This classical
climb is regarded as the first true alpine style climb
in the Himalayas. Others, like Hermann Buhl and Kurt Diemberger
had already tried small and fast moving expeditons , but
when you take everything into account - this was the first
alpine ascent on any of the fourteen 8,000 meter mountains.
WE WILL CLIMB LIKE IN THE
ALPS
In 1975, Reinhold Messner invited Peter Habeler to join
him on an expedition to Gasherbrum I, also know as Hidden
Peak. Reinhold declared that they would climb in pure
traditional style taken from the Alps. Alpine style would
then be introduced in the Himalayas. This mean that the
start of the climb is done from the bottom of the mountain
and you carry all the gears with you on the way, if any
bivouacs, they will be found on the way. No route preparation
is done. Supplemental oxygen is not used.
Prior to their departure, several leading high altitude
climbers made statements that this was pure madness and
never would work. Several people even called it suicide.
But for Reinhold this was just a logical way to continue
to improve as a climber and push his limits even further.
LIGHT, FAST AND UNROPED
On 8 August 1975, they began their climb. They had no
rope with them, no supplemental oxygen, just personal
climbing gears. This was it. The second day they found
themselves below 1,000 meter of steep ice and glazed rock
section. They had planned to make the next bivouac above
it. They climbed fast upwards, trusting their 12-point
crampons at each step. After climbing an extremely hard
and dangerous ice chimney, they came to easier ground
and finally the bivouac site. They where now both exhausted
and didn't manage to eat anything. It was a hard time
just to put up the tent.
The following day they left all gears in the tent, except
from the ice axe, crampoons, cameras and medication and
left for the summit. Peter Habeler first reached the summit;
Reinhold was a few minutes behind. He had filmed Peter
during the ascent. The weather was glorious and they hugged
each other!
This was the second ever ascent of the mountain and the
first ascent of an 8,000-meter mountain in pure alpine
style. By climbing Gasherbrum I, Reinhold now was the
first person to have climbed three 8,000 meter mountains.
After the climb, they got a telegram from Walter Bonatti:
"Tremendous alpinism. You two are the only ones in
recent years to have pushed out the boundaries of mountaineering."
"This kind of climbing
is the simplest you can imagine. It is only that you must
take everything into account, all the foreseeable - and
the unforeseeable, too - otherwise you will not live long."
More about Reinhold Messner
» Reinhold
Messner - mainpage
» Reinhold
Messner - short biography
» Reinhold
Messner - Nanga Parbat 1970 and 1978
» Reinhold
Messner - the Manaslu tragedy
» Reinhold
Messner & Hans Kammerlander - traversing the Gasherbrums
» Reinhold
Messner - breaking new limits on Mount Everest
Other mountaineering stories
» Tenzing
and his moment on the summit of the world
» K2
climbing history. From the first try to the Italian
success in 1954
» Hermann
Buhl and the first ascent of Nanga Parbat
» The
first ascent of Mont Blanc anno 1786
» A
tale from Lofoten, experienced and written by Per Jerberyd
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