A legend and
a source of inspiration for many of todays elite mountaineerers.
Hermann Buhl was exceptionally strong with an almost superhuman
endurance and will power; this in combination with taking
greather risks than most others, Hermann Buhl succeeded
where others failed.
He soloed the final stage on Nanga Parbats Rakhiot Route
during the first ascent in 1953, spent the night above
8,000 meters on a tiny ledge, finally returning to the
camp after 41 hours he was hallucinating and crawling
downwards, looking 10 years older. This climb is now regarded
as one of the greatest mountaineering feats of all time.
Four years later, on Broad Peak, he and his partners showed
that a 8,000 meter
mountain could be climbed without a large team and porters.
Buhl was suffering badly from the injuries he got on Nanga
Partbat and was ascending extremely slowly during the
last section, he sent his rope-companion, Kurt Diemberger
ahead to catch up with the other rope-team, Wintersteller
and Schmuck, they reached the summit together.
While descending Dimberger found it surprising that Buhl
was still ascending. - "Hermann kept coming up, slowly,
step by step, his face drawn, his eyes straight ahead.
It was close on half past six. Surely it was madness to
go on to the summit now?". Diemberger, spellbound
by Buhls determination, accompanied him back to the summit.
- "ahead of us gleamed a radiance, enfolding every
wish life could conjure, enfolding life itself. Now was
the moment of ineffable truth... this was utter fulfillment...
There we stood, speechless, and shook hands in silence.
We looked down at the snow underfoot, and to our amazement
it seemed to be aglow. Then the light went out."
Some days later they attempted Chogolisa, but it was Buhls
last mountain, near the summit he fell through a cornice
to his death.
Today, Kurt Diemberger, himself a legend, still finds
it hard to talk about the accident: - "It was a terrible
experience because all of a sudden my friend had disappeared....
and ya... I could never believe that something like this
could ever happen to Hermann Buhl. He had just climbed
Nanga Parbat solo and... ...It was a very, very hard way
down Chogolisa."
This was by far Buhls only famous climbs, since a young
boy he had always pushed himself and had made a lot of
spectacular climbs in the Alps, often solo, being a breath
away from death. Hermann Buhl was an exeptionally strong
climber, a master on rock and an exellent mountaineer.
He was ahead of his fellow climbers at this time. Reinhold
Messner: "Buhl was light, wiry, and very
fit. He had the ideal climber's build. He moved languidly,
like a cat, but fast and steady. Over the years he also
developed an instinct for danger in the mountains. It
was on loose rock that Buhl's real mastery was apparent."
Prior the Nanga Parbat ascent, Buhl had only once before
pushed himself to his very limit, being totally exhausted.
That was on the Eiger North Face in 1951. He and his climbing
partner Sepp Jöchler where trapped high on the face
in very bad weather. The rock got plastered in verglass
and made all climbing a fight for life. They where not
alone on the wall, three other parties with seven men
also found themself unable to continue. Among them where
the famous Gaston Rébuffat and Guido Magnone. Buhl
took the lead fought his way up the Exit Cracks that was
nearly impossible to climb. Rébuffat: "On
the fourth day Hermann gave his all for us on one rope
length for four hours. And then at the top suddenly flipped
over and was hanging head down. So naturally I went up
to him and had to turn him right way up, and seeing he
was no longer in a fit state to lead, I had no option
but to take over..." "...Buhl had not only achieved
absolutley mastery, he had climbed above all the others."
"Mountaineering is a relentless pursiut. One climbs
further and further yet never reaches the destination.
Perhaps that is what gives it its own particular charm.
One is constantly searching for something never to be
found."
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