Asia, Caucausus, The Expedition of the Sektion München of the D. Ö. A. V.

Publication Year: 1936.

The Expedition of the Sektion München of the D. Ö. A. V. The group composed of Adolf Göttner, Gottlieb Rosenschon, Ludwig Schmaderer and Ludwig Vörg set out at the same time as the Austrian expedition just mentioned, but confined their activities to the Tepli and Adai Khokh groups. On July 7th they ascended the most northerly peak of the range as a reconnaissance. On July 14th they effected the first ascent of Kolotatau by way of the west face, and thence traversed to Teplitau the summit of the range hitherto unclimbed, by way of its east peak climbed in 1886 by Vittorio Sella and E. Gallo from the south. On the 15th they reascended Kolotatau by a new route from the east, and while Göttner and Vörg descended with the bivouac material the others spent the night shortly below the summit and the next day traversed to Arkhontau making the first ascent of this mountain as well. After this success the base camp was moved to the Adai Khokh group on the other side of the Ossetian military road, and on July 19th Göttner and Vörg made the second ascent of Tur Khokh by a new route from the south, and then traversed to Ullurarg Khokh,making its second ascent. On the 2nd of August Göttner and Rosenschon ascended the Col between the Ifilisis-mta and Double Peak’ from the Zea Glacier, and climbed both Tfilisis-mta, probable first ascent, and the south summit of Double Peak, and then to the higher north summit, in probability also a first ascent. During this time the other two succeeded in making the second ascent of the high summit of Songuta Khokh and the probable first ascent of the lower north summit. The entire party, then on July 24th effected the first ascent of Uilpata, the highest peak of the group.

During an ascent of Elbruz Rosenschon was taken ill and sent to the military hospital of Terskol where he quickly recovered. The other three with a Russian climber, Georgi Charlamhiev, set out, however, for an attempt on Ushba, and spent from the 10th to the 13th traversing Ushba from south to north, the second time the mountain has been traversed, and in the reverse direction from the original traverse by Pfannl in 1903. This is one of the outstanding climbs in the Caucausus for many years. Following this success Schmaderer and Rosenschon returned home while the other two joined the Austrian scientific expedition in the Benzingi group for a few more days climbing.