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Eugen Heimhuber - photographer and ski pioneer on the Arlberg

The estate of the Allgäu photographer and ski pioneer Eugen Heimhuber includes numerous unpublished photographs from the years 1900 to 1925, which were taken in the Arlberg and Hochtannberg region. These impressive photographs document an early era of winter sports and the region.

During the course of his career, Heimhuber's "plate archive" grew to around 18,000 images - an astonishing achievement, especially considering the sophisticated technology of the time with large plate cameras. Today, Fotohaus Heimhuber in Sonthofen keeps hundreds of thousands of negatives taken over five generations. This collection is one of the most important photography archives in Europe.

The Foundation Friends of Hannes Schneider is now making the works of Eugen Heimhuber from the Arlberg and Hochtannberg region accessible for the first time in an exhibition. This unique collection was processed and presented as part of the Interreg project "Virtual History Forum".

The photographs by Eugen Heimhuber (1879-1966) shown in the exhibition were taken during his ski and mountain tours in the Arlberg and Hochtannberg region from the early 20th century onwards. His routes to the border region of Tyrol and Vorarlberg led him through the early networks of skiing and alpinism that developed between the Allgäu and Vorarlberg at the turn of the century.

The history of the Heimhuber family of photographers began in 1876, when Joseph Heimhuber opened his first studio in Sonthofen. His sons Fritz and Eugen continued the business and built up the archive. Eugen Heimhuber contributed around 18,000 glass plate photographs - mostly impressive landscape shots that he took on his tours.

These works are not only a testimony to his photographic skills, but also to his passion for the mountains, which he associated with the emerging winter sports. They provide fascinating insights into the connection between photography, alpinism and skiing in a pioneering era.

Eugen Heimhuber (1879-1966) was not only a talented photographer, but also an enthusiastic mountain sportsman and pioneer of alpine winter sports. In 1909, he was hired as a ski instructor for the newly founded Allgäu Ski Association to introduce locals and guests to winter sports.

His passion for the sport also led him into competition. At the first Allgäu Ski Championships in 1910, he secured the championship title in cross-country skiing and ski jumping for the Oberstdorf Ski Club. He consolidated his success while at the same time taking impressive photographs with his 13 x 18 cm plate camera.

Eugen Heimhuber combined sport and photography in a unique way and left behind a legacy that significantly shaped the history of winter sports and mountain photography.

Founded in 1907, the Mairrennen in St. Christoph (which also included ski jumping) was one of the most important skiing events in the region in the 1920s. One of the most popular participants was Hannes Schneider, who was still one of the best ski racers in the Alps at over 30 years of age.

In ski jumping competitions, double jumps were always among the special crowd attractions. The photo was taken at the Mairrennen in St. Christoph in 1922 and shows the jumpers Richter and Ritsch.

"The small village before the last ascent to the pass "mit den Arlen" had the honorable title "Des Kaisers größte Stube" in the vernacular. Emperors and popes, princes and merchants, pilgrims and vagabonds, and above all muleteers valued Stuben as a resting place, a hostel and a refuge from avalanches and storms."

Dr. Martin Purtscher, former provincial governor (2005).

"In 1904, on March 6, the Kalte Berg (2,900 m), the most beautiful ski mountain on the Arlberg next to the Valluga, is climbed on skis for the first time, from St. Christoph through the Maroital by 4 members of the Academic Alpine Club Munich: Karl Gruber, Freiburg i. Br., Gustav Aubin, Reichenberg, Otto Schlagintweit, Munich and Wilfried von Seidlitz, Freiburg."

Walther Flaig (1956)

"In 1905, on February 26th, the then busiest route over the so-called Krachel to the Kalten Berg was found and used for the first time by Herold and Heller from Lindau and Ferdinand Schallert, Bludenz. In 1905, the famous Norwegian ski king Leif Berg held a ski course on the Lenzerheide, in which Viktor Sohm took part alongside other Vorarlbergers, thus introducing the "Norwegian School" to the Arlberg."

Walther Flaig (1956)

"In 1902, Friedrich Fritz and Josef Anton Mathies decided on the location of the Ulmer Hut with representatives of the Ulm section. The Ulmerhütte (2,280 m above sea level) was built in 1903 by the Ulm section of the German Alpine Club. Local men, including the young Johann Schneider, later known as Hannes Schneider, transported the building materials from Rauz to the Ulmerhütte construction site on pack horses."

Hans Thöni (2005)

"On October 20, 1903, barely opened and only just snowed in, the Ulmer Hütte received a ski visit from Viktor Sohm from Stuben via Rauz. On the morning of October 21, two more skiers armed with "lances" climbed up there: mountain guide Ferdinand Schallert and engineer Hugo Sugg from Bludenz. They came across the ski track near the Ulmer Hütte. But what astonished them most were the tracks of a bear, faithfully running with large paws to the left and right of the ski track. The two of them couldn't get enough of imagining their encounter with the bear, in short - they had "a terrible rush" - old Schallert himself still told me - with the "bear paws" in the snow. When they got to the Ulm hut, the bear was sitting in the room! His name was Viktor Sohm. But his bear paws were outside in the snow. They were a couple of double poles with huge snow plates, probably the first on the Arlberg!"

Walther Flaig (1956)

"Fridtjof Nansen, legendary ski pioneer from Norway, climbed the Valluga in 1912 under the guidance of "Mathiesle", Anton Mathies from Stuben, and accompanied by Grete and Olaf Gulbransson. The Queen of the Arlberg had not only earned Nansen the highest enthusiasm but also the greatest respect, just like his Norwegian compatriot Lauritz Bergendahl the year before, when he took part in the Austrian Ski Championships on the Bödele in 1911. After the tour, the ski king Bergendahl - undisputedly the best skier in the world at the time - wrote the beautiful words in his notebook: "There is a mountain on the Arlberg called Valluga - I want to take it home with me!"

Walther Flaig (1956)

"Viktor Sohm had just arrived in St. Anton (after bold first ski tours in Samnaun) to receive three famous ski pioneers from the Allgäu: Photographer Eugen Heimhuber, Oberstdorf i. A., Dr. Max Madlener, Kempten and Dr. Christoph Müller, who arrived in St. Anton at 3 o'clock in the morning and climbed directly up the Valluga at the same hour before there in 1902, on March 14. Heimhuber took magnificent photos [...]. This was an event for the Arlberg, because Dr. Madlener (not to be confused with Andreas Madlener, Bregenz, after whom the Madlenerhaus in the Silvretta is named) was at the forefront of the AV pioneers for alpine skiing at the time."

Walther Flaig (1956)

"We had skis brought from Norway, long wooden skis with leather toe straps and heel straps reinforced with sea cane. After a few preliminary exercises in the Kempten area, we climbed the Stuiben. We used a long pole and skied in a similar way to Zdarsky. We still had no skins and no wax. Despite the effort of the ascent, the descent was a great pleasure."

Max Madlener

With the summit of the Valluga, Viktor Sohm, Eugen Heimhuber, Max Madlener and Christoph Müller climbed the most famous mountain in the Arlberg region in winter for the first time. In this period of the first winter ascents, this was an absolute highlight. Heimhuber captured this tour in impressive photographs.

"We tried out all the ski bindings recommended at the time and climbed various Allgäu and other ski peaks. In addition to the few skiers from Kempten, I was accompanied by Dr. Christoph Müller from Immenstadt, the brothers Fritz and Eugen Heimhuber from Sonthofen and Viktor Sohm from Bregenz."

Max Madlener

"Enchanted by nature, enthusiastic about the sport, imbued with the need to create a modest meeting point on the Arlberg for friends of this noble pleasure, the excursionists involved in the extempore felt moved to found the Arlberg Ski Club."

Entry in the guest book of the St. Christoph Hospice about the founding of the Arlberg Ski Club on January 3, 1901.

The quiet St. Christoph fell into obscurity after the opening of the Arlberg cable car in 1884. However, from 1901, the landlord of the hospice, Oswald Trojer, received more and more winter visits from ski tourists. He entertained them with his gramophone as they made their tracks on the slopes around the hospice.

"On Dec. 10, 1899, Hermann Hartmann traveled to the Arlberg with Ostler and Sohm. Ostler and Sohm had not yet received their new skis ordered from Fischer in Freiburg and therefore had snow tires with them. So they had to let Hartmann go alone as he climbed from St. Anton to St. Christoph in glorious powder snow. Without further ado, he tackled the tempting chimera that rises above St. Christoph: the Galzig! On December 10, 1899, he made a note in the visitors' book at the hospice: "With snowshoes from St. Anton to St. Christoph in 1 ½ hours, from St. Christoph to the Galzigspitze (2185 m) in 2 hours 10 minutes, downhill in 18 minutes, snow depth 0.68 m to 1.60 m - wonderful panoramic view!" That was the first ascent of a ski peak on the Arlberg."

Walther Flaig (1956)

The First World War had brought tourism on the Arlberg, which had been on a tentative upswing until 1914, to a virtual standstill. The first ski tourers were spotted again in the 1919/20 winter season. During this time, Hannes Schneider resumed his work as a ski instructor in St. Anton am Arlberg.

While Stuben am Arlberg was still bustling with activity at the time the Arlbergbahn was built, a period of crisis set in after the opening of the railroad line. Many residents left the village and several old houses were demolished. The trend was only reversed by tourism, which really began to develop in the interwar period.

"From 1900, a modest tourist trade began in Stuben, which initially only benefited the inns, the Fritz family's Gasthof Post and the Walch family's Gasthaus Mondschein."

Hans Thöni (2005)

Countess Lamberg jumping in St. Anton, February 1914 Paula Reichsgräfin von Lamberg (1887-1927) was a pioneer of women's ski jumping from Kitzbühel. She was also nicknamed "The Flying Countess". In 1911, she achieved the then sensational jump distance of 22 meters in Kitzbühel "in a long skirt and impeccable posture".

Around 1910, Hannes Schneider was the best ski racer of his time. Even as a teenager, he had already caused a stir in numerous competitions. However, as he was a paid ski instructor, he was not allowed to compete in official skiing events in Austria due to the "amateur paragraph". In St. Anton, he therefore competed out of competition in ski jumping events.

The need for today's road arose after the opening of the Arlberg Railway in 1884. On October 11, 1897, the first section of the new Flexenstraße up to the top of the pass was officially opened. The master builder was Johann Bertolini. Instead of the old mule track with its many hairpin bends from Stuben west of the Zürser Bach stream, through a steep southern slope to Zürs that was constantly at risk of avalanches, a junction was built from the Arlberg road above Stuben at Alpe Rauz and a new route was laid in the rock. The first protective roofs were built, along with a tunnel and a bridge over the Hölltobel ravine. The road was initially three meters wide. In 1909, the road was completed as far as the Tyrolean Lech Valley.

"Two large, extensive areas, both of which are washed by the Lech, the area of the Vorarlberg Lech Valley and the area of the Tyrolean Lech Valley, will be connected today by an artfully built road and at the same time brought closer to the Arlberg Railway with the Langen railroad station."

Governor Adolf Rhomberg on the opening of the Flexenstraße (1909)

Motorized traffic over the Arlberg slowly began to develop in the early 20th century. The vehicles in the 1902 Paris-Vienna race, for example, caused a sensation. In the interwar period, as the number of cars and buses increased, more and more motorized guests passed through the Arlberg Pass.

In the interwar period, the road connections over the Flexen Pass and the Arlberg Pass were already very popular as excursion routes. Eugen Heimhuber's photographs of the three-pass trip (Fernpass, Arlbergpass, Flexenpass) are impressive proof of this.

"On October 27, 1905, Viktor Sohm and Fritz Iklé ski up the Valluga from Zürs through the Pazieltal and back for the first time. They thus inaugurated a fashionable tour of the Arlberg that would later become popular in both directions."

Walther Flaig (1956)

"The inseparable skiing companions Sohm and Iklé soon traveled to the Arlberg again in November 1905 and brought together four skiing enthusiasts in Stuben - more for fun - for the first ski course in Stuben a. Arlberg, which was later to gain great importance through its participants, because the four were called: Therese Mathies, the later Mrs. Sohm and her brother Albert Mathies. The third was Engelbert Strolz, who later ran the Edelweiss in Zürs, and the fourth? - was Hannes Schneider."

Walther Flaig (1956)

"Skimannsland! Not a trail has passed through the purity. .... It is the loneliest country that we now pass through, skirting the Mohnenfluh walls in a wide arc. Dead silence reigns and as skiers glide over distant snowfields, approaching at a rapid pace, we greet fellow human beings in this wintry wasteland like a happy event. As we bypass the Kitzbachtobel uphill, rain showers break through the evening clouds. The ride down over the alpine pastures to Lech is a dubious pleasure in the wet snow. The canopied church of Lech greets us .... The crown beckons, where the wet skier can toast himself at the Pfefferkorn
art built from stone slabs."

Paul Dinkelacker (1924/25)