Frans Senn and the Ötzi man
by Martin Joffe
This summer the Deutscher Alpenverein will celebrate the 150th year since its foundation. Among the events to commemorate this anniversary there will be a gathering at the Martin Busch Hütte in the southern Ötztal. A tribute will be paid to Franz Xaverius Senn who was a founding member of the Austrian and German alpine associations and was at the constitutional meeting in Munich 150 years ago. There is a planned climb of the Kreuzspitze, which was the favourite mountain of the "Gletscherpfarre”' from Vent.
I first became aware of Senn in the summer of 2015 during a visit to Neustift in the Stubaital (where he was laid to rest) on my way to the hut, which bears his name, So who was Franz Senn? He was not only an Austrian priest but also a mountaineer who was among the first to promote alpinism and foster the early development of mountaineering in the Tyrol. His concern for the poverty of his parishioners led him to encourage tourism into the Stubai ard Ötztal va1leys. He convinced the town folks to open up their homes to visitors exploring the mountains and over time the local economy improved. Senn's passion for mountaineering led to his ascent of numerous 3000m summits throughout the Ötztal Alps. He also built the first shelter in the Ötztal, the Hochjoch Hospiz.
View from Hochjoch Hospitze
Photos by Martin Joffe
A few days after leaving the Stubai I was in Bolzano visiting the Südrirol Museum of Archaeology that houses the Ötzi man exhibit and his preserved remains. It was a year later that I became aware of a connection between the man who had lived around 3200 years BC, the village priest, the town of Vent and a certain family from Vent who host the current day walkers in the southern Ötztal. This began on 19 September 2016 while enjoying breakfast in the "new" Hochjoch Hospiz with my wife and Prof. Ludwig Braun (Kommission für Glaziologie, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften Müinchen). Ludwig tuned to me and asked if I knew the significance of the day's date. He went on to remind me that on this day 25 years ago the corpse of Ötzi man was discovered nearby. He added that the young Hüttenwirt, Thomas Pirpamer, who was listening to our conversation was the son of Alois Pirpamer, the well-known mountaineer based in Vent. It was the Pirpamer family who had been intimately involved with the "lce Man's" recovery. Ludwig then solemnly added that it was on the same day in September five years prior that the senior Pirpamer had died. On hearing this I warmly hugged our gracious young host out of respect for this solemn anniversary. An hour later my wife and I walked down beautiful Rofental valley and, on arriving in Vent, we immediately went to the tiny church where we paid our respects at the grave of Alois Pirpamer. Then we entered the tourist office building where, on the top floor, we visited the glaciology exhibit created by our new friend Ludwig Braun, whose research station was nearby on the Vernagt Ferner.
Picture of Alois Pirpaner stube
I now know that Ötzi (named after Ötztal and Yeti) was not the first to dare to cross the Alps. Archaeological discoveries near Vent prove that this region was the hunting ground for foragers in the Mesolithic period as early as 8,000 BC. At an altitude of 1890 metres Vent was first mentioned in a deed as far back as 1241. Since 1854 the hamlet now belongs to the municipality of Sölden. It was many years later, not far away at an elevation of 3210m on the east ridge of the Fineilspitze on the Austrian-Italian border, that two German tourists walking off Path came upon the frozen body. They reported this to Markus Pirpamer, the then Z7-yea-old caretaker of the Similaun Hütte, which actually stands on Italian territory. The drama that unfolded is worthy of a Hollywood movie. Markus contacted his father Alois and soon a search party began the task of locating and recovering the body. It was on 23rd September that the body arrived by helicopter in Vent. When word got out about this discovery experts, including Reinhold Messner, arrived from both sides of the border. Then began the dispute of "ownership" over the remains of the "Ice Man', which was to be shuttled first to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck and then finally to Bolzano, after an official survey concluded that Ötzi had been found only 92.56m from the border in ltaly. Then the German couple that first saw the body sued for a finders fee resulting in a long drawn out legal battle. With such drama it is not surprising that one finds references to the myth or curse of the Ötzi Man and stories of the premature death of those who had contact with the body. A headline in 2005 announced: "the seventh person connected to the discovery of a prehistoric man found in the Alps has died, adding to the legend of a curse behind the ancient warrior." How wonderful are the stories from these mountains.
Alois Pirpaner's grave in Vent
In 2016, my wife and I hiked from Obergurgl to the Ramolhütte via a cautious crossing over the snout of the Gurgler Ferner. Now considered too dangerous, one can use the newly built Piccard Bridge which spans the gorge. The next day we crossed over the Ramoljoch to the Martin Busch Hütte. A snowstorm that night prevented the traverse over the Saykogel. Instead we reached the Hocjoch Hospiz from Vent on the high circuit past the Breslauer and Vemagt Hütten.
Thomas Pirpaner that morning Vent
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