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Hans
Kammerlander retired, but why ?
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Back
in August 2001: Italian climber Hans
Kammerlander, back from the successful expedition to
K2, will never more climb Himalayan tops: "I will
not go for Manaslu,
the last one to complete my 14 eight thousands"
he announced today in a press meeting in his hometown
Bolzano.
"Too
many tragedies I have lived on Manaslu, I will not
face my bad dreams". On Manaslu, during his 1991
expedition, his friends and mates Karl
Grossrubatscher and Friedl Mutschlechner died in the
attempt to summit.
"I
can go on living with 13 tops instead of 14. There are
so many beautiful mountains in the world I can climb
now. Not Manaslu". During the press meeting, Kammerlander
(44 years old) explained details of his last
expedition: " Since the first moment in Pakistan
- he said - after two attempts in the recent seasons,
I had decided this was the last attack". Italian
climber took his skis with him, just like on Everest
in 1996. He wanted to be the first to ski down from
the top to base camp. He gave up some 400 meters below
the top, at elevation 8611: "The wall was a stiff
60 degrees, it would had been like skiing on a bell
tower roof" he said yesterday. "When I saw a
Korean climber falling down the wall, passing just few
meters away from me, I took my skis off". But
Kammerlander still thinks it is possible to do it:
"Somebody will do it, but he'll need a lot of
ability and a whole of luck". This will not be
himself, he told: "I'm 44, to old to try
again, and I leave this dream to young people".
Kammerlander however, hopes this will be a fair and
ethic success: "Skiing down K2 must be done in a
honest way, as I always tried to behave. I heard of
people who reached Everest top with plenty of oxygen
and many Sherpas, lately. I heard Sherpas carried skis
for them as well. This means corrupting the highest
top of the world to an easy seven thousand peak"
he said. from: Gigi
Zoppello,
journalist, Trento (Italy)
Actually
Hans has only summitted the Central Summit of
Shishapangma according to our records, so to finish
the Quest for the 14 8000 meter
peaks, he would need to go back to Shishapangma
too.
However,
Hans is strong enough to do it, without question, so
why not ?
What
happened on Manaslu? Some of you probably recall,
others probably not.... Well here is the short story,
from what we have found out: Hans was leading a 12
person Italian-German Expedition attempting the
Northeast face of Manaslu. Hans, Karl Grossrubatscher,
and Friedl Mutschlechner left camp 2 on May 10, 1991
for the summit going strong, but with deep snow Hans
reached 7500 meters and turned around. While
descending back to camp Hans found Karl dead near camp
2. Friedl and Hans continued to descend from camp 2,
suddenly a thunder storm overcame them and Friedo was
killed by lightning just above camp 1.
So
now you know the rest of the story. Hans is continuing
to climb and guide, we will see if he changes his
mind....
For
the Czech Interview with Hans Kammerlander (before his
Summit on K2 this year, see here.
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