Kurt Diemberger (born 16 March 1932) is an Austrian
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, a ...
and author of several books. He is the only living person who has made the first ascents on two
mountains over 8,000 metres: of
Broad Peak
Broad Peak ( ur, ) is a mountain in the Karakoram on the border of Pakistan and China, the twelfth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It was first ascended in June 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, ...
in 1957 and of
Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition.
Annapurna I () is ...
in 1960.
Career
Diemberger attended university in Vienna, where he obtained two degrees (
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
1955,
M.Ed 1962). Together with
Hermann Buhl, he is one of two mountaineers who have successfully made the first ascents on two
mountains over 8,000 metres. In 1957, Diemberger was the last person to see Hermann Buhl alive before he fell through a
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
on
Chogolisa
Chogolisa ( ur, from ''Chogo Ling Sa''; literally "Great Hunt") is a trapezoidal mountain in the Karakoram range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. It lies near the Baltoro Glacier in the Concordia region, which is home to some of th ...
. This attempt to climb Chogolisa was illegal and subsequently Diemberger was banned from entering Pakistan for an extended period of time.
Diemberger was one of only two survivors in the
1986 K2 Disaster. On 4 August 1986, Diemberger and
Julie Tullis reached the summit of
K2 very late in the day. Shortly after starting their descent, Tullis fell and dragged Diemberger down with her. They somehow stopped from going over the edge and spent the night above 8,000 metres. They managed to reach Camp IV the next day, where they were forced to share two tents with six other climbers after their tent had collapsed from
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...
force winds. Tullis died later that night, possibly from
high altitude cerebral edema
High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is a medical condition in which the brain swells with fluid because of the physiological effects of traveling to a high altitude. It generally appears in patients who have acute mountain sickness and involves dis ...
, and only one other climber, Austrian Willi Bauer, survived the descent with Diemberger.
Both climbers suffered severe
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in t ...
during the descent and had to have
amputations.
Diemberger is still active in the mountaineering world and works on film projects with his daughter.
Books
Diemberger has written the following books:
* ''The Endless Knot : K2, Mountain of Dreams and Destiny'', 1991. Translated into English by Audrey Salkeld.
* ''Summits and secrets'', 1991. Translated into English by Hugh Merrick.
* ''Spirits of the Air'', 1994
* ''K2 : Challenging the Sky'', 1997
* ''The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus'', 1999
* ''K2. Traum und Schicksal'', 2001 (German)
See also
*
Eight-thousander
The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) recognises eight-thousanders as the 14 mountains that are more than in height above sea level, and are considered to be sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no ...
*
List of 20th-century summiters of Mount Everest
Mount Everest, at is currently the world's highest mountain and is a particularly desirable peak for mountaineers. This is a list of people who reached the summit of Mount Everest in the 20th century. Overall about 1,383 people summited Evere ...
External links
Team Member of the Austrian OEAV Karakoram Expedition 1957Interview with Kurt Diemberger
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diemberger, Kurt
1932 births
Living people
Austrian mountain climbers
People from Villach
Sportspeople from Carinthia (state)