1937, he led a rescue expedition to Nanga Parbat , during which it was possible to find some of the sixteen (seven climbers and nine high-altitude porters) alive buried by an avalanche of expedition members Karl Wien (1937), as well as establish an approximate picture of the tragedy. In 1938, he headed the next, fourth in a row, German expedition to Nanga Parbat, which did not achieve significant success ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} .

With the outbreak of World War II, Bauer was appointed head of the military school of mountain shooting training in Fulpmes , and in 1942–43 he commanded the mountain shooting battalion in the rank of major and participated in battles in the Central and Western Caucasus ^{[13] [6]} .

After the war, Bauer mainly worked by profession ( notary ) and paid much attention to the affairs of prisoners of war and prisoners ^[7] . Despite being busy at work, he did not lose touch with German mountaineering. Back in 1936, Bauer, together with Fritz Bechtold, established the German Himalaya Foundation , which supports national mountaineering and was its chairman for many post-war years ^[6] .

Paul Bauer died on January 8, 1990 in Munich at the age of 93 years ^[6] .

Kanchenjunga (1929)

In 1929, Bauer led the first German Himalayan expedition to the top of Kanchenjung, the purpose of which, to a greater extent, was to explore the area and acquire the necessary high-altitude experience. The expedition was attended (along with Bauer) by nine climbers from German and Austrian alpclubs: (participant of the first ascent to Lenin Peak , 1928), Peter Aufschneiter and Ernst Beigel ( Eng. Caucasian expedition, Bauer) Julius Brenner ( German: Julius Brenner ), Wilhelm Fendt ( German: Wilhelm Fendt ), Karl von Kraus ( German: Karl von Kraus ), Joachim Leopold ( German: Joachim Leupold ) and Alexander Toenes ( German: Alexander Thoenes ) ^[9] .

At the end of July, the expedition arrived in Darjeeling ( Sikkim ), and on August 18 set up a base camp on the Zemu glacier east of Green Lake (4370 m). After a week's reconnaissance of the area, a possible route to climb Kanchenjunga along the northeast spur ^{[K 1]} (recommended by Douglas Freshfield) was chosen, to the base of which (5200 m) the base camp was moved on August 28. For a month, climbers pushed access to the southern ridge summit along it (and also tried to go through the Zemu-Gep pass, which was impossible due to the avalanche of the latter), and on October 2, Allvain and Kraus managed to reach an altitude of 7400 meters, Bauer himself reached the mark of 7100 m. on October 3, when everything was ready for further assault on the peak, snow began, which lasted 5 days and made it impossible to continue the ascent. The expedition was stopped ^[9] .

Kanchenjunga (1931)

In 1931, Bauer led the next expedition to Kanchenjunga, which, in addition to the participants in the 1929 expedition, Alvine, Aufschneiter, Brenner, Fendt and Leopold included Hans Hartmann ( German Hans Hartmann ), Hans Pircher ( German Hans Pircher ), German Schaller ( German: Hermann Schaller ) and Carl Wien ^[8] .

On July 13, a base camp (5140 m) was set up on the Zemu glacier and a siege of the peak began, which was planned to be reached along a route explored two years earlier. By August 8, Bauer and Hartmann managed to hang the spur to Camp VIII - wet snow and frequent rockfalls, limiting the time of work on the mountain, prevented faster advancement. On August 9, misfortune happened - the porter Pasang fell off the ridge while climbing to camp VIII and pulled Schaller behind him. Both died. Climbers had to temporarily interrupt the ascent ^[8] .

On August 24th, fifteen days after the accident, Bauer, Hartmann, Pircher and Vin with three porters again reached Camp VIII. However, due to the unusually warm weather, the further route became much more dangerous than it was in July. Only by September 10, managed to set up camp X (7200 m). On September 15, camp XI, and the next day, Hartmann and Vin reached an altitude of 7650 meters, where a small snow cave was excavated. On September 17, climbers tried to continue climbing, but due to unsatisfactory snow conditions and high avalanche danger, they were forced to return to the lower camps. They managed to see the further path to the summit, which, according to Bauer, under more favorable conditions did not imply any serious obstacles. On this expedition ended its work ^{[K 2] [8]} .

Sikkim (1936)

For a number of reasons, in 1936 the Germans were unable to organize a full-fledged expedition to either Kanchenjunga or Nanga Parbat, so the German Himalayan Fund sent a small reconnaissance expedition to Sikkim, the results of which (in the field of climatology and geography ) could be useful next season. The expedition was led by Bauer, and it included Adolf Göttner, Dr. Gunter Hepp ( German: Dr. Gunter Hepp ) and Dr. Carl Wien ^[10] .

On August 6, the expedition arrived in Calcutta , and already on the 12th set up a base camp on the Zemu glacier. Until mid-September, climbers were engaged in topographic surveying and mapping of unexplored areas of the Kanchenjunga massif, in particular, the Siniochu, Zumtu, Nepal ( Nepal Gap glacier ) glaciers , the environs of the Nepal, Tent and Twins peaks (the last two attempts were made to climb ) On August 31, Hepp and Göttner climbed Liklo Peak (5800 m), the highest peak in the ridge between the peaks of Siniolchu and Lama Anden ( ¹⁰⁾ .

In the second half of September, climbers decided to try to make a first ascent to the top of Siniolchu along the northwest ridge from the pass separating the Little Siniolichu from the main Siniocholu. On September 19, climbers left the base camp and on the 21st, having passed the glacier of the same name, set up a camp before climbing to the pass (5700 m.). The next day, all four participants managed to reach the ridge (~ 6200 m.) And gain about 200 meters of height ^[10] .

At 6 am on September 23, the group continued their ascent. In the steep sections of the ridge, alternating with more gentle, dotted with overhanging snow cornices, by 8 o’clock in the morning they reached a convenient trough between the top and the apex. Bauer and Hepp remained in it as a support group, and Win and Göttner managed to reach the summit at two in the afternoon ^{[K 3]} . At noon on September 25, everyone successfully descended to the base camp, and on the 27th returned to the camp at Green Lake. On October 2, Bauer, Göttner and Hepp, as part of the reconnaissance of the Simvu glacier, also made their first ascent to the Simvu Nord peak (6545 m) ^[10] .

Nanga Parbat (1937)

In 1937, the third German expedition to Nanga Parbat took place, led by Karl Wien and composed of veterans of previous Himalayan expeditions A. Göttner, G. Hepp, Hans Hartmann, Peter Mühlitter ( German P. Mullritter ), as well as P. Fankhauser ( German P. Fankhauser ), M. Pfeffer ( German M. Pfeffer ), Ulrich Luft ( German U. Luft ), Karl Troll and British officer Lieutenant Smart ( English DBM Smart ). The purpose of the expedition was to climb the summit along the route from the Rakiot Valley, explored during two previous attempts led by Willy Merkle (1932, 1934) ^[14] .

The expedition began work on May 22 and by June 12 a chain of intermediate high-mountain camps from I to V (6500 m) was established. The last message from Karl Wien was delivered by Lieutenant Smart on June 14 from Camp IV at an altitude of 6,180 meters, in which, on the night of June 15, in conditions of imminent weather, Wien, Hartmann, Hepp, Göttner, Fankhauser, Pfeffer and Mühlitter, as well as nine high-altitude porters . On June 17, Ulrich Luft left with five porters from the expedition base camp to Camp IV with a cargo of expeditionary equipment and mail, the location of which reached at noon on the 18th. However, at the camp site, he found ice fragments of huge serac scattered 300 meters away and traces of an avalanche ^{[14] [12]} .

The news of the disaster reached the Bauer on June 20 in Munich. Then he decided to immediately leave for the place, and on July 10, together with and Karl von Kraus, arrived in India and led a search expedition, which on July 15 had already reached the site of the former camp IV. After long hard work at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters without sufficient altitude acclimatization, and therefore accompanied by a constant mountain sickness of rescuers, by July 19, they managed to dig up the bodies of Pfeffer, Hartmann, Hepp, Wien and Fankhauser, as well as their personal belongings and diaries. The body of Pasang, one of the best high-altitude porters who took part in expeditions of 1932 and 1934, was also found. The search for the remaining Sherpas, at the request of their boss Nursang (for religious reasons, the bodies should have been left where they found peace), were stopped. The bodies of Mühlitter and Göttner were never found ^{[12] [14]} .

According to the summarized information gathered, it was possible to establish that the tragedy on Nanga Parbat occurred on the night of June 14-15 at approximately 00.20 (this time was indicated by a stopped watch on Harmann’s hand) as a result of a snow avalanche caused, presumably, by an ice collapse resulting from a number of climatic factors ^{[14] [12]} .

Nanga Parbat (1938)

Nanga Parbat, as the goal of the fourth German expedition to this summit, was organized, according to Bauer, as a tribute to the memory of his best friends Karl Wien, Adolf Göttner and Gunther Hepp, who died on its slopes a year earlier, as well as comrades from previous ascents of Hans Hartmann, Peter Mühlitter, Fankhauser and Pfeffer. The backbone of the team was Fritz Bechtold and the only survivor of the 1937 disaster, Ulrich Luft. In addition to them, five more German athletes were included in the climbing team. A feature of this expedition was the use of Junkers U.52 aircraft for supplying high-altitude camps with special engines for high altitudes and a hatch for dropping cargo, piloted by Alexander Toenes, a member of the 1929 Bauer Himalayan expedition ^[11] .

On June 1, a base camp was set up in the Rakiot Valley and work began on the mountain. However, this season, as in 1934 and 1937, constant bad weather chased the climbers, and only by July 20 they managed to reach the North saddle - the pass between the peaks of Rakiot (7070 m) and the Silver Saddle (a characteristic saddle in the eastern ridge of the mountain, through which lies the path to the summit ridge) - camps of the VI expedition of Willy Merkle ^[11]

Suddenly I noticed something unusual for the background around us. I stopped right away. What I saw were the legs of the dead people ... No one should have been around at this moment except for Luft and Bechtold. Soon the three of us stood in front of two bodies, and even before we dug them out of the snow, we knew that we had Willy Merkl, a friend of Bechtold’s youth and his porter Gai-lai, who remained with him until the end ... In Merkle’s pocket we found a battered a note written by him and Wenzelbach from camp VII on July 12 asking for help. Wielzenbach died the next night ...

Original text

Suddenly I caught sight of something strange to the region. Startled, I stood still. What I see must be the feet of dead men ... None must come here, except Luft and Bechtold. Soon afterwards the three of us stood before the two bodies, and even before we had freed them from the snow we knew that Merkl, the friend of Bechtold's youth, lay before us. We had no time to pause and think. The two bodies were perfectly preserved — Willy Merkl and the porter Gaylay, the servant who had remained faithful to his master to the last, and even in death had not forsaken him. ... In Merkl's breast pocket we found that terribly moving letter written by him and Welzenbach in Camp VII on the 12 th July, in which they told of their plight and weakness, and asked for help. Welzenbach died in Camp VII the following night ...

However, the bad weather that broke out at the end of July, as well as time limits, forced Bauer to expedite the expedition, which this time ended without casualties ^{[15] [11]} .

• The Battle of the Himalayas ( German: In Kampf um den Himalaja ) (1931, reprinted in 1934, 1943, 1952)
• The Himalayan Campaign (1937)
• Himalayan Quest (1938)
• Challenge Kangchenjunga ( English Kangchenjunga Challenge ) (1955)
• The Siege of Nanga Parbat 1856-1953 ( The Siege of Nanga Parbat 1856-1953 ) (1956)

• Maurice Isserman, Stewart Weaver. Fallen Giants. A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. - Yale University Press. - USA, 2008. - 592 p. - ISBN 978-0-300-11501-7 .

• Paul Bauer (mountaineer) (neopr.) . Internet Archive . (eng.)