Bivouac #08: Tierra incógnita
Robert Helbling’s Treasure Trove of Maps from Argentina
Robert Helbling (1874–1954) was a mountaineer, a founding member of the Academic Alpine Club of Zurich, the first to climb numerous routes in the Chilean-Argentine Andes, a geologist with a doctorate, a pioneer of stereophotogrammetry, commander of the Gotthard Survey Detachment during World War I, and later an independent entrepreneur and co-founder of the Wild company in Heerbrugg (now Leica Geosystems). Biwak#08 focuses on a portfolio discovered in 2012 in an attic, containing sketches, photos, and maps from the years 1909–1914. At that time, Helbling surveyed the previously largely unknown glacial region of the Juncal-Tupungato Group in the Argentine-Chilean border area, which led to the first accurate maps of the region. Years later, this innovative method was also adopted by the Swiss Federal Survey.