Hans Kraus

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Hans Kraus (1905-1995) was a pioneer of modern rock climbing, as well as being one of the fathers of sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Born in Trieste, Austria, the Kraus family fled to Switzerland just prior to World War I. As a young man Kraus fell in love with the mountains, spending as much time as possible hiking and climbing. In his teenage years, Hans learned to climb in the Dolomites. Among his friends and climbing partners were Emilio Comici and Gino Solda He would later bring the Dolomite techniques of high-angle face climbing to the United States.

Hans was taught English as a youth by James Joyce. He would later quip (in his thickest, drollest accent) "He didn't do zush a goot chob, dit he!".

Kraus attended medical school in Vienna in the 1920s,against his fathers' wishes, becoming an orthopedic surgeon. Through his subsequent practice he developed a philosophy of treatment at odds with traditional medicine of the time. He would evolve this method, called "immediate mobilization", over his entire medical career.

Sometime in the late 1930s (precise date unknown; pre-1938), Kraus married Susanne Simon. The marriage was apparently not a happy one. They separated in 1944, and were divorced in the 1950s.

In 1938 the Kraus family fled Europe, just ahead of World War II, this time to the United States. They settled in New York. Kraus was not allowed to enlist in the U.S. military because he had been born in Trieste, which had belonged to the Hapsburg Empire at the time of Kraus' birth. Technically therefor, he was considered an "enemy alien", even though he was a legal immigrant, and a Jew. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945.

Passing his medical exams in New York, Kraus continued developing unique methods of fracture treatment, applying them to all kinds of athletes. He become especially well known in the skiing circles, performing some amazing cures.

In 1940 he met Fritz Wiessner, who would become a lifelong friend and climbing partner. Wiessner had discovered the Shawangunks in 1935 and together Hans and Fritz spent every spare day developing routes in the area. Wiessner was known for his outstanding free climbing technique; Kraus' specialty was aid climbing. Thus, the two mens' climbing skills complimented each other. While both men enjoyed climbing with women (notably with Bonnie Prudden, an accomplished climber in her own right), they continued to climb together, with often spectacular results. One of Kraus' and Fritz' most significant efforts at the Gunks was High Exposure, a bold 5.6 that involves a blind reach around an overhung corner 150 feet up in the air; the route still confounds novice climbers. Done in 1941, with a hemp rope and three soft-iron pitons for protection, High Exposure was a world-class accomplishment. Other significant Kraus first ascents in the Gunks included: Northern Pillar 5.2 (The first technical rock climb in The Trapps; Three Pines 5.3; Horseman 5.5; Madame Grunnebaum's Wulst 5.6; Easy Overhang 5.2;Bitchy Virgin5.7R (the first "R" rated climb in the Shawangunks); and Emilio 5.7 (The first aid climb in the Gunks- Hans and Fritz employed a shoulder stand)

By the end of the 1940s, the Shawangunks had fifty-eight documented climbing routes. 26 of these were first ascents by Kraus; 23 were by Wiessner.

In the 1950s, Kraus was behind a push by the Appalachian Mountain Club to regulate climbing in the Shawangunks, and to install a safety code to prevent climbing accidents. This safety code led to conflicts with Lester Germer and The Vulgarians, and was later abandoned.

It was Kraus, based on his landmark research during the 1940s at New York-Presbyterian Hospitalin Manhattan, who first made the connection between exercise and health. Along with Bonnie Prudden, he campaigned for better physical exercise programs for children, and authored several books on exercise, sports medicine, and physical therapy.

Kraus also continued to develop a unique approach to treating back pain in collaboration with another doctor, Sonja Weber. They developed an understanding of the underlying causes of back pain and devised the K-W Test and exercises to alleviate it.

Kraus was an Associate Professor at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine. His studies on children led to President Eisenhower's establishing the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. He was President Kennedy's back doctor and had as patients a long list of other celebrities (Arthur Godfrey, Katharine Hepburn, etc.). Kraus maintained at multi-tiered, elastic billing system; for climbers and people he knew personally, or anyone who he thought would have trouble paying, he charged nothing; he charged partial payment for middle class patients, and regular rates for wealthy patients and celebrities.

In 1951, Kraus made the acquaintance of Jim McCarthy, a young Princeton University undergraduate and up and coming climber. The two soon became fast friends and climbing partners, and McCarthy would go on to be Kraus' personal lawyer.

In 1959 Kraus married Madi Springer-Miller, a champion skier and the first woman to ski the "Lip" of Tuckerman's Ravine on Mount Washington. They had two daughters, Ann and Mary.

Kraus was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1974. By his own account, he was a lousy skier.

In 1984 at the age of 79, Kraus stopped climbing completely, due to arthritis, and the cumulative effects of various injuries. His last climb was Easy Overhang, a route he had done the first ascent of in 1941.

In 1995 Kraus was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died peacefully on the morning of March 6 1996 in his New York City apartment, holding his daughters hand. His ashes were carried up the High Exposure buttress by an old friend and scattered into the air at the top.