Hermann Buhl

{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2021}}

Buhl was born in Innsbruck, Austria, the youngest of four children. After the death of his mother, he spent years in an orphanage.{{cite book

| last1 = Messner

| first1 = Reinhold

| author-link1 = Reinhold Messner

| last2 = Höfler

| first2 = Horst

| title = Hermann Buhl: Climbing Without Compromises

| publisher = Baton Wicks

| series =

| volume =

| edition =

| date = 2000

| location = London

| pages = 16

| language = English

| url = https://archive.org/details/hermannbuhlclimb0000mess/page/15/mode/2up

| isbn = 0-89886-678-2}}

Before {{ill|Scouting was banned in Austria|de|Pfadfindergeschichte_im_deutschsprachigen_Raum}}, Hermann Buhl was a Cub Scout in Innsbruck. During the 1930s, as a teenager, he began to climb the Austrian Alps. In 1939, he joined the Innsbruck chapter of the Deutscher Alpenverein (the German Alpine association) and soon mastered climbs up to category 6. He was a member of the Mountain rescue team in Innsbruck (Bergrettung Innsbruck).

World War II interrupted his commercial studies, and he joined the Alpine troops, as a mountain infantryman, in 1943. Buhl participated in the Monte Cassino, in Italy.{{cite web |url=https://evilstylequeen.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-neverending-pilgrimage-of-hermann.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |title=The Neverending Pilgrimage of Hermann Buhl |publisher=Evil Style Queen |access-date=16 February 2025}} After being taken prisoner by American troops, he returned to Innsbruck and earned his living doing odd jobs. At the end of the 1940s, he finally completed his training as a mountain guide.

== Personal and family life ==

Hermann Buhl married Eugenie Högerle in March of 1951, and together they had three daughters. One of their daughters, Kriemhild Buhl, has shared personal insights about the Buhl family.{{cite web |url=https://nationalpark-gesaeuse.at/en/service/news/papa-lalalaya/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |title=Papa Lalalaya – Kriemhild Buhl on Her Father Hermann Buhl |publisher=Nationalpark Gesäuse |access-date=16 February 2025}}

In 1957, Hermann Buhl was photographed sharing a moment with his wife and daughter, bidding farewell before embarking on another expedition.{{cite web |url=https://www.alamy.com/climber-hermann-buhl-says-goodbye-to-his-family-image69345010.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |title=Climber Hermann Buhl says goodbye to his family |publisher=Alamy |access-date=16 February 2025}} Less is known about Buhl's other daughters.

In her book "Papa Lalalaya", Kriemhild Buhl offers a personal account of her father's duality as an extreme mountaineer and a devoted family man. She recounts how, despite the inherent risks of his climbing pursuits, Buhl remained deeply connected to his family, often being around his young daughters and valuing the moments spent with them.{{cite web |url=https://nationalpark-gesaeuse.at/en/service/news/papa-lalalaya/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |title=Papa Lalalaya – Kriemhild Buhl on Her Father Hermann Buhl |publisher=Nationalpark Gesäuse |access-date=16 February 2025}}

Buhl's commitment to his family was evident even in his professional life. To support them financially, he worked as a salesman and advisor for mountaineering equipment at Sporthaus Schuster, a sportswear store in Munich.{{cite web |url=https://evilstylequeen.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-neverending-pilgrimage-of-hermann.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |title=The Neverending Pilgrimage of Hermann Buhl |publisher=Evil Style Queen |access-date=16 February 2025}}

{{main|1953 German–Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition}}

Before his successful 1953 Nanga Parbat expedition, 31 people had died trying to make the first ascent.{{cite magazine |last1=Shoumatoff |first1=Alex |title=Brotherhood of the Rope

|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/09/messner200609 |magazine=Vanity Fair |publisher= |date=September 2006 |access-date=17 February 2024 }}

Buhl is the only mountaineer to have made the first ascent of an eight-thousander solo, this was on his first ever visit to the Greater Ranges. {{cite book |title=Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes |isbn=9780300115017|last1=Isserman|first1=Maurice|last2=Weaver|first2=Stewart |year=2008|publisher=Yale University Press| page=300 }}

His climbing partner, Otto Kempter, was too slow in joining the ascent, so Buhl struck off alone. He returned 41 hours later, having barely survived the arduous climb to the summit, 6.5 km (4 miles) distant from, and 1.2 km (4,000 feet) higher than, camp V.{{cite web | last1= Frauenberger |first1= Walter |last2=Buhl |first2= Herman |title=The Ascent of Nanga Parbat |url=https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1954_files/AJ59%201954%20371-390%20Frauenberger-Buhl%20Nanga%20Parbat.pdf | website=Alpine Journal|publisher=Alpine Club |date= |access-date=15 February 2024 }}

Experienced climbers, upon hearing later of Buhl's near-death climb, faulted him for making the attempt solo.{{cn|date=January 2024}} Regardless, his monumental efforts, along with spending the night standing on a tiny pedestal too small to squat upon, untethered, on the edge of a 60-degree ice slope, have become mountaineering legend, described by Bonington as "a magnificent achievement".{{cite book | first1=Chris |last1=Bonington |title=Quest for Adventure |year=1981|publisher = Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=9780340255995 |page=246}}

Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8030 m) on May 29 1957, during the course of the Austrian expedition led by Marcus Schmuck. However, it was a few days later, between June 8 and 9, that Wintersteller, Schmuck, Diemberger, and Buhl reached the true summit of Broad Peak (8051m), and achieved the first successful ascent of the mountain. Buhl was approaching the summit in the twilight, at around 6:30pm. The ascent was accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen, high-altitude porters or base camp support.

Just a few weeks after the successful first ascent of Broad Peak, Buhl and Diemberger made an attempt on nearby, unclimbed Chogolisa (7665 m) in Alpine style. Buhl lost his way in an unexpected snow storm and walked over a huge cornice on the East Ridge, near the summit of Chogolisa II (7654 m; also known as Bride Peak), subsequently triggering an avalanche that hurled him down 900 m over Chogolisa's Northeast Face. His body could not be recovered and remains in the ice.{{cite journal |last1=Diemberger |first1=Kurt |date=1958 |title=Broad Peak and Chogolisa 1957 |url=https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/21/1/broad-peak-and-chogolisa-1957 |journal=Himalayan Journal |volume=21 |access-date=2024-02-06}}

His ascents on rock and snow, solo and as a rope leader, his attitude towards the mountain and his physical elegance have been assessed by such contemporary luminaries as Kurt Diemberger, Marcus Schmuck, Heinrich Harrer, Walter Bonatti and Gaston Rébuffat.{{cn|date=January 2024}} He was also an idol and hero of climbers of younger generations, such as Reinhold Messner, Peter Habeler{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title= Peter Habeler at Keswick |url=https://myoutdoors.co.uk/blogs/peter-habeler-at-keswick | website= My Outdoors | publisher= |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=3 April 2024 }} and Hansjörg Auer.{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title= Hansjörg Auer, new route The Music of Chance on Kirchkogel in Austria |url=https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/alpinism/hansjorg-auer-new-route-the-music-of-chance-on-kirchkogel-in-austria.html | website= Planet Mountain | publisher= |date=March 2012 |access-date=3 April 2024 }}

His expedition to Nanga Parbat was dramatized by Donald Shebib in the 1986 film The Climb, based in part on Buhl's own writings about the expedition and starring Bruce Greenwood as Buhl.Rick Groen, "Canadian director stumbles and can't make The Climb". The Globe and Mail, October 16, 1987.

• {{cite book

| last = Buhl

| first = Hermann

| title = Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage

| publisher = Hodder & Stoughton

| year = 1956

| id = ASIN B0000CJH7J

| ref = none }}

• {{cite book

| last = Buhl

| first = Hermann

| title = Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage: The Lonely Challenge

| publisher = Mountaineers Books

| year = 1999

| location = Seattle, WA, USA.

| isbn = 0-89886-610-3

| ref = none }}

• List of famous Austrians
• List of Austrian mountaineers
• List of climbers

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.broadpeak.org/en/participants_hermann_buhl.php Team Member of the Austrian OEAV Karakoram Expedition 1957]
• [http://www.hermann-buhl.de/ Hermann Buhl Page with biography and many photos, in German]

{{Austrian Sportsperson of the Year}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buhl, Hermann}}

Category:1924 births

Category:1957 deaths

Category:Austrian mountain climbers

Category:Mountaineering deaths

Category:Sport deaths in Pakistan

Category:Sportspeople from Innsbruck

Category:Gebirgsjäger of World War II

Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States

Category:Summiters of Broad Peak