Petra Thaller

After the expedition to Papua New Guinea, another one followed: the most dangerous expedition in Petra Thaller’s life. In December 2014, the German journalist had climbed the Carstensz Pyramid, with an altitude of 4,884 meters the highest mountain of Oceania, making it one of the “Seven Summits”, the highest peaks on all continents. Shortly after her return Petra realized that her breast was changing. The doctor’s diagnosis: cancer. Six tumors in her right breast. Later, even a seventh developed. Thaller was committed to fight against the disease, the full program: surgery, chemotherapy, antibody therapy. And she continued to do sports. “I was really fit back then,” the 55-year-old from the German town of Munich tells me. “I started super-trained into chemotherapy, and I’ve always been doing sports during all twelve therapy cycles. I continued to run. And I was fine.” Petra wanted to share this experience with other cancer patients. Therefore she founded the initiative “Outdoor against Cancer” (OaC).

Good for the psyche

Snowshoeing with “Outdoor against Cancer”

“At that time there were simply no outdoor activities for cancer patients,” says Thaller. She ran along with her daughter and her son. “I told them, ‘If I feel bad, you can kick me in the ass and send me out.’ And that’s what they did.” Thanks to OaC, the situation for cancer patients who want to do outdoor sports despite their disease has changed. Groups meet regularly, whether for jogging, circuit training, snowshoeing, mountain biking or sailing. And the project is expanding: from Munich to all of Germany. OaC programs are soon to be available in other European countries too. “I just realized that my psyche benefitted from my sporting activities,” Petra describes her experiences during chemotherapy. “I just had no depression. I never thought about the reason why I got cancer, even though I always had eaten healthy and done a lot of sports. And I also didn’t think about the possibility to die of cancer. It was just not my scene.”

Here and now

Petra at the Carstensz Pyramid in 2014

Thaller exudes an immense joy of life that is contagious. “I don’t want to miss enjoying life,” says Petra. She tells of a 44-year-old man who is suffering from a brain tumor. He did not leave his house for five months after the diagnosis of cancer. Today he is one of the regular members of her training group: “He once said, ‘Petra makes me fit again’. That was actually the biggest gift.” I ask her whether doing sports is more training for her body or for her soul.  “It’s training for life,” answers Thaller. Survival Training? She shakes her head. “Training for life. It has nothing to do with survival. Enjoy life, here and now!” This is the message she wants to give to other cancer patients: “Get out! Do something, go on a trip! Life is taking place now and not in maybe five years, when someone says, you are out of the woods now.”

Next destination: Aconcagua

Her last chemotherapy is long behind Petra Thaller, half a year ago she underwent her last antibody therapy. Is she over the hump? “When in your live you are ever over the hump?” Petra says, laughing. “I never thought that it could go wrong. Therefore maybe I am a good example that it can go well.” The expedition to the Carstensz Pyramid is soon to be followed by a new one: “I already have a goal for next year,” says Petra. “I’ll go to Aconcagua.” The highest mountain of South America (6,962 m) also belongs to the “Seven Summits”. The highest of all mountains is not an issue for her, says Thaller: “Everest has never interested me.” She has already climbed her personal Mount Everest anyway.

Ranulph Fiennes on Aconcagua

Is he really getting old after all? Sir Ranulph Fiennes has back trouble. Britain’s best-known adventurer had to be flown off from Aconcagua by a rescue helicopter at the beginning of the week. On the highest mountain of South America, the 72-year-old suffered from so bad back pain that he could not continue his ascent to the highest point on 6,962 meters. “I was within just a few hours of the summit but problems with my back meant I couldn’t continue,” Fiennes said. “I’m very frustrated, but I’ve learnt that at my age you can’t ignore any pain.”

Across the poles and summits

Fiennes wanted to climb Aconcagua as part of his project that he has called “The Global Reach Challenge“. The Briton wants to become the first ever who will have crossed the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic as well as climbed the “Seven Summits”, the highest mountains of all continents. Besides Aconcagua, only Denali (6,194 m) in Alaska and the Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m) in Indonesia are still missing in his success list. Fiennes is using his project to collect donations for the British aid organization “Marie Curie”, which is supporting terminally ill people and their families.

New obstacle

Aconcagua

The Briton will now return home and have a thorough checkup before doing anything new. “Another obstacle I will face is that things aren’t as they were in the past,” the adventurer conceded: “The body, with the same amount of training, can’t achieve the same things, so success in this challenge is by no means guaranteed.”

Nearly unstoppable

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who was knighted for his numerous expeditions and charitable activities in 1993, has demanded a lot from his body. He became (along with Charles Burton, who died in 2002) the first man to reach both poles from the coast in 1982. Fiennes rounded the earth along the zero meridian. In 2003, he completed seven marathons within seven days on seven continents – only four months after a bypass operation. In 2009, Fiennes, aged 65, summited Mount Everest. In early 2013, Fiennes had to be rescued during an attempt to cross the Antarctica for the first time in winter because he had suffered frostbite. A new attempt that was planned for this winter was not approved by the British Foreign Office. This man can hardly be stopped.

P.S. Before you start to google: Sir Ranulph Fiennes is a third-grade cousin of the British actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

Ralf Dujmovits on the summit of Aconcagua

Fast and alone. That is Ralf Dujmovits’ tactics ​​for his winter ascent of Nanga Parbat. The first German, who climbed all fourteen 8000ers, has chosen an unusual way of acclimatizing: The 52-year-old climbed Aconcagua, the highest mountain of South America, and spent two nights at the 6962-meter-high summit. Ralf’s wife Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner will be missing from the expedition to Nanga Parbat. The 43-year-old female climber from Austria must cure her joints which are overstressed by training. Today Ralf travelled to Pakistan. During his brief stopover at home in the German town of Buehl I spoke to him:

Ralf, why did you choose Nanga Parbat?

Nanga Parbat is for me – and has been also for Gerlinde for a long time – the most beautiful 8000er. Whenever we were asked after having finished the fourteen 8000ers, which of them we might try again, we independently answered: Nanga Parbat .

And why in winter?

It’s natural to try something that has not yet be done successfully. Therefore it makes sense to combine the return to Nanga Parbat with a winter ascent. If you already know a climb, if you know what to expect where, how many vertical meters are still missing, which difficulties have to be overcome, it’s a mental advantage. In this case also a winter ascent is surely less difficult compared with the initial situation that you have never climbed this mountain.

But you are not known as an expert on winter climbing in the Himalayas and in Karakoram.

Certainly not, but I have a lot of experience, and I hope that I can benefit from it in this winter project. I have done not only these 14. I have returned very often without reaching the summit. I gained a lot of experience during my total of 32 expeditions to 8000ers. I dare to do this winter climb.

Diamir basecamp on Nanga Parbat

You want to climb up via the Diamir face, where in recent years winter expeditions have got frequently stuck in the snow. Why did you decide for this option?

Only some of the climbers got really stuck in the snow. More frequently they failed because there was too much blue ice on their routes. Denis Urubko and Simon Moro, for example, wanted to take the Kinshofer route in 2012, but saw that it was full of blue ice. I think much depend on the current conditions. I don’t want to define my route just now, I leave it open. I will take a look at the conditions on the mountain. And afterwards I will decide for one of the options.

You’ll be at the place, where terrorists shot eleven climbers last summer. Are you worried about your safety?

Not about my personal safety. Certainly it would be easier in winter to go to the Rupal side where other winter expeditions will also be now. But I do not think that such a terrible incident will happen again, that the Taliban will turn up there again. But it’s a different story to deal with the fact that I am the first expedition in this basecamp after the murder attack. I have thought about this intensively. The people living in this area need mountain tourism and expeditions. The whole Diamir valley lives to a large extent from the work as porters. If no more expeditions come, it would be a total loss of income for the villages. I just want make clear that furthermore you can go there for climbing.

You will be accompanied by Dariusz, called “Darek” Zaluski, a companion of your K-2 Expedition in 2011. Are you a rope team of two?

No, Darek will accompany me to base camp and maybe to a maximum height of 5000 meters. This is the front area with rather flatter ​​glaciers where you have to expect many crevasses. Above 5000 meters you have steep slopes, where you also can also find crevasses, but certainly not as treacherous ones as on the flatter sections. Darek is not as acclimatized as I am after my trip to South America. For this reason I ‘m going to climb alone above 5000 meters.

That’s a very special challenge.

Yes, certainly. To handle the loneliness is a very special theme. But I want to climb in a very simple and very fast style. And the fastest way to act completely free and independently is to climb solo. I have prepared myself for this challenge. I have been alone on Aconcagua for days, and I really feel well-acclimatized. That’s why my mind is free and I think that I can handle the loneliness.

A solo project is definitely riskier than climbing in a team. How do your wife Gerlinde feel about this?

Gerlinde was not happy when I talked to her about my project. But she knows that I have this idea in my mind for such a long time. So she didn’t want to put obstacles in the path. But of course she was not quite happy.

West summit of Aconcagua

You’ve mentioned your acclimatization on Aconcagua. This is very unusual.

I realized that many climbers of winter expeditions in past years have spent themselves by acclimatization on 8000ers. You need a lot of energy to build up high camps, to fix ropes and do other things. There are only very few, very short weather windows in winter. If you, in a way, waste them for acclimatization, you lose so much energy that you actually should save for your summit attempt. That’s why I did my acclimatization in South America, not without effort but more pleasant, less elaborate, less tough as on a 8000er. Today in the morning I placed myself on the balance. I haven’t lost a single kilo over the three and a half weeks in South America. And I’ve spent four nights in high camp at 6000 meters and two nights on the summit of Aconcagua with almost 7000 meters. I think I’m perfectly acclimatized.

What is your schedule for Nanga Parbat?

I know that in winter you can’t stand the cold and the wind on the mountain for long. So I do not plan to stay for a long time. If my meteorologist Charly Gabl from Innsbruck should predict a weather window one day after my arrival at base camp, I might actually start immediately. I would try to move very fast and to climb without high camps and fixed ropes.

And how many attempts do you plan?

One, maximum two.

P.S. I will stay in touch with Ralf in Pakistan. So you’ll get first-hand-information in my blog.