SPIEGEL Interview with Mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner: 'I Don't Think About Death'

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SPIEGEL: As a high-altitude mountaineer, do you think a lot about falling? Or about death?

Kaltenbrunner: It doesn't even enter my mind. When I'm on the mountain, I'm always completely focused and very careful. I'm never afraid of falling. Of course, I do think about what I can expect on the mountain and what could happen there. But, once I've started climbing, I don't think about death. It doesn't exist.

SPIEGEL: Three years ago, you were buried by a snow slab on Dhaulagiri. As a mountain climber, do you get used to dealing with the fear of death?

Kaltenbrunner: It's a completely different story when you're fighting for your life. At the time, I was incredibly lucky. When the avalanche hit, I was in my tent. I was pulled along and buried, but I was still able to breathe and move my hand in a small cavity. I found my knife, slit open the tent and dug myself out. After that, I looked for two Spanish climbers who had also been buried. It took me two hours to dig them out, but by then it was too late. It was unbelievably painful.

SPIEGEL: Has anything changed for you since then?

Kaltenbrunner: I've become even more careful. Nowadays, I'd rather spend a night without sleep than bivouac in a spot where there's a risk of avalanche.

SPIEGEL: During your expeditions on the 8000ers, has there ever been a moment of pleasure?

Kaltenbrunner: Of course, or else I probably wouldn't be drawn to them again and again. We've experienced many beautiful moments on K2. The campsite at 6,300 meters is very safe. In the evening hours, when the sun is low on the horizon, the entire Karakoram range is lit up. It's pure energy.

SPIEGEL: That's the reward, the view?

Kaltenbrunner: The view combined with the silence. I think it's amazing that I, as a tiny human being, can be climbing this gigantic mountain and can see everything from up there. When I come down from the summit and the clouds suddenly open up, I feel like I could embrace the whole world. Those are the impressions that do it for me.

SPIEGEL: You are one of the stars of the high-altitude mountaineering world. How do the men in it deal with your success?

Kaltenbrunner: At first, they didn't notice me. But, over the years, after having popped up again and again, I was finally accepted. Unfortunately, I'm always confronted with outsiders who have never met me and presume that someone else has cut tracks for me in the deep snow and that I also get help from others in other ways.

SPIEGEL: Do you still have to prove yourself?

Kaltenbrunner: Not to myself. But I notice that the spitefulness bothers me. On Lhotse, someone once claimed that I had had myself flown up to the base camp in a helicopter and that two Sherpas were building the high-altitude camps for me. It was totally fabricated.

SPIEGEL: Where does all the gossip among mountain climbers come from?

Kaltenbrunner: It's jealousy and resentment.

SPIEGEL: Three months ago, even if by questionable means, the South Korean climber Oh Eun-sun became the first woman to have summited all of the 8000ers. Are you disappointed that you weren't the first?

Kaltenbrunner: I've always said that I'm not interested in setting any records for climbing all of the 8000ers. I'm happy that Oh Eun-sun climbed them all. Now it's a moot point.

SPIEGEL: Could you imagine forgetting about K2?

Kaltenbrunner: I'm not sure about that yet; I'm still thinking about it. For the moment, I just want to give it some time and see how I feel after that. I have been having frequent, long conversations with my husband Ralf, to help me work through my experiences. Then we'll see. In any case, it's not something that I want to try no matter what.

SPIEGEL: Ms. Kaltenbrunner, thank you for speaking with us.

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• Part 1: 'I Don't Think About Death'
• Part 2: 'I Was Determined to Get to the Top of K2'
• Part 3: 'When I'm on the Mountain, I'm Always Completely Focused'