Günter Dyhrenfurth

Günter Oskar Dyhrenfurth (12 November 1886 – 14 April 1975) was a German-born, German and Swiss mountaineer, geologist and Himalayan explorer. He won a gold medal in alpinism at the 1936 Summer Olympics, the third and final time the award was offered.^[1][2]

Biography

He led the International Himalaya Expedition (IHE) 1930 to Kangchenjunga, and another one, IHE 1934, to the Baltoro region in the Karakorams, especially to explore the Gasherbrum-Group. This expedition made the first ascent of Sia Kangri and some of its sub-peaks and provided detailed information about the accessibility of the 8000ers Gasherbrum I and II. The first ascent of Gasherbrum I in 1958 was accomplished via the route proposed by Dyhrenfurth following the so-called IHE-spur and the SE-ridge.

Dyrenfurth was a very influential alpinist, expedition leader and chronicler of mountaineering.^[3][4] His son Norman G. Dyhrenfurth was also a mountaineer and became an important expedition leader and film maker.^[5]

Selected bibliography

• Dyhrenfurth, Günter (1931). Himalaya. Unsere Expedition 1930. Berlin: Scherl.
• Dyhrenfurth, Günter (1939). Baltoro, ein Himalaya-Buch. Basel: B. Schwabe & Co.
• Dyhrenfurth, Günter (1953). To the third Pole. London: W. Laurie.
• Dyhrenfurth, Günter (1953). L' Himalaya, troisième pôle: les "8.000" de la terre. Paris: Payot.
• Dyhrenfurth, Günter (1954). Das Buch vom Nanga Parbat, die Geschichte seiner Besteigung, 1895-1953. Munich: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung.