Ebert Sylvanus John

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Biografie:
SYLVANUS JOHN EBERT (1907-1996)

John Ebert, founder of the Iowa Mountaineers, Inc., was one of the great legacies in American mountaineering. While living in the heartland of the Midwest, in the middle of silos and cornfields, 800 miles from the closest mountains, John and Ede Ebert founded one of the most reputable and active not-for-profit mountaineering clubs. In the club’s 56-year history, over 78,000 people from all 50 states joined John and Ede on the ascents of 1,290 peaks in 17 countries. The Iowa Mountaineers had over 250 first ascents and 38 mountains ascended and named for the first time to its credit. It was the largest university mountaineering club in the world with over 5,200 members and 4,800 people trained yearly in the skills of rock climbing, mountaineering, ice climbing, hiking, backpacking and cross-country skiing and winter mountain survival for academic credit.
Born in Richfield, Wisconsin, John Ebert grew up in Watertown, Wisconsin, as a youth. He excelled in baseball, ice hockey and tennis with abilities that took him to semiprofessional levels. But his real love was climbing in the mountains. At age 16 he hitchhiked to Colorado and ran up Pikes Peak, Mount Evans and Longs Peak, to name a few of the dozen peaks he climbed. He spent every waking hour during the summers of his youth climbing peaks and exploring mountains in the western states.
John later moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where he received his degree at the University of Iowa and worked full time at the University as the Chief Radio Engineer at WSUI. He met Ede at the University, and they were married in 1939. His inspiration to found a Midwestern mountaineering club was bom while returning from a climbing trip to the Wind Rivers in 1939. John felt strongly that more people would go to the mountains if someone else did all the planning and provided safe, experienced mountain leadership. That fall John placed an ad in The Daily Iowan, a University student newspaper. Seventy people attended the first meeting to help found a mountaineering club. The Iowa Mountaineers became a University of Iowa student organization in 1940 and was incorporated in Iowa as a not-for-profit corporation in 1943.
In 1948 John taught the first mountaineering course ever offered at a major university in this hemisphere. Titled “Outings and Mountaineering,” it was offered for three hours of credit. Since then over 39,200 University of Iowa students have traveled with the Iowa Mountaineers to destinations very distant from the Midwest to receive academic credit.
Under his leadership and personal direction and because of his insatiable desire to explore and seek out new mountain ranges, John led the Iowa Mountaineers into many new mountain ranges in North America and elsewhere in the world. Mountaineering camps held in eight Quebradas in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca resulted in 85 peaks being climbed by the Iowa Mountaineers with many first ascents, including first and second ascents by women. Included is Nevado Huascaran (22,200 feet), where Iowa Mountaineers have the second, third and fifth ascents by women and over 235 of its members reached the summit of Peru’s highest peak.
John Ebert’s philosophy was to allow anyone who had the spirit of adventure and wanted to climb mountains to join him on any trip the club sponsored. Thus, very good climbers as well as just average climbers with little if any mountaineering background were able to summit some of the world’s finest mountains. It is rare in the sport of mountaineering to find a John Ebert, one so totally unselfish and less interested in what he personally wanted to climb than in helping others climb peaks they wanted to ascend. He was forever grateful to all the climbing leaders who helped allow the Iowa Mountaineers to have 56 years with a perfect safety record without serious accident or fatality.
John’s family members’ lives, including wife Ede and sons, John F., Jim and Joel, were all made finer by the beauty, thrills and camaraderie growing up as a family in the spectacular mountains of the world. As a family they came to know the enthusiastic participants and gifted leaders. Those participants were so fantastic that over 1,850 married couples met on club trips; one couple became the first to marry on top of Devil’s Tower, which necessitated hoisting the judge up the Durrance Route!
Thank you, John, for your inspiration and dreams. You have been able personally to touch many of us with your love for the mountains. You have made mountain climbing possible for each of us regardless of our varied climbing abilities, and you have made the mountains of the world an exciting place for us to see and explore. The mountain camps that you provided were incredible places to meet wonderful people, to sing and to enjoy challenging and worthwhile climbing. You have given those of us who have participated with you in the mountains throughout the world many wonderful, memorable and safe mountaineering experiences to remember and cherish for the rest of our lives. Thank you, Dad.

Jim Ebert
Quelle: American Alpine Journal 1997, Volume 39, Issue 71, Seite


SYLVANUS JOHN EBERT (1907–1996)

John Ebert, Gründer der Iowa Mountaineers, Inc., war eine der prägendsten Persönlichkeiten des amerikanischen Bergsteigens. Mitten im Herzen des Mittleren Westens, zwischen Getreidesilos und Maisfeldern, 1300 Kilometer von den nächsten Bergen entfernt, gründeten John und Ede Ebert einen der angesehensten und aktivsten gemeinnützigen Bergsteigervereine. In der 56-jährigen Geschichte des Vereins bestiegen über 78.000 Menschen aus allen 50 Bundesstaaten gemeinsam mit John und Ede 1290 Gipfel in 17 Ländern. Die Iowa Mountaineers verbuchten über 250 Erstbesteigungen und die erstmalige Benennung von 38 Bergen. Es war der größte universitäre Bergsteigerverein der Welt mit über 5.200 Mitgliedern. Jährlich trainierten 4.800 Personen im Rahmen von Studienleistungen Klettern, Bergsteigen, Eisklettern, Wandern, Trekking, Langlaufen und Überlebenstraining im Gebirge.
John Ebert wurde in Richfield, Wisconsin, geboren und wuchs in seiner Jugend in Watertown, Wisconsin, auf. Er war ein talentierter Baseball-, Eishockey- und Tennisspieler und erreichte sogar ein semiprofessionelles Niveau. Seine wahre Leidenschaft galt jedoch dem Bergsteigen. Mit 16 Jahren trampte er nach Colorado und bestieg unter anderem den Pikes Peak, den Mount Evans und den Longs Peak. Die Sommer seiner Jugend verbrachte er fast jede freie Minute mit Bergsteigen und der Erkundung der Berge in den westlichen Bundesstaaten.
John zog später nach Iowa City, Iowa, wo er an der University of Iowa seinen Abschluss machte und hauptberuflich als leitender Radioingenieur beim Universitätsradiosender WSUI arbeitete. Dort lernte er Ede kennen, die er 1939 heiratete. Die Idee, einen Bergsteigerverein im Mittleren Westen zu gründen, kam ihm auf der Rückreise von einer Klettertour in den Wind River Mountains im selben Jahr. John war überzeugt, dass mehr Menschen in die Berge gehen würden, wenn jemand anderes die gesamte Planung übernahme und für sichere, erfahrene Bergführer sorgte. Im Herbst desselben Jahres schaltete er eine Anzeige im „Daily Iowan“, der Studentenzeitung der Universität. Siebzig Personen nahmen am ersten Treffen teil, um die Gründung des Bergsteigervereins zu unterstützen. Die „Iowa Mountaineers“ wurden 1940 zu einer Studentenorganisation der University of Iowa und 1943 in Iowa als gemeinnützige Körperschaft eingetragen.
1948 unterrichtete John den ersten Bergsteigerkurs, der jemals an einer großen Universität auf diesem Kontinent angeboten wurde. Der Kurs mit dem Titel „Ausflüge und Bergsteigen“ wurde mit drei Leistungspunkten angerechnet. Seitdem sind über 39.200 Studenten der University of Iowa mit den Iowa Mountaineers zu weit vom Mittleren Westen entfernten Zielen gereist, um dort Studienpunkte zu erhalten.
Unter seiner Führung und seinem persönlichen Engagement, angetrieben von seinem unstillbaren Drang, neue Gebirgszüge zu erkunden, führte John die Iowa Mountaineers in zahlreiche neue Gebirgszüge Nordamerikas und anderer Teile der Welt. Bergsteigerlager in acht Quebradas der peruanischen Cordillera Blanca ermöglichten den Iowa Mountaineers die Besteigung von 85 Gipfeln, darunter viele Erst- und Zweitbesteigungen, auch von Frauen. Zu ihnen gehört der Nevado Huascarán (6.760 Meter), dessen zweite, dritte und fünfte Besteigung durch Frauen den Iowa Mountaineers gelang. Über 235 Mitglieder des Vereins erreichten den Gipfel von Perus höchstem Berg.
John Eberts Philosophie war es, jedem mit Abenteuergeist und Bergsteigerdrang die Teilnahme an den vom Verein organisierten Touren zu ermöglichen. So konnten sowohl sehr gute als auch durchschnittliche Bergsteiger mit wenig oder gar keiner Erfahrung einige der schönsten Berge der Welt besteigen. Es ist selten im Bergsteigersport, einen John Ebert zu finden, der so selbstlos war und weniger daran interessiert war, anderen beim Erreichen ihrer Gipfelziele zu helfen, als an seinen eigenen persönlichen Zielen. Er war allen Bergführern, die dazu beitrugen, dass die Iowa Mountaineers 56 Jahre lang eine makellose Sicherheitsbilanz ohne schwere Unfälle oder Todesfälle vorweisen konnten, zutiefst dankbar.
John’s family members’ lives, including wife Ede and sons, John F., Jim and Joel, were all made finer by the beauty, thrills and camaraderie growing up as a family in the spectacular mountains of the world. As a family they came to know the enthusiastic participants and gifted leaders. Those participants were so fantastic that over 1,850 married couples met on club trips; one couple became the first to marry on top of Devil’s Tower, which necessitated hoisting the judge up the Durrance Route!

Thank you, John, for your inspiration and dreams. You have been able personally to touch many of us with your love for the mountains. You have made mountain climbing possible for each of us regardless of our varied climbing abilities, and you have made the mountains of the world an exciting place for us to see and explore. The mountain camps that you provided were incredible places to meet wonderful people, to sing and to enjoy challenging and worthwhile climbing. You have given those of us who have participated with you in the mountains throughout the world many wonderful, memorable and safe mountaineering experiences to remember and cherish for the rest of our lives. Thank you, Dad.
Jim Ebert
Quelle: American Alpine Journal 1997, Volume 39, Issue 71, Seite

Geboren am:
1907
Gestorben am:
1996