As befits any ambi\u00adtious moun\u00adtaineer like me, at some point I started to dream of conquering an 8,000-meter summit.<\/p>\n
Marc Gr\u00fcn<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Two years ago, I added the first 7,000-meter summit to my list: the Himlung Himal in Nepal. And through these weeks-long expe\u00addi\u00adtions, I real\u00adized I could cope with the adverse condi\u00adtions and the thin air. So, as befits any ambi\u00adtious moun\u00adtaineer like me, at some point I started to dream of conquering an 8,000-meter summit. And so last year, I trav\u00adeled to Nepal again, home to Manaslu, the eighth highest moun\u00adtain in the world.<\/p>\n ZWell, at first, you\u2019re just a normal climber, but at some point, you might become a skilled climber. And then, if you want to aim higher, you push your\u00adself to more extreme levels without any guar\u00adantee that you\u2019ll get it right first time. I made a few mistakes on my first expe\u00addi\u00adtion that cost me the summit, but I still gained a lot of expe\u00adri\u00adence and know-how. In other words, you become more skilled and accom\u00adplished with every tour, but nobody tells you that. But you should only ever climb high moun\u00adtains if you have quickly learned to correctly assess the risks and, if in doubt, turn back without having reached the summit.<\/p>\n To get phys\u00adi\u00adcally fit for the climb, I often just went to the Allg\u00e4u or Austria. Typical training involved running up the moun\u00adtain from morning to evening and then taking the cable car back down again, wearing weight cuffs on my feet and a heavy back\u00adpack to simu\u00adlate the condi\u00adtions I would encounter during the expe\u00addi\u00adtion as closely as possible. That added up to 4,500 meters in alti\u00adtude \u2013 some\u00adtimes in constant rain, although that certainly helped my mental prepa\u00adra\u00adtion. When, shortly before the start of my expe\u00addi\u00adtion, I was able to climb the Zugspitze up and back down again in just a few hours instead of the orig\u00adinal two-day tour, my body showed me that it was ready to go.<\/p>\n I prepared myself mentally with breathing exer\u00adcises, medi\u00adta\u00adtion, and yoga. On an 8,000-meter climb, unex\u00adpected things can happen, and you must assume that you may encounter things you\u2019d rather not see. You have to be mentally prepared for precisely these situ\u00ada\u00adtions, so that you remain calm and don\u2019t lose your cool if the worst comes to the worst. Finally, of course, an expe\u00addi\u00adtion like this has to be planned and orga\u00adnized. The costs were stag\u00adgering, due in part to the special equip\u00adment required, and so securing spon\u00adsor\u00adships from inter\u00adested compa\u00adnies was vital.<\/p>\n After my arrival in Kath\u00admandu, the capital of Nepal, and making final prepa\u00adra\u00adtions, we set off by bus to the edge of the Himalayas. We then drove into the moun\u00adtains for a day in jeeps until the \u201croad\u201d ended. From there, we started trekking toward the Manaslus base camp. We spent nine days passing through gorgeous scenery, traversing forests, gorges, valleys and passes. The night was spent in small villages, mostly with local fami\u00adlies, until we finally arrived at the Manaslus base camp at around 4,800 meters. This is where we stayed to prepare ourselves for the ascent.<\/p>\n A human body can only survive in the death zone for any length of time.<\/p>\n Marc Gr\u00fcn<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n After resting for two days, we began the acclima\u00adti\u00adza\u00adtion and supply tours to high camp 1 at 5,800 m, high camp 2 at 6,300 m, and high camp 3 at 6,800 m. We delib\u00ader\u00adately avoided a poten\u00adtial high camp 4 at approx. 7,500 m because it would have involved a huge effort to set up camp there and carry all the mate\u00adrial up. The so-called \u201cdeath zone\u201d also begins at 7,500 m. Above this alti\u00adtude, it\u2019s no longer possible for a human body to survive for any length of time. We there\u00adfore decided to tackle the summit later from high camp 3. After about two weeks, the high camp chain was set up and we were suffi\u00adciently accli\u00adma\u00adtized to attempt the summit. After another rest period of several days at base camp, we were off!<\/p>\n The expe\u00addi\u00adtion started in Nepal's capital Kath\u00admandu, where Marc Gr\u00fcn was tradi\u00adtion\u00adally greeted with a chain of flowers.<\/p><\/div>\n We finally headed into the moun\u00adtains in an off-road vehicle.<\/p><\/div>\n The first week consisted of relaxed trekking towards the base camp of Manaslu.<\/p><\/div>\n The first high\u00adlight of the expe\u00addi\u00adtion was the crossing of the Larke Pass at 5,106 metres.<\/p><\/div>\n Marc Gr\u00fcn forti\u00adfies himself with his climbing Sherpa at high camp 3. Preparing food is not so easy at 6,800 metres!<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The condi\u00adtions on Manaslu were very diffi\u00adcult last year. In the previous months, the glacier had devel\u00adoped quite a few steep slopes that had to be nego\u00adti\u00adated. Some of these were 80-90\u00b0 steep, and some were over\u00adhanging. Climbing at such an alti\u00adtude is very demanding and exhausting. We then climbed up the moun\u00adtain \u2013 moving from one camp to the next of a series of high camps that had previ\u00adously been estab\u00adlished.<\/p>\n We arrived at high camp 3 in the late morning of the third day where we rested for a few hours before starting the summit push at 6pm in the evening. The weather was crit\u00adical due to the cold and a storm \u2013 and it was here that we first encoun\u00adtered some serious prob\u00adlems. My climbing Sherpa\u2019s oxygen regu\u00adlator was defec\u00adtive and had frozen. He there\u00adfore had to climb without addi\u00adtional oxygen, which logi\u00adcally caused him obvious prob\u00adlems at this alti\u00adtude. He was getting slower and weaker, and I often had to wait a long time for him.<\/p>\n We were in the middle of the death zone and making slow progress. His strength was dwin\u00addling and he was shat\u00adtered at just short of 8,000 meters. He couldn\u2019t climb any further and was very weak. His life was in acute danger, so I decided to abandon the summit and try to get him down safely somehow. We couldn\u2019t expect any help as there were no other climbers nearby. We then strug\u00adgled back down to high camp 3, which took us a total of 17 hours of non-stop climbing and spent a very uncom\u00adfort\u00adable and stormy night there at 6,800 meters.<\/p>\n The next day we made our way back down to base camp where we arrived safely after a few hours. Due to the onset of winter and with the logis\u00adtics chain no longer in place, it was clear that there would be no second summit attempt. After another night\u2019s rest, we started trekking back to civi\u00adliza\u00adtion from the base camp, which was very stren\u00aduous due to the past grueling weeks plus four days of constant rain. After two more days riding in jeeps, we arrived back in Kath\u00admandu \u2013 exhausted but nonethe\u00adless happy. A hot shower, clean and dry clothes, and a cold beer \u2026\u2026. pure bliss!<\/p>\n My family and closest friends, in partic\u00adular, know just how passionate I am about moun\u00adtains, and that I simply feel good there and at home. I also occa\u00adsion\u00adally go on tours in the moun\u00adtains with my friends \u2013 not to cover any specific alti\u00adtude or distance, but simply to have fun and spend time together. Nonethe\u00adless, my family do, natu\u00adrally, worry when my next big tour is up. And, of course, they are more than happy and relieved every time I arrive home safe and sound after weeks of radio silence.<\/p>\n I always see a moun\u00adtain climb and an expe\u00addi\u00adtion as a complete package. For me, it\u2019s not just about reaching the summit. It\u2019s every\u00adthing that goes with it, like the journey itself, trekking to the moun\u00adtain, getting to know new people and cultures, expe\u00adri\u00adencing new things; to me, they\u2019re all just as much a part of it. For this reason alone, the first ten days of the Manaslu expe\u00addi\u00adtion \u2013before we even started climbing the moun\u00adtain \u2013 were a worth\u00adwhile expe\u00adri\u00adence. The summit is impor\u00adtant to me, but not every\u00adthing and \u2013 certainly not at any price.<\/p>\n Yes, absolutely! Every moun\u00adtain tour changes me. For me, the moun\u00adtains are like a school for life. They teach me things like posi\u00adtive confronta\u00adtion and perse\u00adver\u00adance. Or the confi\u00addence that if I invest enough energy and strength in a project, I can achieve anything I put my mind to, even in a crit\u00adical situ\u00ada\u00adtion. I think my super\u00advi\u00adsors also sense that I have devel\u00adoped certain qual\u00adi\u00adties through moun\u00adtaineering that help me move forward and that also benefit my daily work. For example, I can pull off complex projects \u2013 despite all the chal\u00adlenges involved. I have also learned to prior\u00adi\u00adtize. What is impor\u00adtant right here and now, and what is maybe less urgent? What do I need to focus on at this very moment? It\u2019s all very helpful in everyday busi\u00adness life. And that\u2019s some\u00adthing the moun\u00adtains teach you too.<\/p>\n For me, being in the moun\u00adtains is sheer relax\u00adation. It doesn\u2019t need to be a weeks-long expe\u00addi\u00adtion; I also really enjoy going on simple tours alone or with friends, like in the Alps. I can\u2019t just sit around at home, there\u2019s always some\u00adthing I have to do. After the Manaslu expe\u00addi\u00adtion, I was phys\u00adi\u00adcally and mentally exhausted for a long time \u2013 it was the stress after the stress, so to speak. I find that relax\u00adation exer\u00adcises and yoga help. In today\u2019s hectic world with busy sched\u00adules, the trick is to make the most of the short time avail\u00adable to recover.<\/p>\n I would really like to compli\u00adment Uhlmann as an employer. I could hardly expect them to shout \u2018hurrah\u2019 when I announced that I would be away for several weeks to tackle an 8000-meter peak in the distant Himalayas. But they always responded with enthu\u00adsiasm and supported me wher\u00adever they could. That\u2019s not some\u00adthing you should take for granted and I am very grateful to them for that.<\/p>\n There are, actu\u00adally, a few smaller moun\u00adtains that have been calling me since my return from Nepal. As far as all the really high moun\u00adtains in the world are concerned, I already sensed during my descent from Manaslu that my mission was prob\u00adably not quite over yet. But an expe\u00addi\u00adtion like this depends on numerous factors that have to fall into place. I\u2019m not getting any younger, and you really have to think care\u00adfully about whether you want to put your\u00adself through it all again. But there are defi\u00adnitely a few ideas I already have in mind \u2026<\/p>\n Faster, higher, better. That\u2019s the motto of 46-year-old Marc Gr\u00fcn. Marc, who has been working at Uhlmann for six years, spends his free time climbing extremely high moun\u00adtains \u2013 most recently the 8,000-meter-high Manaslu in Nepal. In this inter\u00adview, he explains what fasci\u00adnates him about moun\u00adtaineering and how it bene\u00adfits his work. [\u2026]<\/p>\nHow do you find out whether you are good at extreme moun\u00adtaineering?<\/h5>\n
How did you prepare for the ascent of Manaslu?<\/h5>\n
How did the expe\u00addi\u00adtion to Manaslu go?<\/h5>\n
\n
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<\/div>Towards the summit \u2026 Have you reached it?<\/h5>\n
So what happened next?<\/h5>\n
How do your family and friends feel about your \u2013 not exactly harm\u00adless \u2013 hobby?<\/h5>\n
You were denied the chance to reach the Manaslu summit. How do you deal with success and failure?<\/h5>\n
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<\/h5>\n
Does extreme moun\u00adtaineering also benefit you in terms of your work?<\/h5>\n
You use your vaca\u00adtions for your moun\u00adtain tours. So how do you still find time to relax?<\/h5>\n
Does Uhlmann support you in any way?<\/h5>\n
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<\/h5>\n
What\u2019s next on your agenda? Is there already another moun\u00adtain out there beck\u00adoning you?<\/h5>\n
Thank you very much for the inter\u00adview, Marc!<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"