Mountaineer tells us

“At extreme heights, it really gets to you”

Rope team on Everest - climbs are booming.

(Bild: Rupert Hauer)

The drama surrounding a Salzburg woman who died on the Grossglockner also shocked Salzburg mountaineer Rupert Hauer and his partner Anita Maruna. They know the harsh world only too well. 

Rupert Hauer from Mauterndorf is an alpine policeman and extreme mountaineer. He has stood on the summit of Mount Everest six times and climbed six other 8,000-metre peaks. Summit victories in our latitudes, including the Grossglockner, are almost a matter of course for alpinists like him. Dangers lurk everywhere, even on the Glockner. But he doesn't want to pass judgment on the death of a woman from Salzburg in the cold. "It can also be extreme here when storms come up and you can only move very slowly," says his partner Anita Maruna. She is a high-altitude doctor and treats patients at the Dr. Aufmesser practice in Obertauern in winter. Both accompany expeditions to the highest mountains in the world for a Tyrolean company.

 It is a world of extremes. For example, when Sherpas carve campsites out of the meter-high ice and the participants have to put on crampons as soon as they step out of their tents.

Professionals on the mountain: Rupert Hauer and Anita Maruna

(Bild: Diverse Fotografen honorarfrei/Hauer)

Big crowds for 8000 meter expeditions
Nevertheless, 8,000-metre expeditions, especially on Mount Everest, are booming. "Our people are well prepared in advance," says Hauer. He himself is always drawn back to the mountains. It's a bit like a love-hate relationship - with the necessary respect. You do ask yourself questions about why. "But then there's a special feeling of happiness at the top."

The cold also takes its toll: as the air gets thinner, blood circulation decreases and toes or fingers can become frostbitten. "It's really bad to start with damp socks," says Hauer, referring to tips from the expedition leaders.

He once pushed himself to the limit on an Everest ascent from the Chinese side. "I was met by a snow-blind American." Hauer was traveling without oxygen and helped. Or there were completely different dangers lurking: "One participant was allergic to peanuts," says Maruna. A companion triggered a dangerous reaction with a well-intentioned meal.

Kommentar

Wenn die Natur zu hoch hinaus lockt

Is that really necessary? Where is the responsibility? After the tragedy involving a female mountaineer on the Grossglockner, it is easy to pass judgment from a distance. Questions remain unanswered. The fact is that the mountain world is attracting more and more people to extreme heights. A kind of highway now leads to Mount Everest. Pictures of expeditions in rank and file go around the world again and again. And even at these heights, mechanization takes away some of nature's unpredictable power. Because there is WLAN up to the summit, weather reports are even more accurate today. This leaves an appeal to all mountain fans not to overestimate themselves.