Summit meeting of the generations

Peter Habeler is one of the best climbers and alpinists in the world and together with Reinhold Messner, he secured his place in the history books in 1978. They climbed the Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, without any additional oxygen and achieved something truly remarkable by doing so.

“The mountains are my elixir of life!” rhapsodizes Peter Habeler and still pursues his passion right up until today.

The Zillertal native Peter Habeler set himself a big goal for his 75th birthday: he wanted to climb the mountain face again that once marked the highlight of his alpine career – the Eiger north face. Together with Reinhold Messner he conquered it in 1974 in around 10 hours. The record remained in place for almost 30 years.

Habeler made his new attempt in the company of one of the current best alpinists: David Lama, who got his first taste of climbing thanks to Peter Habeler. Peter discovered David when he was just 5 years old and decisively forstered his talent. “The smoothness of his movements is something I noticed straight away. I immediately recognized: This kid has talent!”

At this time he recommended David’s parents to foster this talent – the rest, as they say, is history. The hero of old and the modern hero represent a dream rope team that connects generations. The endeavour was spectacular and successful in the finish. This meant that Habeler set a record:

He is the oldest person, who ever scaled this impressive 1,800 metre mountain face.

pics by: Stefan Volt