Name Eduard Koblmueller Role Mountaineer | Died April 16, 2015, Georgia | |
Eduard „Edi“ Koblmueller (German: Koblmüller) (April 10, 1946 – April 16, 2015) was an Austrian mountaineer.
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Life
Koblmueller was born in Linz, Austria. He studied at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna with a degree in forestry.
In 1978 he founded with his wife Elisabeth a mountaineering school called Bergspechte and for that gave up his secure position with the government of Upper Austria (he worked in the department of agriculture and forestry and was responsible for environmental matters, at a time when no department for these existed.)
In 1991 he was caught by an avalanche in the Pyrenees and rescued by his team, but suffered knee injuries with long-term consequences. In 2005 he was completely buried by an avalanche in Abruzzo, but located and excavated by friends. In this incident, he suffered no injuries.
In 1999, Koblmueller's older son Michael died at the age of 24 during an ascent of the Diran (7,266-meter/23,839 ft) in an avalanche. In 2003, his wife died at age 56 during an exercise in an indoor climbing wall. Both Koblmueller and his wife were licensed mountain guides, as is their younger son Reinhard.
Since 1968, Koblmueller participated in expeditions in the Andes, in the Hindu Kush, in the Karakoram and the Himalayas, and achieved important first ascents. His most important accomplishment was the first ascent of the Southeast Face of Cho Oyu (8201 m/26,906 ft) in 1978 together with Alois Furtner [3]. Koblmueller was considered one of the most successful Austrian expedition mountaineer, and reached five eight-thousanders.
In the summer of 2014, he sold his shares of the Bergspechte company to a German firm operating in the same field, but remained active as an adviser.
On April 10, 2015, Koblmueller led a group of nine participants in a ski expedition to Mount Kazbek (5047 m/16,516 ft) in the Greater Caucasus. During one leg of the ascent the group encountered a snow storm. Seven members of the mostly Austrian group managed to reach a hut and were unharmed. As guide, Koblmueller aided a 59-year-old Austrian participant. Both were caught in a blizzard, and were found on the afternoon of April 16, 2015 at an altitude of 4700 m having died of hypothermia. Their bodies were retrieved by helicopter.