He and Oliver Perry-Smith, an American college student and fellow climber living in Dresden, became as close as brothers and formed a team which pushed the limits of risk and difficulty on the steep sandstone spires, making many first ascents.
He imagined the purest of climbing routes as "great lines", ascending directly up steep faces and cracks and sometimes presenting considerable difficulties, and he encouraged the use of rope-soled slippers and a minimum of metal protective devices in order to avoid destroying the fragile rock.
[1] Before long, he became one of the best mountain climbers in Saxon Switzerland and ascended a number of important climbing peaks.
As a lawyer, he served during World War II as a military judge, and passed at least one death sentence on a deserter.
He was captured at the end of the war and interned in an NKVD prisoner camp, where he died a natural death at the age of 61 in 1947.