Emil Zsigmondy
| Emil Zsigmondy | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
11 August 1861 Vienna, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 6 August 1885 (aged 23) Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, Meije south face |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation | Physician, mountaineer |
Emil Zsigmondy (11 August 1861 – 6 August 1885) was an Austrian physician and mountaineer.
Zsigmondy's parents were Hungarians: Adolf Zsigmondy, born in Pozsony, and Irma von Szakmáry, born in Mártonvásár. Zsigmondy was an excellent alpinist, known for the risky nature of many of his climbs. He began mountaineering as a teenager, climbing the Reisseck in Austria in a round trip of 26 hours with his brother, Otto Zsigmondy. By the late 1870s the two brothers were climbing without guides in the Zillertal Alps. In 1881, they climbed the Ortler from the Hochjoch.
Emil Zsigmondy was the friend and companion of Ludwig Purtscheller, the great pioneer of guideless Alpine climbing. Emil and Otto climbed with Purtscheller in 1882 and 1884, including an ascent without guides of the Marinelli Couloir on Monte Rosa and the first guideless traverse of the Matterhorn. Zsigmondy's outstanding achievements include the first ascent by the east arête of the 3,983 metres (13,068 ft) high Meije in the Massif des Écrins range, made by Zsigmondy, his brother Otto, and Purtscheller on 26 July 1885. A few days later he died on the same mountain. He was killed in an attempt to climb the south face of the Meije on 6 August 1885, probably as a result of his rope slipping off a rock. The face was only conquered in 1912 by the South Tyrolese climbers Angelo Dibona and Luigi Rizzi with the brothers Guido and Max Mayer. Emil Zsigmondy's grave is a few miles away from the accident site in the small cemetery of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans in the Dauphiné Alps. He had graduated as a doctor of medicine in 1884, less than a year before his death.
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