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