Eskişehir, Türkiye
Friday 31 May 2024
Above: Mount Säntis, Switzerland
Here is my problem.
Two problems, actually.
I have the workings of a plot, but I cannot decide what details to include or exclude from the story.
I also want to capture the emotions of the characters by showing, not telling, what they are feeling.
I want the environment wherein the characters are to capture the mood of the moment.
Take this third entry of the story.
Above: Säntis cable car
Tom looks out the window of his apartment to contemplate the view of Säntis from a distance in the valley below.
What details of the mountain will add to the story?
What will detract from the story?
Here below I write what appears in my first rough draft and supplement this with details of Säntis.
Above: Säntis Mountain
ROUGH DRAFT
“Ladies and gentleman, behold the mountain!“, says Tom, his mind picturing himself pristine in a pith helmet and safari gear.
He stands beside the long coach.
Camera-toting tourists encircle him.
He begins a long lecture:
“At 2,501 metres, that’s 8,208 feet for the Americans among us, above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain, the paramount peak, in the Alpstein Massif of northeastern Switzerland, the culminating point of the Appenzell Alps between the Walensee (Lake Walen) and the Bodensee (Lake Constance).
Although its summit is only 2,502 metres above sea level, due to the deep separation of the Appenzell Alps, its peak height of 2,015 metres makes it 13th in the Alps and 29th in Europe.
On a clear day, you can legitimately claim that Kirchwil is a Säntisblick (a vantage point to see Säntis).
Shared by three cantons, Säntis is a highly visible landmark thanks to its exposed northerly position within the Alpstein Massif.
Säntis is among the most prominent summits in the Alps and among the most prominent suits in the Alps and among the most prominent summits in Europe with an observation deck at the top.
The panorama from the summit is spectacular.
Six countries can be seen if the weather permits: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
If you can see the observation deck or the transmission tower atop Säntis from here in Kirchwil, then chances are high that the weather of the day will be delightful.“
Above: Still from Weird “Al” Yankovic “Skipper Dan” video
Säntis Mountain
Situated in the heart of Europe, where some of the Continent’s great rivers originate, Switzerland has, since the Renaissance, attracted a great many visitors engaged in what might be called a quest for origins.
They have marvelled at animals grazing peacefully in a pristine natural environment, guarded by simple-hearted guardians of what is surely a last bit of paradise.
Squeezed in between major powers that were frequently at war with each other and lying at a crossroads between north and south, eastern and Western Europe, France, Germany and Italy, Switzerland has over the centuries been a citadel preserved by its geography, the wisdom of its people, its fear of invasion, or its calculating disposition, depending on one’s perspective.
Literature has not been immune to these facts, myths and interpretations.
It has echoed, propagated and explored them, and sometimes also challenged them.
Above: Säntis panorama
Säntis is the most known mountain in northeast Switzerland.
It looks like an island north of the Alps.
No rival of this altitude is around.
This characteristic is not only appreciated by the tourists who can admire a wide range of the Alps from Austria (Österreich) to the Bernina, Bernese Oberland and Diablerets.
Above: Swiss Alps
It is also possible to see the Cathedral of Ulm in Germany (Deutschland) on clear days.
Above: Ulm Cathedral, Germany
The massif, of which Säntis is the highest peak, is called Alpstein and is situated between the lakes of Constance and Walen.
Above: Säntis Mountain
Meteorologists have chosen Säntis as an observation platform since 1879 and the personnel lived on the summit in solitude all year round to measure wind, precipitation, temperature, etc.
This job was popular thanks to a high loneliness salary.
Above: Säntis transmission tower
An unlucky candidate in 1920 would not accept that he did not get the job and decided to climb the mountain in order to kill the lonely weather watcher and his wife.
This crime inspired writers and movie producers.
On Mount Pilatus near Lucerne you still can see a copy of the Säntis hut, that was needed for such a movie.
Above: Mount Pilatus above Lake Luzern, Switzerland
Today nobody lives in a primitive hut on top of Säntis.
Instead you can admire (or hate) the huge infrastructure with cable car, elevators, hotel, restaurant, art gallery, meteorological gear, a tower 113 metres high with tons of electronic instruments for radio, telephone, TV, airlines, etc.
The building, mostly underground, consists of 11 stories.
Despite this, climbing this mountain is still worthwhile.
There are a dozen of different ways to climb it.
Its access is possible from all sides and is never boring.
The landscape changes quite often.
Sometimes you are on a pasture with beautiful flowers, then on a ridge, a steep slope, a cool snow field.
Simple huts offer drinks and food, so you will hardly suffer from thirst or hunger.
Take your kids with you.
Most of them will love this mountain, due to the great variety of impressions and the fun that awaits them on top.
Lead them on a short rope!
Otherwise, no special gear is needed.
Above: The view from Säntis
At 2,501.9 metres (8,208 ft) above sea level, Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein Massif of northeastern Switzerland.
It is also the culminating point of the whole Appenzell Alps, between Lake Walen and Lake Constance.
Shared by three Cantons, the mountain is a highly visible landmark thanks to its exposed northerly position within the Alpstein Massif.
As a consequence, houses called Säntisblick (Säntis view) can be found in regions as far away as the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) in Germany.
Säntis is among the most prominent summits in the Alps and the most prominent summit in Europe with an observation deck on the top.
The panorama from the summit is spectacular.
Six countries can be seen if the weather allows: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France and Italy.
Säntis is located in the Alpstein region, nearly 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) (as the crow flies) southwest of the town of Appenzell.
Three Cantons meet on Säntis: Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, and St. Gallen, the mountain being split between the municipalities of Hundwil, Schwende and Wildhaus – Alt St. Johann.
Even though its summit is at only 2,502 metres above sea level, the mountain ranks number 13th in the Alps and 29th in Europe in topographic prominence at 2,021 metres (6,631 ft).
Peaks with high prominence often have impressive summit views, even if their elevations are relatively modest, Säntis being a prime example.
Säntis is also the highest mountain of both the Cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.
The name Säntis dates back to the 9th century.
It is an abbreviation of the Romansh language for Sambatinus (the one born on Saturday), which was thought to be the name of a nearby area.
The name was later used to refer to the summit.
In the German language it was called Semptis or Sämptis.
Above: Säntis Mountain
The mountain later gave its name to a Canton of the Helvetic Republic (1798 – 1803).
Above: The cantons of Säntis and Linth with their districts
Säntis is one of the rocky mountains that was climbed early on, among other things for hunting.
The Benedictine Father Desiderius Wetter (1702 – 1751) reports in his chronicle that on 14 December 1680, two clerics and a natural scientist from Zürich climbed Mount Säntis with a guide from Canton Appenzell Innerrhoden to see a comet.
(The comet had an enormous impact on the public.
A flood of writings and leaflets, mostly inspired by a fear of comets with religious motives, spread during or shortly after its appearance.
In numerous images it is usually shown prominently over city silhouettes, as it is admired by huge assembled crowds of people.
For example, a leaflet illustrated with a large picture shows the comet, whose broad, fanned-out tail reaches far across the sky.
People stand closely packed on the hills in front of the walls of Nuremberg and marvel at the event, some with telescopes.
The text of the leaflet begins with a reference to the Bible, to God’s patience with sinful humanity and His call to repentance in the face of the “heavenly torch, rod and sword“.
In stark contrast to this, however, there were also detailed descriptions of the comet’s movement through the constellations, the reversal of its direction of movement after passing the sun, as well as supposedly precise information on the brightness, distance and size of the comet and the length of its tail.)
Above: Comet C/1680 V1, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 31 December 1680
Above: The glacier on the Hohen-Säntis, 1760
In 1802, mountain enthusiasts erected a stone man on the summit (engraving by Johann Baptist Isenring and drawing by the German romantic Albert Weiler).
Above: Swiss artist Johann Baptist Isenring (1796 – 1860)
In 1842, the first shelter – a shack with a bar – was built near the Säntis summit on the east side, protected from the wind.
This was replaced by a solid inn in 1846.
Around 1850, when the weather was nice, up to a hundred guests, including German composer Richard Wagner, dined there.
Above: German composer Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)
From 1882 until the weather station was completed in 1887, the inn served as accommodation for the weather station.
Around 1900, up to a thousand guests a day reached the summit.
Above: Berggasthaus Alter Säntis in winter
Säntis is a first-order triangulation point in the fixed point networks CH1840, CH1870 and CH1903.
(A trigonometric point (TP) or triangulation point is an observation point of the national survey or of a larger triangular network.
With its coordinates and its marking (stabilization in the terrain), it forms an essential basis for geodesy and cartography.
The surveying engineers who carry out the triangulation were formerly known as trigonometers.
In the topographic maps, the TPs are marked as small triangles.
In the field, such points are used for geodetic follow-up measurements, their precise orientation and as fixed points for local surveys.)
Above: On the Säntis summit
During the first measurements, engineer Antoine-Joseph Buchwalder and his assistant were struck by lightning on 4 July 1832.
The assistant died at the scene of the accident.
Buchwalder reached Alt St. Johann with great difficulty and great pain and was only able to resume his work the following year.
Above: Swiss engineer Antoine-Joseph Buchwalder (1792 – 1883)
In 1873, the stone man was replaced by a trigonometric signal by the SAC St. Gallen section, which had to give way to an anemometer house nine years later.
The International Meteorological Congress of Rome in 1879 declared it a necessity to build weather stations on adequate and accessible summits.
Therefore, the Swiss built a weather station on Säntis.
The position of the northern ridge proved to be ideal for such an endeavour.
The weather station was commissioned in the fall of 1882.
A particular challenge was creating the necessary telegraph line.
The weather station went into operation on 1 September 1882.
The apparatus had been set up in the inn where the weather keeper was staying.
On 3 October 1887, the massive weather station near the summit was inaugurated.
An underground passage blasted into the rock led to the summit.
This enabled safe observation activities.
Above: Tunnel between mountain paths and summit buildings, Säntis
Above: Säntis southwest profile, 1922
The Säntismord (Säntis murder) happened in the winter of 1922.
It refers to a crime in which the weather station keeper Heinrich Haas and his wife Maria Magdalena were murdered.
The murder was only discovered because of missing weather reports on 21 February.
As a result of the missing reports, a search party was sent to Säntis, where they discovered the bodies.
The prime suspect was shoemaker Gregor Anton Kreuzpointner, who committed suicide three weeks after the murder.
The truth about this double murder hence remains unclear to this day.
On 21 February 1922, between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., weather warden Heinrich Haas (1886 – 1922) and his wife Maria Magdalena (née Räss) (1891 – 1922) were killed by shots from a pistol, probably an FN Browning Model 1900, possibly 1911.
Above: Maria and Heinrich Haas
In the absence of further weather reports, it was initially suspected that there was a defect in the telegraphic line, whereupon Säntisträger Josef Anton Rusch (1866 – 1937) was commissioned to repair it.
Above: Säntis porters Josef Anton Rusch and his son Josef greet Heinrich Haas
Because of the bad weather, the last suspected break point could only be seen on Meglisalp on 25 February.
Rusch climbed Säntis together with his son Andreas Anton (1896 – 1937) and Meglisalp landlord Johann Josef Dörig (1881 – 1968).
Above: Meglisalp
There they found Mrs. Haas’s body in the weather station and her husband’s body not far from the summit near Toggenburg.
Above: Toggenburg
The only possible perpetrator was the bankrupt Gregor Kreuzpointner (1892 –1922), who was known to them and had been staying with them since 16 February.
The files show that he – in order to pay his debts and take over a business from a tired shoemaker, through which he could continue to finance his expensive ventures into the mountains and be his own lord and master – received financial help from weather warden Haas and this was his last hope.
It can be assumed that he did not achieve his goal and therefore an argument broke out, in the course of which old wounds opened up.
He may have blamed Haas for his predicament because Haas had been elected weather warden instead of him, even though it was hopeless.
A deep disappointment that had resurfaced, combined with anger and hatred, must have had such a destructive effect on a financially and socially failed person like Kreuzpointner that the fuse probably blew and a disastrous wrong decision was made.
Driven more and more into a corner, the alleged murderer saw no other option than to take his own life on 4 March in an alpine hut below Säntis, in the Upper Aueli.
Above: Gregor Kreuzpointner (1892 – 1922)
On the night of 21 February 1922, officials in the telegraph office in St Gallen were waiting in vain for weather data from the mountain weather station on Säntis.
At the time, this was nothing out of the ordinary, since the telegraph and telephone connections to the meteorological observation station were frequently disrupted by winter snow and wind.
Wind speeds on the exposed peak, which rises 2,500 metres above sea level, can reach over 200 kilometres per hour.
Above: Säntis Mountain
The next day, together with his son, Josef Rusch set out to check the line.
Rusch was one of the Säntisträger porters who regularly transported firewood and food to the summit of Säntis.
The cable car was only built in 1935.
However, on account of the extreme snow conditions – which seemed to confirm the suspected cause – the two were forced to turn back without having achieved anything.
It wasn’t until 25 February that conditions permitted another attempt.
This time, father and son were accompanied by the landlord of the inn on Megalisalp.
They found no damage to the line.
They noticed only ski tracks that must have been left some days earlier.
As they neared the summit, they noted that Heinrich Haas wasn’t waving and calling over to them as usual.
Above: Säntis weather station
There was also no smoke coming from the chimney of the three-storey stone house.
They innocently assumed that the weather station operator and his wife were probably ill.
Above: Berghaus, Säntis
As they entered the building, they heard barking and howling from the room where the telephone and Morse electrical telegraph machine were located.
It had to be the family’s dog, who had been aptly named “Storm”, for the standard weather conditions on the mountain.
Above: Magdalena (Maria) and Heinrich Haas and their dog Storm
The door to the room was locked and the three men had to break it open.
A dreadful sight met their eyes:
Next to the standing desk by the window lay the lifeless body of Magdalena Haas in a pool of blood.
The room had been completely destroyed.
Above: The discovery of Magdalena Haas
Suspecting foul play, the three went in search of Heinrich.
They climbed up to the second storey and, from there, passed through the tunnel that led to the summit plateau.
There, they found Heinrich’s corpse lying face down.
As the police investigations would reveal, Heinrich had been shot from behind from several metres away.
Interestingly, his body was not located between the stone building and the hut where wind measurements were taken, which was the main route he could have been expected to take, but lay a good 20 metres away from the hut.
It is possible that his murderer threatened him with the weapon, whereupon he turned and fled.
Above: The discovery of Heinrich Haas
The police concluded that the chaotic state of the office was not the result of a fight but rather the work of Storm, the family’s dog.
The animal must have gone almost mad after being shut in the room without food or water for four days.
Magdalena had also been shot at close range.
The first bullet had missed her and smashed into the wall; the second hit her in the chest, killing her.
The murder weapon was identified by the bullets as a Browning pistol.
Dumdum bullets were used, which act like an exploding grenade when entering the body and, in the event the victim survives, increase their suffering.
These can only be obtained illegally or by tampering with and filing the ends of legally obtained ammunition.
The tear-off calendar showed 21 February, thus confirming the day of the double murder.
The Säntis porter, Rusch, knew right from the start that there was only one possible perpetrator:
It must have been the uninvited guest that Magdalena Haas had complained about in a phone call to his wife on 19 February, on account of his still not having made a move to leave after three days.
She had also mentioned his name in the telephone conversation: Gregor Kreuzpointner, a German by birth, who had become naturalized a few years previously.
The 29-year-old and the Haas couple had known each other.
From time to time, he was a member of the same climbing association as Heinrich and, according to the visitors’ book, had already climbed to the summit three times since the Haas couple had occupied the weather station.
The couple would also certainly have known that Kreuzpointner had been one of Heinrich’s rivals for the post of weather station operator on Säntis.
Above: The weather station Haas couple
On 26 February, a wanted notice was issued giving the double murderer’s name, description and photo.
In the four days before the corpses were discovered, Kreuzpointner would have had enough time to make his escape.
Yet he stayed in the region and was spotted on a number of occasions, as was later evident.
Since nobody was as yet aware of his crime, nobody reported him to the police.
He moved Magdalena’s jewellery to another location and handed the weapon under mysterious circumstances to a third party, who then passed it to the police.
On the afternoon of 4 March, Kreuzpointner was found hanged in a barn below the Schwägalp Pass, the location of the valley station of the Säntis cable car.
According to the postmortem, he had died that very morning.
This way, the murderer likely avoided receiving the death sentence, because the death penalty still existed then in both St Gallen and Appenzell Innerrhoden, the two Cantons that could have been used for the court proceedings.
Above: Schwägalp panorama taken from the foot of the Säntis
The history to this tragedy begins in 1919, when the former weather station operator, who had lived on the mountain with his wife for 30 years, retired.
There had been a simple guest house – nicknamed the Grand Hotel Thörig by the first visitors – on Säntis since 1846.
From 1882 onwards, one of its rooms was used as a weather station.
From 1887, the weather station operator was able to use the stone building specially constructed for this purpose.
Over 50 applicants were said to have applied for the unusual post.
Above: Säntis Berghaus
Born in Appenzell and a keen alpinist, Heinrich Haas stood head and shoulders above the competition.
He had actually trained as a baker, but at that time was working as a conductor in Zürich.
The 33-year-old was accepted for the post, thereby obtaining his dream job.
On climbing Säntis for the first time he even exclaimed with enthusiasm:
“The view up there is to die for.”
Above: View of the Säntis
In October 1919, Haas moved to the weather station with his wife, Magdalena.
She was his second wife.
They had been married since 1911.
His first wife had died in 1909 after just five months of marriage – and three months after giving birth to their daughter, Bertha.
As 1911 drew to a close, Bertha gained a half-sister, Helena.
The children lived in the valley below with Magdalena Haas’s mother and only saw their parents on the mountain above in the holidays.
Bertha later described her stepmother as modest, kind-hearted and someone who liked order.
She spoke of her father as a supporter, advisor and philanthropist who had always been cheerful and kind.
The couple had a happy marriage and led a life largely free of conflict.
Heinrich was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and documented life on the mountain with a wealth of photographs.
These also included glass plate stereoscopic images.
Above: Magdalena and Storm, photo taken by Heinrich Haas
This would have been a dream job for Gregor Kreuzpointner, too.
He was doomed to failure from the outset, however, since he wasn’t married – as was required in the job description, to ensure there was also a named deputy.
Kreuzpointner emigrated from Upper Bavaria (Öberbayern) to Switzerland in 1911.
Initially, the trained cobbler lived in Herisau and worked in a factory that produced rubber.
A passionate climber and skier, he often visited the mountains in his free time.
Most members of the SAC Säntis alpine skiing club were gentry, yet they welcomed this sporty, lower-class newcomer.
Evidently, he could be very engaging.
There are also less flattering characterisations of him, however.
A fellow mountaineer described him as outspoken, “self-centred and cold”.
Kreuzpointner was once claimed to have said that inexperienced mountaineers who got into trouble shouldn’t be helped but rather “left to die a miserable death”.
Above: The wanted poster for the double murderer Gregor Kreuzpointner contained an extremely detailed description of himself and the crime. It was also posted in the border area between Germany and Austria.
When, on 31 July 1914, the German Emperor declared a state of war, Kreuzpointner immediately applied for naturalization to avoid being conscripted and quickly received his Swiss passport.
Above: German Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859 – 1941)
In February 1919, he moved within the half-canton of Ausserrhoden to Trogen, where he opened a cobbler’s workshop.
Above: Trogen, Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland
After failing to obtain the post of Säntis weather station operator, in December 1919 he moved to the city of St Gallen, where he tried a second time to set up an independent shoemaking business.
The specialist in climbing shoes and ski boots was declared bankrupt in December 1921 on account of earlier debts.
Above: Aerial view of St. Gallen, Canton St. Gallen, Switzerland
He nonetheless found a job as a cobbler at a shoe shop in Romanshorn, which he started on 30 January 1922.
However, he threw in the towel after just one week.
Above: Aerial view of Romanshorn, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland
On 16 February, he climbed the summit of Säntis in poor weather conditions.
It was the fourth time he had climbed up there, so his arrival was nothing out of the ordinary for Magdalena and Heinrich Haas.
At first, they might even have welcomed the diversion he provided.
They entertained him and he was permitted to stay in the guest room.
He justified staying for days on end on account of the bad weather, according to Magdalena’s call to the St Gallen telegraph office on the night of 20 February.
She noted, however, that this seemed to be a pretext, since he was an excellent skier.
She called in secret, since Kreuzpointner had instructed the couple not to tell anyone about his stay.
On the morning of 21 February, Magdalena telephoned again to say that, given the good weather, Kreuzpointner had eventually got ready to leave.
This was the last sign of life from the summit.
Above: Säntis from an aerial perspective over Schäfler Ridge
The contents of the stomach and intestines during the postmortem showed that Magdalena had been killed no more than two hours after lunch and Heinrich half an hour or one hour earlier.
Since Kreuzpointner had a pistol on him, his plan from the start had been to shoot them.
He appears to have held them responsible for his failure to obtain the post of Säntis weather station operator that he had so coveted, and which was also very well remunerated.
He makes no mention of the act in his short farewell letter to his girlfriend.
Above: The old Säntis weather station, winter 1920
At the time, there was disagreement between the experts over cantonal responsibility for the crime:
The borders of the Canton of St Gallen and the two half-cantons of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden meet at the summit of Säntis.
Above: Coat of arms of Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden
The body of Magdalena Haas was clearly found on Innerrhoden territory, since the weather station is situated squarely within this. Heinrich’s body, however, lay in an area for which the border between St Gallen and Innerrhoden was drawn too imprecisely on the map for it to be clearly assigned.
Above: Coat of arms of Canton Appenzell Innerrhoden
For this reason, the police and anatomical investigative work was divided between Innerrhoden and St Gallen.
Above: Coat of arms of Canton St. Gallen
Kreuzpointner’s body was found in the Ausserrhoden municipality of Urnäsch.
Despite this, he was denied a grave in the cemetery there because this would have led to “the cemetery being desecrated”.
Above: Urnäsch, Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Herisau, where he was a citizen, and the city of St Gallen, where he was last registered, were likewise unwilling to have the evildoer on their soil or land.
Above: Herisau, Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden
In doing so, all three violated the Federal Constitution.
According to this, it is the authorities’ responsibility to ensure that “every deceased person is able to be buried as is fitting”.
Above: Flag of Switzerland
The corpse was sent to the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Zürich for research purposes.
All three municipalities paid for its transport there.
News of the double murder spread like wildfire and caused widespread consternation.
After the Carnival exuberance, nobody in this Catholic region was in the mood for further celebration.
The funeral procession, which took place in Appenzell on 1 March, showed how great the depth of sympathy was:
The roads were densely lined with people as the two coffins were carried through the streets to the cemetery.
The grave poem published in the local paper read as follows:
“We cannot understand it.
We don’t want to believe it.
We just keep asking ourselves:
How could this happen?
It could almost rip away our faith in the Lord above!
Why, O Creator, would You permit this crime to be committed?”
Above: The funeral procession, Appenzell
This outpouring of sympathy also extended to the couple’s two orphaned daughters.
Many donated to a fund-raising campaign and this, in addition to the financial support from the survivors’ insurance, ensured that the two girls were well provided for afterwards.
Both girls were assigned a guardian who would safeguard their interests until they reached maturity.
Initially, they both stayed with relatives and subsequently with foster parents.
The files even mention the whereabouts of the dog, Storm:
He was taken in by Heinrich’s brother.
Above: The Haas family before the murders
The Säntis murder is the basis of the feature film Der Berg by Markus Imhof.
A drama was written for the film that could take place anywhere in the world in the seclusion of a mountain.
Although real events about the murders on Mount Säntis were chosen as the starting point, the conclusion is completely different:
A main character in the film, which is enriched with scenes of jealousy, is called Gregor Kreuzpointner and is ultimately shot by the weather warden.
This caused confusion and anger, especially in the land under the Säntis.
In addition, it was suggested, especially in the media, that the drama on the Säntis actually happened as it was portrayed in the film.
Christoph Nix wrote the libretto for the opera Murder on the Säntis.
The premiere took place on 4 June 2011 in the panorama hall of the mountain station.
The music for this chamber opera, a work commissioned by the Theater Konstanz in cooperation with the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, was written by the German twelve-tone musician Friedrich Schenker and the Swiss folk musician Noldi Alder from Urnäsch.
Although Nix, a former defense attorney and professor of criminal law, was allowed to view investigation files that were still kept under lock and key, no more light was shed on the background to the musical theater drama at the time.
Above: Christoph Nix
The first aerial cableway from Schwägalp to Säntis was built between 1933 and 1935.
Several projects had previously failed to connect the Säntis from Wasserauen or Unterwasser with a cog railway.
In 1960, the cable car cabins were replaced by larger ones.
The cable car on the Säntis was completely rebuilt between 1968 and 1976.
Above: Schwägalp – Säntis cable car
On the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the US First Lady Hillary Clinton ascended the summit on the afternoon of 2 February 1998.
Above: Hillary Clinton, Säntis, 1 February 1988
New cabins were purchased in 2000.
From 31 July to 2 August 2009, the world’s largest Swiss flag to date was visible on Säntis in honor of the Swiss national holiday.
The square national flag had a side length of 120 meters and weighed 1.2 tons.
The flag was torn apart by strong gusts of wind on 2 August 2009.
In February 2011, a 12-ton walking excavator scaled the summit.
Above: Excavator ascending Säntis, 2 February 2011
In the summer of 2015 (since 31 July), the world’s largest Swiss flag was once again visible on Säntis in honor of the Swiss national holiday.
It measured 80 by 80 meters and weighed 700 kg.
The Schwegengalp – Säntis cable car is one of the busiest mountain railways in Switzerland.
It is 2,307 metres long and overcomes the height difference of 1,123 metres in ten minutes.
Above: Schwegengalp – Säntis cable cars
Säntis has one of the highest rate of lightning strikes in Europe.
In 2010, a lightning measurement station was installed atop a 120-metre (390 ft) tall telecommunications tower on the mountain by the Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab of the EPFL in Lausanne.
The station automatically records about one gigabyte of data per strike and then notifies researchers.
In the first nine months of operation it recorded about 50 strikes, including seven positive lightning strikes.
Since 2021, a research consortium led by Jean-Pierre Wolf has been testing a laser lightning rod system from here, firing short 0.7 TW laser pulses into clouds to stimulate lightning discharge.
Above: Säntis lightning strike
Located at the peak of Säntis is a 123.55 meter high transmission tower, which was commissioned in November 1997.
The original tower, built in 1955, had to be renovated several times due to the rough weather conditions before finally being replaced.
The antenna of the new transmission tower got a fibreglass enforced plastic layer on the outside in order to prevent ice falling onto the visitors’ terrace.
Swiss radio channels, such as DRS 1, DRS 2, DRS 3, RSR la Première and RSI Rete Uno, are broadcast from the tower.
Swiss television channels, such as SF 1, SF 2, SF Info, TSR 1 and TSI 1, are also broadcast from this location.
Above: Säntis transmission tower
Today, the summit is easily accessible by aerial tramway from Schwägalp.
It has been a popular destination for tourists since the mid 19th century.
However, even though many ideas to make the summit more easily accessible existed since those days, it took almost another century for them to materialize.
Many approaches, using various types of railways starting from several nearby towns, were tried, but ultimately failed.
One project planned to access Säntis from Wasserauen or Unterwasser by rack-and-pinion railway.
While the lower section of this project between Appenzell and Wasserauen was built and is still part of today’s active railway network, the rest of it was halted due to a lack of funding.
Finally, local businessman Dr. Carl Meyer of Herisau came forward with the idea to construct an aerial tramway from the base of the mountain, at Schwägalp, and build a mountain road from the nearby town of Urnäsch for easier access to its lower terminal.
On 22 September 1933, his project was ultimately selected for construction and Meyer was awarded with the necessary licences by the federal government.
Finally, on 1 July 1935, the aerial tramway started operations.
The original cabins were replaced by larger ones in 1960.
The entire aerial tramway installation was replaced between 1968 and 1976.
In 2000, new cabins were commissioned.
The aerial tramway Luftseilbahn Schwägalp-Säntis is one of the most frequented tramways in Switzerland.
It has a total length of 2,307 meters.
The altitude gain between the terminals is 1,123 meters.
The journey takes roughly eight minutes.
The first tramway was constructed from 1933 to 1935.
Above: Schwegengalp – Säntis cable car
The exposed location of the Säntis ensures extreme weather conditions.
The mean temperature is −1.9 °C.
With an annual average of 2,837 mm of precipitation, Säntis is the “wettest place” in Switzerland.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was −32 °C in January 1905, the highest was 21.0 °C on 26 June 2019.
The highest daily rainfall total was 180 mm in June 1910.
The highest rainfall in one hour was 81.9 mm in July 1991.
During Hurricane Lothar on 26 December 1999, a record wind speed of 230 km/h was measured.
On 21 April and 23 April 1999, the highest snow depth ever recorded in Switzerland was measured below the summit in the northern snowfield of the mountain at 816 cm.
Snow must be expected in all months:
In August 1995 there was one meter of snow.
The Säntis is hit by around 400 lightning bolts every year.
From the summer of 2010 to around June 2011, approximately 50 lightning strikes were recorded in the transmission tower.
For the normal period 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature was −0.7 °C, with the coldest monthly mean temperatures recorded in February at −7.5 °C and the warmest monthly mean temperatures in August at 6.8 °C.
On average, around 238 frost days and 149 ice days can be expected here.
There is 1,003 cm of fresh snow on Säntis per year, with the most snowfall in December (165 cm) and the least in August (12 cm).
There is at least one cm of fresh snow on 114 days per year, with March and December being the months with the most days of fresh snow (15.0 and 15.7 days, respectively).
There are no months of the year with an average of 0 days of fresh snow.
There are the fewest days of fresh snow in August (1.7 days).
On 285.7 days a year there is an average of more than 1 cm of snow on the Säntis.
Even in August there is an average of 3.3 days of snow (snow cover > 0 cm).
The Meteo Swiss measuring station is located at an altitude of 2,501 metres above sea level.
Above: Säntis panorama
The Säntis Murders, a stormy summit prone to destructive winds, deadly snow and fatal lightning strikes:
All of these suggest to me a mood that threatens, that intimidates.
Above: Säntis
I return to my rough draft.
ROUGH DRAFT
Tom recalls a verse from the Bible:
“I look to the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help will come from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth.” (Psalms 121: 1 – 2)
Above: The Gutenberg Bible, the first published Bible
“God, help me.
I am about to spend a week walking in the mountains alone with my wife.
Lord, grant me strength.“, Tom whispers to himself lest his wife overhears him speaking aloud his thoughts.
“Hell of a way to live when a man is afraid to speak his mind, to give voice to his thoughts.“
Tom turns from the window and enters his bedroom, adjacent to the apartment’s kitchen.
His throat feels scratchy.
A hint of an oncoming headache announces itself.
Tom feels anxious.
The day has only just begun.
Above: View from Kehlhof over espalier fruit trees to Sulgen and the Thur valley with Säntis in the background
AFTER THOUGHTS
The ROUGH DRAFT of this post has Tom, in the manner of Walter Mitty, imagining himself as a tour guide.
Above: Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
After the description of Säntis, interesting as it may be, I tell the reader that Tom is anxious rather than showing how he is anxious, rather than letting the readers sense for themselves the anxiety he is feeling.
I want to somehow evoke from the description of Säntis a feeling of foreboding of the journey that Tom is about to undertake.
That Säntis is a kind of foreshadowing of the events that will follow.
As I have previously written in my blogposts, The Donkey Trail is a work in progress and what appears online will not necessarily be what will eventually find its way into final copy ready for publication.
I have the capacity to string words together, but I know that the only way to become a great writer is to keep on writing and editing what I write until I am (and hopefully readers of my work are) satisfied with what I have produced.
The more I re-read what I have gleaned from my research into Säntis, the more I feel that I cannot possibly incorporate most of what I learned.
But that mountain does represent something.
It is a tangible reminder of the conflicts that haunt humanity.
Man versus nature, man versus man, man versus himself.
The wind, the snow, the lightning, the fall from the heights can kill a man.
Säntis is a deadly challenge not to be taken lately, despite the modern ease with which tourists can now ascend the mountain and enjoy amenities at its summit.
The story of the Säntis Murders – the desperation of an unwell man driven mad by a world unsympathetic to his struggles, the pointless slaughter of a couple who earned a position that he so eagerly coveted, and beneath all of this the difficulty of remaining strong and sane in a world that views its occupants as merely machines to enrich the rich further.
I do not seek to absolve or justify Kreuzpointner’s crime, but I do seek to comprehend what drove him to such a desperate deadly disaster.
What could compel a man to murder?
To even contemplate taking the life of another?
Above: Säntis Mountain
I can assure you, gentle readers, that the tales that follow in The Donkey Trail do not have such horrific moments such as what occurred on Säntis.
Instead (a wee spoiler) The Donkey Trail is a tale of both a man’s inner and outer journey in the mountains of Switzerland wherein the future of his relationship with his wife is put on trial.
I believe that many men don’t have a life.
Instead, we have just learned to pretend.
Much of what men do is an outer show, kept up for protection.
Few men get a taste of what life could be like or experience moments of real passion and glory in being alive.
At best, we glimpse something, unsettling but beautiful.
And then the moment passes.
We don’t know how to bring it back.
The sheer intensity just serves to frighten us, upsets the charade we have constructed as a stage set for our lives.
Not sure of what to do, not sure that what we glimpsed was truly real or possibly attainable, we quickly flee back to pretending everything is OK.
We pretend.
We wait.
We hope things will improve.
Not all men want to wait.
Not all men can keep up the pretence.
Men are hurting.
And some men hurt others.
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.“
(Henry David Thoreau)
Above: American writer Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
I find myself thinking of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment:
Written when Dostoyevsky was near destitution and deeply in debt, one cannot help thinking that the author felt many of the same emotions as his book’s main character.
Above: Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 – 1881)
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is a former student in need of a job, living in a tiny garret on the top floor of a rundown apartment building ın St. Petersburg.
Bilious, dressed in tatters and broke, Rodion has an unnerving tendency to talk to himself, but he is good looking, proud and intelligent.
One would think he had prospects.
But it is clear from the start that he is contemplating something desperate and dreadful.
He has resolved to murder an old woman for her money, having persuaded himself then, being a pawnbroker, she is morally moribund and therefore her death justifiable.
Unfortunately, he is caught in the act by the old woman’s half-sister and in the heat of the moment, Rodion kills her too.
Literature is fond of its lunatics – from Rochester’s insane wife in Jane Eyre, who scurries around on all fours growling like a wild animal to the eerie presence that haunts Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White.
But while these two unwell women are harmless, many evocations of mental derangement can be dangerous to the reader who feels that he is becoming unhinged.
I won’t do that to my readers.
I encourage my readers to think and act as rationally as they can, despite how insane the world that surrounds them may be.
Above: The Thinker, Musée Rodin, Paris, France
I am reminded of Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing.
The book tells the story of a woman who returns to her hometown in Canada to find her missing father.
Accompanied by her lover, Joe, and a married couple, Anna and David, the unnamed protagonist meets her past in her childhood house, recalling events and feelings, while trying to find clues to her father’s mysterious disappearance.
Little by little, the past overtakes her and drives her into the realm of wildness and madness.
Perhaps I can capture the subtle but significant difference between my protagonist Tom in The Donkey Trail and the murderer Kreuzpointner by recalling a quote from the animated Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
In an alternate universe, heroic versions of Lex Luthor and Joker (called the Jester) steal a device called the “Quantum Trigger” from the headquarters of the Crime Syndicate.
When an alarm is tripped, the Jester sacrifices himself to allow Luthor to escape from the Syndicate.
Luthor escapes to the Earth of the Justice League by activating a device that enables interdimensional travel.
The Justice League is summoned to a prison where Luthor is kept, and Superman’s X-ray vision confirms Luthor’s reversed organs indicate that he is from a parallel Earth.
The Justice League take the alternate Luthor to the Watchtower, where they learn of the Syndicate threat.
As the Justice League debates the matter, Luthor hides the Quantum Trigger on the satellite.
With the exception of Batman, the rest of the Justice League travel to Luthor’s Earth.
Upon arrival, the heroes attack Syndicate targets.
After a successful series of raids in which they capture Ultraman, the League confronts President Slade Wilson, who releases Ultraman and explains that acceeding to the Syndicate’s demands saves millions of lives.
Martian Manhunter, in turn, falls in love with President Wilson’s daughter, Rose.
Superwoman and three of her lieutenants arrive at the League’s dimension, and on the Watchtower, battle the rest of the Justice League, including Batman.
They escape with the Quantum Trigger, but Batman follows them, battles Superwoman on the Syndicate’s Earth and captures her.
Rose learns of the Syndicate base to allow the Justice League to confront them.
The League arrives at the Crime Syndicate’s Moon base with Superwoman, and eventually battles the Syndicate.
Owlman, in secret, has developed a weapon, the Quantum Eigenstate Device (Q.E.D.).
Believing the idea that nothing they do can possibly matter, he teleports to Earth Prime to destroy reality.
Luthor speculates that a speedster might be able to vibrate and match the Q.E.D.’s temporal vibration and open a portal.
After Batman forbids Flash from doing so, Johnny Quick volunteers.
Batman pursues Owlman and duels him.
In this duel a remarkable conversation encapsulates the difference between Batman and Owlman (and by extension between Tom and Kreuzpointer).
Owlman: “From what I gather we are very much alike. Everything about you tells the tale: your attitude, your costume, your tactics. They all scream of outrage, despair, vengence. What terrible wrong was done to set you on this path? It doesn’t really matter. Nothing matters.“
Batman: “What are you planning to do? Talk me to death?”
Owlman: “Actually I thought I’d beat you to death.”
Owlman: “You should have sent your flying man. (Superman) With his strength you might have had a chance, but you don’t trust anyone else to do what needs to be done. I feel the same way.“
Batman: “If we are really alike, you know this is wrong. You must have been a good man once.”
Owlman: “No, not good. Never good. After all, I’m only human.”
Owlman: “No more debate. I’m going to kill you now, then everyone else.”
Batman: “There is a difference between us, you and me. We both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us, you blinked.”
Spoiler:
Tom will look into an abyss.
He won’t blink.
Society tells us what it thinks we should do.
In The Donkey Trail, I hope I can encourage you to think for yourself.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Google Photos
- “Mord auf dem Säntis“, blog.nationalmuseum.ch
- Margaret Atwood, Surfacing
- James Scott Bell, Plot and Structure
- Ella Berthoud / Susan Elderkin, The Novel Cure
- Steve Biddulph, Manhood
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
- Adam Oliver Kerr, The Donkey Trail (rough draft)
- Dwayne McDuffle, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths