Zugspitze - History

History

The first recorded ascent to the summit was accomplished by a team of land surveyors on 27 August 1820. The team was led by Lieutenant Josef Naus, who was accompanied by two men named Maier and G. Deutschl. However, local people had conquered the peak over 50 years earlier, according to a 1770 map discovered by the Alpenverein.

On 7 January 1882 the first successful winter assault on the Zugspitze was accomplished by F. Kilger, H. and J. Zametzer and H. Schwaiger.

Pilot, Frank Hailer, caused a stir on 19 March 1922, when he landed a plane with skids on the Schneeferner glacier. On 29 April 1927 Ernst Udet succeeded in taking off from the Schneeferner with a glider; he landed at Lermoos after a 25 minute flight. The glider had been disassembled into individual parts and transported up the Zugspitze by cable car. In the winter of 1931/32, a post office was set up on the Zugspitze by the German Imperial Post Office or Reichspost. It still exists today in the Sonnalpin restaurant and has the postal address: 82475 Zugspitze. In 1931, four years after the first glider flight, the first balloon took off from the Zugspitze

In April 1933, the mountain was occupied by of 24 storm troopers, who hoisted a swastika flag on top the tower on the weather station. A month later, SA and SS deployed on the Schneeferner in the shape of a swastika. On 20 April 1945 the US Air Force dropped bombs on the Zugspitze that destroyed the valley station of the Tyrolean Zugspitze Railway and the hotel on the ridge. After the war the Allies seized the railway and Schneefernerhaus.

Shortly after World War II the US military took over the Schneefernerhaus (as the hotel at the top was then called) for the exclusive use of US military and civilian employees. Room rates, including meals, were US $1 per day. Ski lessons were available, taught by Austrians and Germans, at a cost of US $0.25 per hour.

In 1948, the German Federal Post Office (Deutsche Bundespost) began operating a microwave radio station at the summit. In September of that year, three artistes walked a steel tightrope stretched between the East and West Summits. Two members of the Traber family traversed the same route in 1953 on a tightrope on a motorcycle. Since 1953, an annual Gatterl Mass (Gatterlmesse) has been held on the Gatterl mountain to commemorate the four members of the Bavarian Border Police who died in an avalanche in 1952 as well as all those who have died on the Zugspitze.

In 1962 a fire destroyed the ridge hotel by the mountain station of the Tyrolean Zugspitze Railway. The 1976 Friuli earthquake was also felt particularly strongly on the Zugspitze: the duty meteorologist feared that the observation tower might collapse. In 1981 a chapel was founded on the Zugspitze, which was consecrated by the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger, in October on the feast of Visitation. On 25 March, an automated teller machine was installed at the summit station; it has since been removed. In 1995, a 450 square metre exhibition area was opened at the summit, in which artists present their work for six months, before the exhibition is changed. In 1995, the border between Germany and Austria at the summit was opened.

Since 2000, the Zugspitze extreme mountain run has been held annually. In July 2008 there were repercussions in the media when, as the result of a sudden drop in temperature, two participants died of exhaustion and hypothermia At the end of August 2009 the Swiss, Freddy Nock, walked along a cable of the Zugspitze Glacier Cable Car from the Zugspitzplatt to the summit. He covered the 995 metre long, up to 56% steep route (which had a height difference of 348 metres) unsecured in 50 minutes.