Ludwig Purtscheller
Ludwig Purtscheller (6 October 1849 – 3 March 1900) was an Austrian mountaineer and teacher. Purtscheller pioneered climbing without a mountain guide, who in the 19th century did all the route finding and lead climbing. A celebrated climb was the traverse of the Meije together with the Zsigmondy brothers in 1885, which to this date is considered a classic alpine route.
Ludwig Purtscheller
MatthiasKabel · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Ludwig Purtscheller
- Nationality
- Austrian
- Born
- 6 October 1849
- Birthplace
- Innsbruck, Austrian Empire
- Died
- 3 March 1900
- Place of death
- Bern, Switzerland
- Occupation
- Mountaineer, teacher
- Known for
- * Kilimanjaro first ascent
- Honours
- honorary member
- Languages
- German · Italian · English
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Documentary summary
Ludwig Purtscheller (6 October 1849 – 3 March 1900) was an Austrian mountaineer and teacher. Purtscheller pioneered climbing without a mountain guide, who in the 19th century did all the route finding and lead climbing. A celebrated climb was the traverse of the Meije together with the Zsigmondy brothers in 1885, which to this date is considered a classic alpine route.
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Ludwig Purtscheller (1849–1900) was a mountaineer, physical education teacher and writer and a national of the Austrian Empire and Cisleithania. Born in Innsbruck, the mountaineer died in Bern.
Ludwig Purtscheller was a member of Österreichischer Alpenklub and held the positions of apprentice and physical education teacher. The mountaineer worked in German East Africa.
Languages used include English, French and German. Ludwig Purtscheller received honorary member.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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wikidata · Q689000 · wikipedia · Ludwig Purtscheller
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Biography
Biography
He is best known as the first European to ascend Kilimanjaro in 1889, together with the German mountaineer Hans Meyer. After a descent of the Aiguille du Dru with G. Löwenbach and Jakob Oberhollenzer on 25 August 1899, an ice axe broke and the rope team fell into a bergschrund. Purtscheller was injured and he was transferred to a hospital in Geneva and later Bern. After several months of recovery, he contracted pneumonia and died on the approximate date of his planned return home. In a eulogy, the American climber and mountain historian W.A.B. Coolidge called him "the greatest mountaineer who had ever lived".
Ludwig Purtscheller, Compton, 1895, Der Mauvais Pas an der Aiguille Méridionale d’Arves
Edward Theodore Compton · Summit Post Source: [1] Image: [2] Article (p2 68): [3]
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ludwig Purtscheller • Nationality — Austrian • Born — 6 October 1849 • Birthplace — Innsbruck, Austrian Empire • Died — 3 March 1900 • Place of death — Bern, Switzerland • Occupation — Mountaineer, teacher • Known for — * Kilimanjaro first ascent • Meije first traverse • Illustration — The 'bad step' on the Aiguille Méridionale d’Arves showing L. Purtscheller and Karl Blodig. Illustration by E.Compton, 1895.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Recorded positions include apprentice and physical education teacher. He belonged to Österreichischer Alpenklub. He worked at German East Africa.
Identity
Identity
Ludwig Purtscheller is recorded as mountaineer, writer and physical education teacher.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1849
Ludwig Purtscheller born at Innsbruck.
1900
Ludwig Purtscheller died at Bern.
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Innsbruck.
Birth place
Bern.
Death place
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reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q689000: Ludwig Purtscheller
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Ludwig Purtscheller”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- VIAF cluster 69724664 for Ludwig Purtscheller, aggregating national library name authorities.
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- Ludwig RhesaAuthor
- Ludwig RubinerAuthor
- Ludwig ThomaAuthor
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