Edouard Wyss-Dunant
| Edouard Wyss-Dunant | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 April 1897 |
| Died | 30 April 1983 (aged 86) |
| Residence | Geneva |
| Citizenship | Swiss |
| Fields | Medicine |
Edouard Wyss-Dunant (17 April 1897 – 30 April 1983) was a Swiss physician and alpinist. He had a distinguished career in medicine, both in his own country and abroad. He published a number of treatises in his professional capacity and was the author of several mountaineering books. He is best known for his leadership of the Swiss Expedition to Everest of 1952.
Wyss-Dunant had a Swiss-German father and a Vaudoise mother. He spent his childhood in Alsace, where his father managed a chemical works. He went on to study medicine in Geneva. After receiving a doctorate in radiology in Zurich he set himself up as a practitioner in radiology in Bern and became a member of the Berner Akademische Alpen-Klub (Bern Academical Alpine Club). Later, he moved into a practice in Geneva, where he met his future wife, Lucrece, and there, with the exception of a period spent in North Africa, he made his home for the rest of his life.
During his stay in Bern, Wyss-Dunant climbed all the main summits of the Bernese Oberland: among the classic routes in his record at that time were the Mittellegi Ridge of the Eiger, the North Ridge of the Mönch and many good ascents in the chain of the Grosses Engelhorn. In his early twenties, he traversed the Dent d'Hérens from the Tiefenmatten-Joch to the Col du Lion and made a double traverse, in two days, of both the Matterhorn and the Dent d'Hérens. He also achieved a solo traverse of the Matterhorn and climbed it by its formidable Furggen-Grat with Alexander Taugwalder. He also climbed extensively in the Mont Blanc massif with Marcel Kurz.
Wyss-Dunant also participated in several expeditions further afield: in Mexico (1936), East Africa (1937), Greenland (1938), Tibesti (Chad) (1946) and in the Himalaya (1947 and 1952). The accounts of these exploits are recorded in his books: "Appels des Sommets", "Au dela des Cîmes", "Sur les Hauts Plateaux Mexicains", "Mes Ascensions en Afrique", "Mirages Groenlandais" and "Forets et Cîmes Himalayennes".
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