Reinhard Karl (3 November 1946 – 19 May 1982) was a German

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

, photographer, and writer.

Early life

Karl was born in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. At the age of 14, he started working as a mechanic apprentice. Later on, he joined night classes to complete high school. When he was admitted to daily school, he left his work as a mechanic to continue his studies in Frankfurt. He later became a professional mountain photographer and also wrote several books. At the beginning of his career, climbing during weekends was his way to escape from his work as a mechanic, which he disliked. He discovered his passion for mountains thanks to his readings; in his autobiography he specifically mentions ''Achttausend drüber und drunter'' by Hermann Buhl and a book on Everest's ascent by

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

. His mother encouraged him by sending him to the Mountain Club in Heidelberg, where he met Hermann Kühn, partner in several ascents, including the Eiger's north face.

Climbing experience

Karl's career started with his first climbing experiences on Battert, near

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

. He mastered several styles of climbing, ranging from alpine style in Europe and South America, free climbing and eight-thousanders.

Alps

He climbed several famous mountains and routes in the Alps, such as: *the Bonatti pillar on

Aiguille du Dru The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The ...

*the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses (1968) *the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends ...

north face, after several failed attempts (1969) *the north face of

Les Droites Les Droites () is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps and is the lowest of the 4000-metre peaks in the Alps. The mountain has two summits: * West summit (3,984 m), first ascent by W. A. B. Coolidge, Christian Almer and Ulri ...

, in the Mont Blanc massif *the Hemming- Robbins on the west face of

*the Pillar of Frêney on Mont Blanc

Yosemite

Karl visited Yosemite several times, where he experienced both

Big wall climbing Big wall climbing is a form of rock climbing that takes place on long and sheer multi-pitch climbing, multi-pitch climbing routes, routes (of ''at least'' 6–10 pitches or 300–500 metres) that require a full day, if not several days, to ascen ...

and

free climbing Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber can only use climbing equipment for climbing protection but not as an artificial aid to help them in ascending the route. Free climbing, therefore, cannot use any of the tools that ...

. He climbed several big walls. In 1975, he climbed

Half Dome Half Dome is a quartz monzonite batholith at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three s ...

north-west face and the Nose on

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

, Salathé Wall in 1977 and Son of Heart in 1978 on

. He also got in contact with American climbers spending their summers in Yosemite, such as Ron Kauk and John Bachar, masters of

bouldering Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...

Free Climbing

After his experience at Yosemite, he applied his new vision of climbing in Battert crag.
In 1977, Karl and Helmut Kiene realised the first grade VII climbing with the free ascent of the Pumprisse on the Fleischbank, on the

Kaisergebirge The Kaiser Mountains (, meaning ''Emperor Mountains'') are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and Eastern Alps. Its main ridges – are the Zahmer Kaiser and south of it the Wilder Kaiser. The mountains are situated in the Austri ...

Eight-thousenders

Karl was the first German to reach the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

(with oxygen) on 10 May 1978, with Oswald Olz. He was part, as photographer, of the same expedition which saw

Reinhold Messner Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from the German-speaking province of South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent o ...

and

Peter Habeler Peter Habeler (born 22 July 1942) is an Austrian mountaineer. He was born in Mayrhofen, Austria. He developed an interest in mountain climbing at age six.http://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/habeler Among his accomplishments as a mountaineer a ...

climb Mount Everest for the first time without supplemental oxygen. Karl's second eight-thousander was

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...

, in Karakorum, with Hans Schell in 1979.

South America

In 1980 Karl's attempt, with Hans Martin Götz, to climb

Cerro Torre Cerro Torre is one of the mountains of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in South America. It is located on the border dividing Argentina and Chile, west of Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén). At , the peak is the highest of a four mountai ...

failed when they spent the night at only 250 meters from the top. Also his attempt to climb the ''Supercanaleta'' on

Fitz Roy Monte Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy) is a mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile.Cho Oyu Cho Oyu ( Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means " Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the '' Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur Him ...

, during his attempt to climb his third eight-thousander.

References

External links

Reinhard Karl at www.everesthistory.comwww.historisches-alpenarchiv.org (german language)www.historisches-alpenarchiv.org - Reinhard Karl (pdf)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karl, Reinhard 1946 births 1982 deaths Sportspeople from Heidelberg German summiters of Mount Everest Mountaineering deaths in Nepal Deaths in avalanches German mountain climbers Deaths on Cho Oyu