Paul Preuss (climber) - Last Years

Last Years

Preuss became the most demanded lecturer on alpinism in the German-speaking world at that time. He was said to be both a witty and spell-binding lecturer. Martin Grabner (in his Preuss entry on Bergsteigen.at; Alpines Lexicon) claims that during this time Preuss made his living delivering such lectures, which would make him the precursor of our modern professional climbers as well as the precursor of pure climbing ethics. In all, he had more than fifty lectures scheduled for the year he passed.

Günther Freiherr von Saar claims that Preuss learned “modern ice-craft” during the summers of 1912 and 1913 from Oscar Eckenstein, the inventor of the ten-point crampon.

In 1912, he witnessed the well-known British mountaineer H. O. Jones, Jones's somewhat inexperienced bride (married a mere two weeks), and their guide Julius Truffer fall to their death on the Aiguille Rouge de Peuterey. Preuss, who was unroped and scouting, returned only to watch Truffer fall due to a broken hold, taking the rest of the party with him.

Preuss often climbed alone because he believed soloing to be safer; only his own life was at stake. Even before the Jones' tragedy, he wasn't willing to risk the lives of his belayers on difficult routes. Ironically, he was accused of inhumanity by Tita Piaz during the Piton Dispute (in spite of the fact that they were friends). However, his soloing eventually caught up with him. On October 3, 1913, on an attempt to make the first ascent of the North Ridge of the Mandlkogel free solo, Preuss fell a thousand feet to his death. His body was found a week and a half later, buried under a foot and a half of new-fallen snow.

While the actual cause of the fall will never be known, an open pocketknife and a rucksack with a length of sling material, as well as some cairns found ten years later, suggest that Preuss may have stopped for a rest high on the upper ridge and lost his balance as he tried to catch the pocketknife after it slipped from his grasp. Of course, other scenarios would also be consistent with these facts.