Climber September/October 2017

Mountaineering
Legends in collaboration with Vertebrate Publishing
Toni Egger
Toni Egger (1926–1959) was an Italian mountaineer and native
German speaker. He was one of the strongest mountaineers of
the post Second World War period. He died at the age of 32 in
circumstances that were never fully clarified, in an attempt to
climb Cerro Torre in Patagonia. According to Cesare Maestri
(his rope companion on the occasion), Egger was hit by an
avalanche near the triangular junction of the East Wall during
descent. His remains were found in 1974 on the Torre Glacier.
In the post-war period, Egger’s mountaineering
career began. In 1950, after having gone to the
Dolomites using smugglers’ paths, as he had no
passport, he was so impressed by the mountains
writing, ‘I arrived for the first time in the Dolomites
and I was enchanted by the beauty of the majestic
mountains. I have a longing desire to return to
devote myself to more important excursions’.
Soon after with Franz Reinzer, he climbed the
North Wall of Cima Grande di Lavaredo. Then
with Heini Heinricher he climbed a new winter
route on the North Wall of the Lanser Kopf and
the North Face of Roter Turm.
In 1951 he enrolled on the Alpine course at
Zillertal; among the 50 participants he is ranked
fourth in the winter and second in the summer.
Notes in his diary read, ‘(it) was a great success,
as there are many other excellent mountaineers,
and I honestly acknowledge that I never felt the
best’. Soon after he graduated as an Alpine guide.
In 1952 he made several firsts in the Dolomites,
including the first ascent of the South West Corner
of Roter Turm, other north faces and together with
Franco Mantelli he climbed the Matterhorn by
the Furggen Ridge. His many fast, and sometimes
solo, ascents in the Alps get him the nickname
of ‘The Weasel’.
In 1957 he participated in an exploratory
expedition to Peru organized by the Austrian
Alpine Club and directed by Heinrich Klier,
on which he and Siegfried Jungmair made
the first ascent of Jirishanca.
In 1958, Cesare Maestri was organizing an
expedition to Cerro Torre. After difficult climbing
from 6th to 15th January 1959, to equip the 300m
of a dihedral leading to the triangular embankment
of the East Wall, the team were stopped by bad
weather. On 28th January, Maestri, Egger and Fava
departed to try for the top; Fava soon returned to
the base leaving Maestri and Egger alone. Six
days later, on 3rd February, Fava found Maestri
half-buried in the snow, saying that they had
reached the summit the previous day, but on
the descent Egger had been hit and dragged away
by an avalanche. The camera that could have
documented the ascent was lost in the accident.
The Maestri-Egger climb of 1959 is strongly
contested in the mountaineering world because
of numerous inaccuracies and contradictions
by Maestri. Ed Douglas in his new book The
Magician’s Glass talks about this mystery and
the tragic doubts surrounding the death of
Toni Egger, a true mountaineering legend.
82 Sep–Oct 2017 www.climber.co.uk