Lorenz Salading (28 October 1896 – 7 September 1936), was a Swiss mountain-climber, journalist, photographer and traveler. His large archive of photographs and reports of his expeditions were discovered in Russian sources in 2008.
Saladin was born in Nuglar-St. Pantaleon, in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. He came from a modest background, worked at different jobs and during WW1 was patrolling the Swiss frontier. He took a great interest in mountain climbing and was a member of several climbing clubs. Politically he was a member of the Communist Party of Switzerland (KPS). Between 1920 and 1932 he travelled through Europe, South America and the USA, during which time he started to take an interest in photography and became a first-class photographer.
In 1932 he took part in an expedition to the Kaukasus with a ski club from Zurich and contributed reports and photographs to the press. He became acquainted with the Moscow student and climber Georgi Charlampiew. In 1934 Charlampiews helped him organize his own climbing expedition to the Kaukasus. The following year he took part in a Soviet geological expedition to the Pamirs. He died of an infection while returning from a second expedition to the Pamir mountains. His grave was discovered only in 2008.
Shortly after his death the Swiss traveler and writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach researched his work in Moscow and wrote a comprehensive biography, which quickly sold out. His archives were later transferred to the Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern.