Tuesday, 11/12/2024
at 8:00 PM


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Hans Kammerlander takes his audience on an adventurous, tragic, and highly suspenseful journey into the world of the eight-thousanders. No other mountain has occupied Hans Kammerlander as much as the Manaslu. No other mountain has moved him and stirred him as much as the Manaslu. And no other mountain has demanded so much emotion from him as the eighth-highest Himalayan giant. Yet, he never reached the summit.

In 1982, at just 26 years old, the exceptional climber Hans Kammerlander responded to Reinhold Messner's call. Their goal: the winter ascent of the 8201-meter-high Cho Oyu. The venture failed in deep snow and faced high avalanche danger. However, in the following four years, Kammerlander and Messner became the most successful rope team on the highest mountains on earth. Together, the two South Tyroleans climbed seven of the fourteen eight-thousanders. They drove each other forward with their outstanding performances and achieved, among other things, a direct traverse of two eight-thousanders that has never been repeated to this day.

In 1986, Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without the use of bottled oxygen, as their paths diverged. From then on, Hans Kammerlander embarked independently on a journey into the world of the Himalayas and the Karakoram, where the highest mountains on earth stand. Kammerlander was the first mountaineer to ski down from Nanga Parbat. The success story continued, as he also completed the ski descent from the highest point in the world, the summit of Mount Everest, in 1996. During this time, the exceptional mountaineer seemed capable of overcoming any challenge, no matter how difficult. In 1991, he organized an expedition to Manaslu, intending to offer young South Tyrolean mountaineers and guides the opportunity to climb one of the Himalayan giants. The venture ended in a disaster, an incredible tragedy, and indescribable grief.

Within hours in May 1991, Kammerlander lost two of his best friends. One fell, and the other was struck by lightning before Kammerlander's eyes. These two fatal accidents pushed the mountain guide from Pustertal to the edge of his sanity. In the immediate aftermath, he avoided the mountains. It took time for him to find his way back and learn a lesson for life. "It is better to keep going. The time of continuous looking back into a dark past must come to an end and everything must turn towards the future again," says Kammerlander today, painfully remembering how long it took him to close the chapter of Manaslu.

Later, in 2006 on Jasemba, a seven-thousander not far from Everest, Kammerlander also lost a friend and companion. The South Tyrolean fell into the void during a nocturnal descent. But everything was different this time. Just a year later, Kammerlander managed to reach the summit. Taking a step forward made the loss bearable. This was apparently something he had missed at Manaslu...

Finally, 26 years after the tragedy, in autumn 2017, Hans Kammerlander returned to the mountain. The mountain that had been associated with so much pain for him. He had long turned his back on it forever. Accompanied by a large film team, he embarked on an impressive journey into the past. The highly acclaimed film "Manaslu - Mountain of Souls" was created. Kammerlander and the North Tyrolean Stephan Keck went in search of traces and, of course, towards the summit.

And now, a year after the film, Hans Kammerlander narrates in a gripping lecture everything that did not fit into the two-hour film. The small stories on the sidelines, the intense emotions, and the behind-the-scenes incidents. Above all, he also speaks about his fulfilled life in the mountains of this world, leaving nothing out, not even his own mistakes.

Doors open: 19:15

Event data provided by: Reservix