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Fritz Steuri (born 25 July 1879 in Grindelwald, Switzerland, died 5 September 1950 in Grindelwald, Switzerland) was a Swiss people mountain climber and Nordic skiing and alpine skier. He was a three-time Swiss champion in cross-country skiing. In 1921, he took part in the first ascent of the Mittellegigrat (the northeast ridge of the Eiger).
Fritz Steuri became one of the best skiers in the early days of Swiss ski racing. Especially in endurance or alpine endurance, as cross-country skiing was called, he was a leading athlete in the early twentieth century. In January 1903, Steuri won the Grindelwald ski club's second race in downhill skiing and came second in both ski jumping and endurance. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), p. 157. In January 1904 he won the third club downhill race. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), p. 160. In February 1903, Steuri won the "International Cup in alpine endurance" organized in Adelboden by the Ski Club of Bern, which he also won in 1904 (again in Adelboden) and 1905 (in Zweisimmen). Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), pp. 158-159. From 1904 to 1906, he won three consecutive major Grindelwald endurance ski races.
After the founding of the Swiss-Ski on 20 November 1904, on 21 and 22 January 1905 the first Swiss ski championships ("Erstes Grosses Skirennen der Schweiz") were held in Glarus. Steuri was the Swiss champion in endurance. On the 20-kilometer route over the Pragel Pass with 560 meters slope and 1160 meters down, he came in first of 32 participants in a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 7 seconds. In 1906 in Zweisimmen and 1907 in Davos Steuri was again the Swiss champion in endurance, whereupon he was asked not to participate in this race to offer other athletes a chance to win. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), pp. 159-160, 183.
Steuri also worked as a ski instructor. He instructed Hermann and Othmar Gurtner and Walter Amstutz in alpine driving technique and the "classic" Telemark skiing, stem Christie and stem turn. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), p. 217. In 1926 Steuri was president of the Grindelwald ski club. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), p. 223. He gave ski lessons into the 1930s. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), p. 219.
From about 1930, Steuri specialized as a Jungfrau guide. He worked as one of the "Jochführer", the guides who after the construction of the Jungfrau railway were always stationed at Jungfraujoch and led tourists from there to the surrounding peaks. As a result, in his lifetime Steuri made 1139 ascents of the Jungfrau - sometimes twice in a day. Der Sommer- und Winterkurort (Rubi), pp. 51-52. In summer 1938 Steuri led the search party that discovered the body of Italian climber Bartolo Sandri, who had died along with his partner, Mario Menti, in an attempt on the north face of the Eiger. The White Spider (Harrer), p. 80. Steuri was sometime landlord of the Konkordia Hut and chairman of the Grindelwald mountain rescue.
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