HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Reinhard Karl (3 November 1946 – 19 May 1982) was a German mountaineer, photographer and writer.


Early life

Karl was born in Heidelberg. 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. 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 The Battert is a hill, , on the western edge of the Northern Black Forest north of Baden-Baden in Germany. On its western slopes are the ruins of Hohenbaden Castle (the ''Altes Schloss'' or "Old Castle"), on the southern side is the climbing ar ...
, near Baden-Baden. 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 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 a ...
north face, after several failed attempts (1969) *the north face of Les Droites, in the Mont Blanc massif *the Hemming-
Robbins Robbins may refer to: People * Robbins (name), a surname Fictional characters * Al Robbins, medical doctor in ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' * Arizona Robbins, surgeon in ''Grey's Anatomy'' * Ashley Mizuki Robbins, protagonist in the video ...
on the west face of Aiguille du Dru *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 type of rock climbing where a climber ascends a long multi-pitch route, normally requiring more than a single day to complete the climb. Big wall routes require the climbing team to live on the route often using portaledges ...
and
free climbing Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. Th ...
. He climbed several big walls. In 1975, he climbed Half Dome north-west face and the Nose on El Capitan,
Salathé Wall The ''Salathé Wall'' is one of the original technical climbing routes up El Capitan, a high granite monolith in Yosemite National Park. The ''Salathé Wall'' was named by Yvon Chouinard in honor of John Salathé, a pioneer of rock climbi ...
in 1977 and Son of Heart in 1978 on El Capitan. He also got in contact with American climbers spending their summers in Yosemite, such as Ron Kauk and John Bachar, masters of bouldering.


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.


Eight-thousenders

Karl was the first German to reach the summit of Mount Everest (with oxygen) on 10 May 1978, with Oswald Olz. He was part, as photographer, of the same expedition which saw Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler climb Mount Everest for the first time without supplemental oxygen. Karl's second eight-thousander was Gasherbrum II, in Karakorum, with Hans Schell in 1979.


South America

In 1980 Karl's attempt, with Hans Martin Götz, to climb Cerro Torre failed when they spent the night at only 250 meters from the top. Also his attempt to climb the ''Supercanaleta'' on Fitz Roy with Luis Fraga did not succeed. His last mountain was Fitz Roy, which he climbed in 1982 with Peter Luthy on the south-west face (route ''Chouinard'') two weeks after the failed attempt on ''Supercanaleta''.


Works

Karl has also had an important part in documenting mountain climbing in his pictures and books. His books are the following: * ''Erlebnis Berg: Zeit zum Atmen'' (''Adventure Mountain: Time to breathe'') * ''Yosemite – Klettern im senkrechten Paradies'' (''Yosemite - climbing the vertical paradise'') * ''Berge auf Kodachrome'' (''Mountains on Kodachrome'')


Death

Karl died on 19 May 1982 in an ice avalanche at Camp II on
Cho Oyu __NOTOC__ 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 ...
, 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 Summiters of Mount Everest Mountaineering deaths in Nepal Deaths in avalanches German mountain climbers Natural disaster deaths in Nepal