Hermann Buhl: Climbing Without Compromise

Description

Published by The Mountaineers, Seattle and Baton Wicks, London, 2000, 1st UK & US Edition, D/w, Fine.   The story of Buhl’s many extreme climbs.  The legendary Buhl made the first ascent of Nanga Parbat after his companions turned back some 1,300 metres from the summit, and is the only person to have made the first ascent of an 8,000 metre peak alone.  He also made the first ascent of Broad Peak and was the pre-eminent mountaineer of the 1950’s, writing the classic Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage in 1956, so it is fitting that this biography, which reveals much about Buhl by liberal use of his previously unpublished diaries, should be written by the celebrated Reinhold Messner, along with mountaineer/journalist Horst Hofler.  Only weeks after his Broad Peak success with Kurt Diemberger, the 32 year old Buhl was tragically killed on the summit ridge of Chogolisa when a cornice collapsed.