The Tödi has left traces in the lives of those who dreamed of it and set out to explore and conquer its ridges, glacier crevasses, and wild walls. A peculiar tragedy seems to connect their fates. Six times, Father Placidus a Spescha from Trun attempted to reach the summit in the early 19th century, and five times the doctor and politician Johannes Hegetschweiler from Stäfa on Lake Zurich tried as well. Both failed. It was local chamois hunters and shepherds who ultimately achieved the first ascent: Placi Curschellas and Augustin Bisquolm from the south in 1824, and father and son Vögeli with Thomas Thut from the north in 1837. A week later, the three Linthalers took their first guest to the Tödi: Friedrich von Dürler, the secretary of Zurich's poor relief. Three years later, von Dürler met his death on the harmless Uetliberg near Zurich. However, the first climbers...