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KURT DIEMBERGER
BIOGRAPHY
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Born in Austria 1932. He lives in Salzburg and Bologna.
The only person alive that have made two first ascents on mountains above 8,000 metres. Broad Peak (1957) and Dhaulagiri (1960). A pioneer of western alpine-style technique in the Himalayas. He was also the last person to see Hermann Buhl alive near the summit of Chogolisa, just before he fell through a cornice.
Together with Julie Tullis he formed "the highest film-team in the world". Together
they filmed on Everest, Nanga Parbat and in the Karakoram, making films about the climbers, mountains and the people who live there.
In 1986 Julie and Kurt made it to the summit of K2; the hour was extremely late, 7 p.m. They hugged each other and Julie gushed: -"Kurt, our dream is finally fulfilled: K2 is now ours!".
Near the summit Julie fell, she was above and dragged Kurt with her. Kurt remembers: -"My God, this is it. This is the end". Miraculously they managed to stop before the edge. There they spent the night above 8,000 meters.
The next day, they reached Camp IV and was welcomed by five other climbers. The weather had worsened and it was now hurricane winds. Julie and Kurt's tent collapsed and they had to move into the other climbers tents. During the night Julie died,possibly because of cerebral edema. When Kurt heard about her death, he got totally devastated. Later that day, the six survivors used up their last food and fuel, trapped in high camp in a ferrous hurricane.
During the next three days, their strength slowly faded away. They were all in the state "were it is hard to tell dreams from reality". Two days later the party realised they must try to descend now or they all would die! However the known alpinist Al Rouse couldn't move at all
and was left behind in his tent. The two climbers Weiser and Imitzer immediately collapsed. They were left where in the snow. The three remaining climbers continued down. Some hours later Wolf dropped behind and was never seen again.
It was now only Diemberger and Bauer that continued. Camp III had been destroyed by an avalanche, they pressed down to camp II where they found food, fuel and shelter. Next night Bauer made it to Base Camp, he told that Diemberger also was descending somewhere above. He was found in the middle of the night, trying to crawl down the fixed ropes between Camp II and advanced base camp.
That season 27 climbers made it to the summit of K2 - and 13 died.
After this climb Diemberger said that it will never be the same again, but he keeps returning to the mountains, they have helped him before and will do so again.
He is still active and keeps filming together with his daughter, however he won't return to the high altitudes.
8000+ CLIMBS AND EXPEDITIONS
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1957
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Broad Peak, FA |
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1960
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Dhaulagiri, FA |
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1978
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Makalu
Mount Everest |
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1979
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Gasherbrum |
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1984
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Broad Peak |
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1986
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K2 |
* FA = First Ascent
Books by Kurt Diemberger
» Omnibus
» The Endless Knot : K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny
» Spirits of the Air
» Summits and secrets
» K2 : Challenging the Sky
» Return to the climbing heroes mainpage
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