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95jährig starb Ernest Hofstetter, Teilnehmer der bahnbrechenden Schweizer Expedition auf den Everest von 1952:
Im Alter von 95 Jahren ist der Schweizer Bergsteiger Ernest Hofstetter gestorben, der einst den Weg zum Mount Everest gebahnt hat. Wie ein Sohn des Bergsteigers am Freitag mitteilte, starb sein Vater bereits am 1. Juni in seinem Chalet in der Nähe von Chamonix, mit Blick auf den Mont Blanc.
Hofstetter gehörte der Schweizer Expedition an, die 1952 kurz vor dem Gipfel des Mount Everest umkehren musste. Ein Jahr später nutzte Sir Edmund Hillary die von Hofstetter erkundete Route für seine erfolgreiche Erstbesteigung des höchsten Berges der Welt. Der Pfad wird bis heute genutzt, um auf das 8.850 Meter hohe «Dach der Welt» zu gelangen.
In Anerkennung dieses Beitrags schickte Hillary dem Schweizer Team unter der Leitung von Edouard Wyss-Dunant ein Telegramm mit den Worten: "To you goes half the glory" (Euch gebührt die Hälfte des Ruhms). Nach dem Willen Hofstetters soll seine Asche zusammen mit der seiner verstorbenen Frau Jeanne in den Schweizer Alpen verstreut werden. Hofstetter hinterlässt seine drei Kinder Gerard, Michel und Catherine sowie seine Enkelin Yasmine.
Er bahnte den Weg zum Mount-Everest-Gipfel [Netzeitung, 8. Juni 2007]
Hofstetter gehörte der Schweizer Expedition an, die 1952 kurz vor dem Gipfel des Mount Everest umkehren musste. Ein Jahr später nutzte Sir Edmund Hillary die von Hofstetter erkundete Route für seine erfolgreiche Erstbesteigung des höchsten Berges der Welt. Der Pfad wird bis heute genutzt, um auf das 8.850 Meter hohe «Dach der Welt» zu gelangen.
In Anerkennung dieses Beitrags schickte Hillary dem Schweizer Team unter der Leitung von Edouard Wyss-Dunant ein Telegramm mit den Worten: "To you goes half the glory" (Euch gebührt die Hälfte des Ruhms). Nach dem Willen Hofstetters soll seine Asche zusammen mit der seiner verstorbenen Frau Jeanne in den Schweizer Alpen verstreut werden. Hofstetter hinterlässt seine drei Kinder Gerard, Michel und Catherine sowie seine Enkelin Yasmine.
Er bahnte den Weg zum Mount-Everest-Gipfel [Netzeitung, 8. Juni 2007]
Ernest Hofstetter, who was part of the Swiss team that first traced the route to "The Roof of the World" used by Sir Edmund Hillary to conquer Mount Everest, died here on June 1. He was 95.
His death was confirmed by his son Michel.
Mr. Hofstetter was a member of the Swiss expedition that had to turn back just short of the peak in 1952. But the team is credited with forging the path that Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay used a year later, when they became the first to scale the summit of Everest, at 29,035 feet the world’s tallest peak.
After reaching the peak, Sir Edmund’s team sent the Swiss expedition a telegram reading, “To you goes half the glory.” Climbers still use the path today.
The Swiss expedition remains one of the most astonishing feats in mountaineering history. Its members were climbing buddies who had hatched the plan to scale Everest during a weekly get-together in a Geneva square. Mr. Hofstetter ran a sporting-goods store in Geneva.
Unexpectedly, the Swiss received from the Nepalese government the permit for 1952, taking it away from the British, who had monopolized it the previous 21 years.
Mr. Hofstetter and his friends surpassed all expectations, although they had a big asset. Like Sir Edmund, they also had Mr. Norgay, the legendary Sherpa.
The Swiss team conquered the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, whose collapsing towers of ice and large crevasses that open without warning have claimed many lives. Reaching the broad glacial basin called the Western Cwm, they scaled the huge Lhotse face at 23,620 feet to reach the desolate, windswept South Col.
While Mr. Norgay and another team member, Raymond Lambert, forged on, Mr. Hofstetter remained with another group at 26,250 feet, ready to try if the pair failed.
Mr. Lambert and Mr. Norgay reached 28,380 feet, but were forced back down because of fatigue and bad weather. They came within 650 feet of the summit on May 26, 1952.
Sir Edmund’s team was more organized than the Swiss. It also had working oxygen equipment, although it weighed significantly more. The Swiss climbers, led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant, were members of Geneva’s L’Androsace Alpine club, and only one from the Everest expedition, Jean-Jacques Asper, now survives.
Besides his son Michel, Mr. Hofstetter is survived by another son, Gerard; a daughter, Catherine; and a granddaughter.
Michel Hofstetter said his father died in his French chalet, in view of Mont Blanc.
Ernest Hofstetter, Climber Who Helped Find the Path Up Everest, Dies at 95 [New York Times, June 9, 2007]
His death was confirmed by his son Michel.
Mr. Hofstetter was a member of the Swiss expedition that had to turn back just short of the peak in 1952. But the team is credited with forging the path that Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay used a year later, when they became the first to scale the summit of Everest, at 29,035 feet the world’s tallest peak.
After reaching the peak, Sir Edmund’s team sent the Swiss expedition a telegram reading, “To you goes half the glory.” Climbers still use the path today.
The Swiss expedition remains one of the most astonishing feats in mountaineering history. Its members were climbing buddies who had hatched the plan to scale Everest during a weekly get-together in a Geneva square. Mr. Hofstetter ran a sporting-goods store in Geneva.
Unexpectedly, the Swiss received from the Nepalese government the permit for 1952, taking it away from the British, who had monopolized it the previous 21 years.
Mr. Hofstetter and his friends surpassed all expectations, although they had a big asset. Like Sir Edmund, they also had Mr. Norgay, the legendary Sherpa.
The Swiss team conquered the dangerous Khumbu Icefall, whose collapsing towers of ice and large crevasses that open without warning have claimed many lives. Reaching the broad glacial basin called the Western Cwm, they scaled the huge Lhotse face at 23,620 feet to reach the desolate, windswept South Col.
While Mr. Norgay and another team member, Raymond Lambert, forged on, Mr. Hofstetter remained with another group at 26,250 feet, ready to try if the pair failed.
Mr. Lambert and Mr. Norgay reached 28,380 feet, but were forced back down because of fatigue and bad weather. They came within 650 feet of the summit on May 26, 1952.
Sir Edmund’s team was more organized than the Swiss. It also had working oxygen equipment, although it weighed significantly more. The Swiss climbers, led by Edouard Wyss-Dunant, were members of Geneva’s L’Androsace Alpine club, and only one from the Everest expedition, Jean-Jacques Asper, now survives.
Besides his son Michel, Mr. Hofstetter is survived by another son, Gerard; a daughter, Catherine; and a granddaughter.
Michel Hofstetter said his father died in his French chalet, in view of Mont Blanc.
Ernest Hofstetter, Climber Who Helped Find the Path Up Everest, Dies at 95 [New York Times, June 9, 2007]
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