Franz Oppurg
Franz Oppurg (17 September 1948 – 9 March 1981) was an Austrian mountain climber. Having climbed from a young age, he became a mountain guide and rescuer, and did a number of first ascents in the winter of mountains in his native Karwendel. He was also the first climber to achieve a solo ascent of Mount Everest. Biography Oppurg was born on 17 September 1948 in Steinach am Brenner, in Tyrol. His father died at 33, when Franz was young, and the family, including a stepfather, moved to Wattens. From a young age, Oppurg was a climber. After working as a butcher, in 1975 he joined the mountain division of the army. He also trained mountaineering guides and for years led the local mountain rescue, from the Wattens section of the Austrian Alpine Club. He made his first alpine tour when he was 16, with Toni Eliskases. With Wattens Alpine Club he climbed in the Hindu Kush in 1972, and in 1975 he went on an expedition in the Andes, to Jirishanca. In the 1970s he achieved the first winter ascents of the Lamsenspitze and other mountains in Karwendel. In 1978, as member of an expedition led by Wolfgang Nairz,