Background
He was born in 1883 in the town of Fukov (Fugau in German), which doesn"t exist anymore. Kauschka completed his studies in 1904 and became a customs officer like his father.
explorer writer custom officer
He was born in 1883 in the town of Fukov (Fugau in German), which doesn"t exist anymore. Kauschka completed his studies in 1904 and became a customs officer like his father.
The area now belongs to Šluknov, Děčín District. In 1895, his family moved into Bílý Potok. During that time, he made numerous trips and climbs in the Jizera Mountains and their surroundings.
During World War I, he served as a Third Lieutenant in the first unit of mountain guides in the Ortler mountain area.
From 1919 until the end of World World War II, he made many "first ascents" in the Jizera mountains. In 1924, Kauschka wrote a book Wandern und Klettern.
After World World War II, he was forced to leave Czechoslovakia (see Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia…). Kauschka arrived in Kempten either in 1946 or 1947 and would die there in 1960.
As a luger, Kauschka competed in three European luge championships, winning four medals.
Kauschka followed up with a silver in the men"s singles event at Schreiberhau, Germany (now Szklarska Poręba, Poland) in 1928, then with another silver in the men"s doubles event the following year in Semmering, Austria. An example of this was one day, he started with friends at 2 am from Liberec to walk across Jizera mountains to Sněžka-Śnieżka in the Karkonosze mountains (located at the Czechoslovakian-Polish border). 17 hours later at 7 pm, they were back in Harrachov after resting on the top of Sněžka-Śnieżka for two hours.
In 1922, Kauschka and his friends climbed the Ještěd mountain summit twelve times starting at 7 pm one day and finishing at 5:45 pm the next day.
During that day they reached an altitude over 5000 m high, using over 20 different footpaths. From 1904 to 1928, Kauschka did much climbing, starting with the Jizera mountains, including being the first to climb Zvon (a famous local rock tower) in 1921.
He later climbed the Lusatian and Zittauer (part of the Breiteberg chain) mountains, Bohemian Paradise (the first ascent on Draci zub in 1906) and Saxon Switzerland (Blocksstockes). He was also in the Alps, the Dolomites (1907 - climbing the Vajolet Towers solo without a rope), Ortler (1908 - Königspitze in German), and Wallis Alps (1928 - Matterhorn, Mont Blanc).
A peak in the Jizera Mountains, "Kauschkova vez", was named in his honor.
A summit in the Alps 2903 m (9584 ft) high was also named in Kauschka"s honor, the year before his death. Kauschka"s son Manfred was also a climber, doing the first ascent on Kobyla in Příhrazy (famous route to the local well-known sandstone tower) in 1937 with friends.
From 1906 to the end of World World War II, he was a member of Liberec (Reichenberg in German) section of the Alpenverein (Alpine club in German), making many trips to the Alps.