Nasim Eshqi

Donald Trump stands between her and El Capitan. Nasim Eshqi would also like to climb the legendary granite walls in the Yosemite National Park, but the US president has imposed, as is known, an entry ban for Iranians. The 35-year-old from Tehran takes it with humor. “I mean, he is unlucky if I am not there,“ Nasim says, laughing. The female climber does not correspond to the Western cliché of an Iranian woman at all: off-the-shoulder shirt, sunglasses, no headscarf. And she says what she thinks. “The traditional culture in Iran doesn’t accept me or other girls who are the same style like me as real women they want to marry or stay with,” says Nasim. “But it was okay for me from the beginning. I have friends from all over the world who are supporting me mentally.”

Simply continued

The female climber is used to deal with rejection. Even her open-minded parents, a university professor and a teacher, had a hard time to come to terms with the ambitions of her daughter, who first achieved successes as a kickboxer and then, 14 years ago, discovered her passion for mountaineering and climbing. “You go out of the city and come back late, so your parents say: ‘Where have you been?’ They were afraid of dangers happening, or police or bad people. But I just kept doing this. They still don’t like what I do, but I cannot change it.”

Nasim Eshqi: I have an open family but they don’t like what I do

Equality on the rock

Nasim Eshqi in action on the crag Polekhab near Tehran (Route “Iran-Swiss”, 8a+)

Eshqi consistently cuts her own way, and it leads across rock. “The most important thing I feel when I climb anywhere in the world is feeling equal,” Nasim describes her motivation. “In climbing, we all have the same rules. It’s gravity. It doesn’t care from where we are, which gender or how much money we have. It’s just a way, and it’s only us and what we can do.”

Nasim Eshqi: Climbing makes me feeling equal

Nasim climbs routes up to the tenth degree. She spends about half of the year in her home country, where she works as a climbing trainer. But she can not make her living on it. The other months, Nasim is staying abroad, where she keeps her head above water by giving lectures. “Whatever I earn I spend. Sometimes I borrow money to pay my flight tickets.”

With luck and will

Traveling to countries like Georgia, Armenia or Turkey is no problem for her, says Eshqi. But for European states, USA or the largest part of Africa, she needs invitations from there. However, these invitations are not a guarantee that she is later really allowed to enter the countries. With a bit of pride, Nasim points out that she has already climbed in more countries than many others from states without travel restrictions: “If I am lucky and I really want it, I think it will really happen.” Thus the Iranian already climbed on rocks in the Elbsandstone Mountains in eastern Germany, the Italian Dolomites, the Swiss Rätikon or the mountains around Chamonix.

More than 70 new routes

Climbing in Iran (here on Alamkooh mountain )

In these countries, there are no strict clothing regulations like in Iran. In her home country, Nasim is obliged to wear a headscarf under the climbing helmet and to keep her arms covered. “I can live with it. It’s not as hard as for example getting no visas. I am focused on climbing and want to share my passion with many other people.” Eshqi has already opened more than 70 new routes in several countries. Just now the climbing community in her home country is very small. “The most climbers in Iran are more like picnic climbers. They simply want to be outside and use the good weather. There a not more than ten climbers in the whole country who are really pushing their limits,” says  Nasim.

Too impatient for expeditions

High altitude mountaineering is in Iran much more popular than climbing. But the 35-year-old does not see herself in this tradition. “I would love to climb K 2, everyone likes to, but I don’t have enough patience to do enough training for such a long expedition. So I found out, it’s not my way, “ says Eshqi. “I would do all this effort for walking in the Himalayas if there is a wall at the end which I want to climb. This is more in my path than only an expedition up to 8000 or 7000 meters.”

Nasim Eshqi: Not patient enough for expeditions

From enemies to fans

Convincing with performance (Route “Man o to”, 7c+, on Baraghan)

Nasim Eshqi sees signs that the Iranian society is opening up more and more – thanks to Internet use and increased traveling. The hostility, which she was often confronted with in the beginning, has decreased, says the climber, adding that reports of western media about her have played their part in this development: “When people in Iran see that the Europeans have this kind of respect for a girl who does a lot of effort on her way, they start to think: ‘Oh, she’s good. If the Europeans respect her, then we respect her too.’ So at the end all my enemies are my fans now, which I think is a success for me.” Maybe one day, Donald Trump will ask Nasim Eshqi for an autograph – after he has seen her climbing El Capitan.

Nasim Eshqi: Enemies turning into fans

Chris Sharma (© PRana)

Actually, it is recommended to use superlatives only with caution. But it’s undisputed that Chris Sharma has been one of the best rock climbers in the world for many years. The 35-year-old American and the 24-year-old Czech Adam Ondra have so far been the only climbers who have mastered a 9b+ route (on the French grading system) – partly extremely overhanging, actually impossible to climb. Currently the measure of all things. Chris is living with his wife Jimena Alarcon and the little daughter Alana in Barcelona.

Chris, you have been climbing at the highest level for so many years.. Do you think that you one day  get tired of doing it? 

For me, climbing is my life, my passion, the way I realize myself. I don’t foresee myself getting tired of climbing forever. It’s something that is so connected to who I am and I am so grateful to the position I am in. As we go through life, it’s always that our relationship is changing, because of the different phases. I am a father now, I have a daughter. For sure, this changes my relationship with climbing a little bit but it’s actually only enhance my passion for the sport. I’ve gone through many different cycles in my life. Every time you go into a kind of a new phase, I’ve noticed my love of climbing is actually deepening. If anything, I am more passionate about climbing than before.

Chris Sharma: My love of climbing is deepening

Do you have the feeling that you’ve already reached your limit or do you think you’re able to push it on and on?

I feel like I have potential to climb harder things. That’s interesting, after climbing for over 20 years, to still be able to push further. It’s like an existential question in climbing, because climbing is so much about progression. There are so many different ways to progress as a climber. One way, for sure, is to climb more difficult things. That’s something that inspired me a lot that I loved to work on. But at the same time there a lot of different ways to deepen our experience as climbers. And these are all forms of progression. For me, even as an example, starting a climbing gym, finding to share my passions with more climbers, is a progression in climbing. The point is like our life journey and climbing is totally connected. As we develop in different ways as people, our sort of relationship evolves and progresses in different ways.

You are now 35 years old. Other sport climbers say that they have passed their zenith at this age. Do you feel that you have to change your priorities?

For now, I feel like still climbing on my highest level. So I don’t feel like that right now. But as I said before, it’s important to look at it in a bigger picture way. I think, that’s the beautiful thing about climbing, it’s not like typical sports, like gymnastics or soccer. It’s really like a lifestyle sport that you can do for your whole life. To look at just in terms of extreme sport climbing is a very limited vision of it. For now, I feel this potential to continue pushing. So, of course, that’s what I’m gonna do. But that’s just one side of the experiences of climbers. You have little kids climbing as well as old people in their seventies. That’s really the essence of climbing to push your limits, to try something that is outside of your comfort zone and maybe appears impossible for you. And then through this process of working hard towards your goals you’re discovering that you’re capable something more than you thought. That’s really like a universal thing, whether you’re climbing a 6 a or 9 a, it’s the same experience – for you, for myself, for anybody.

Chris Sharma_ The essence of climbing

You have been living in Spain for many years now. Would you say you’re a sun climber, needing the warm climate around you?

I am from Santa Cruz, California, it’s like a town of surfing. When I got into climbing, it was through a climbing gym. In this way I am really one of the first climbers of this new generation from climbing gyms. In this way my introduction to climbing wasn’t like for example other people in the Alps. So my connection to climbing has been through sport climbing. Now what I love is Psicobloc, deep water soloing [climbing sea cliffs completely solo, without ropes or gear. If you slip, you just fall in the sea]. For me this is combining my two worlds, the mountains with the sea. I’m more of a beach person than an alpine person.

Psicobloc, extreme climbing on coastal rocks (© PRana)

Many sport climbers who are getting older turn to the Himalayas, saying: We are good rock climbers, very experienced now and try to transfer our climbing from the rocks at lower altitude to high altitude. Is it an option for you to do it this way?

You never know. It’s a point of my life I can’t imagine going there, honestly. I have other things to work on closer to home, but you never know. I mean, see what happens. I am open to anything, actually.

Have you ever been in the Himalayas?

I’ve been in India and Nepal, just walking around, not climbing mountains.

Didn’t you experience that thrill, looking at these mountains and thinking, I have to climb them?

I have a really big appreciation for mountains and for alpine climbing. But honestly, the dangers of climbing in the Himalayas with avalanches and all this stuff, it’s not so interesting to me right now.

Chris loves the warmth (© PRana)

Are you speaking as a father now?

Yes, for sure. I think, for that sort of thing, it’s worth it for the people, this is their life passion to do that. But to do it as just kind of a side thing maybe it’s not worth the risk. If it’s your mission in life to do that, then you are comfortable with that risk. But I’m not a mountain climber, I’m a cliff climber. I think, whatever you do, you have to be very focused and make a strong decision that you gonna do this. At least now in this moment I don’t have that. That’s not very clear in my head, so it doesn’t make sense so much to me in that way.

In November 2016, Adam Ondra made headlines by free climbing the “Dawn Wall” on El Capitan in Yosemite.  Many compare you and Adam. Is there a kind of competition between you or would you say, I only compete with myself?

I’d say I have only competition with myself. Honestly, it’s an honor to climb together with Adam. For me sometimes it has been hard in the past that I always climbed alone on these projects. Adam and I have been climbing together in Spain. It’s really great to climb with somebody. That can push me also.  There are so many different ways to approach things. Imagine, you have two of the best musicians in the world that come together. It could either be like an ego thing and try to decide who is best. That’s kind of a waste. The interesting thing would be that they sit down and play music together and make something even more incredible. That’s what Adam and I have been able to do. It’s pretty cool. I appreciate Adam, all the stuff he’s doing. I really like to have a chance to climb together with him.  

Chris Sharma about Adam Ondra

What do you feel when you have completed a climbing project successfully?

As I said, for me climbing is the way I realize my potential. It’s what I dedicate my life to. When you have these moments that everything comes together in a perfect way, these are really like transcendental moments, in climbing and life, when all this work, everything is perfected in a way that it flows perfectly. There are really magical moments.

Royal Robbins (1935-2017)

One of the great pioneers in rock climbing has gone: Royal Robbins died yesterday in Modesto, California after a long illness at the age of 82 years. “My father faced challenges in his climbing, his writing, his business, his role as a father and husband, and later in life in his debilitating illness,” said his daughter Tamara Robbins. “Through it all, he rose to the occasion, taking the challenges on with grace and humility. For that, he’s my hero.” In the late 1950s and 1960s, Robbins had set standards in bigwall climbing.

Legendary routes

Robbins in the “Salathé” in 1961

Robbins opened numerous routes on the granite walls of the Yosemite National Park, among others, along with Tom Frost and Chuck Pratt, the legendary 1,000-meter-high “Salathé Wall” on El Capitan, which was then considered to be the most difficult rock climbing route through a big wall. Robbins fought for a clean climbing style. In 1995, Alexander Huber, the younger of the Huber brothers, managed the first red-point ascent of the route, means free and lead climbing, in a single push. The “American Direct” on the west side of the Petit Dru in the Mont Blanc region, which Robbins opened in 1962 with Gary Hemming, is nothing more than history. After several rockfalls, the legendary original route no longer exists in the upper part.

Hunger for adventure

In the 1970s, Robbins increasingly suffered from arthritis. He then turned to extreme kayaking. Here, too, he managed numerous first descends. “I love it very much, and it is very rewarding, but I am first, last, and always a climber,” Robbins once said. “I will climb until I drop, and it would be the last thing I would give up.” Later, Robbins also led a very successful company for outdoor textiles bearing his name. In the heart, however, the entrepreneur always remained an adventurer: “We need adventure. It’s in our blood. It will not go away,” wrote Robbins. “The mountains will continue to call because they uniquely fulfill our need for communion with nature, as well as our hunger for adventure.”

Stefan Glowacz

Mountaineers and climbers travel. Frequently and as self-evident. Finally mountains do not come to them. This is precisely why it should be self-evident that people involved in mountain sports should raise their voices when the freedom of travel is restricted or even abolished – as now by US President Donald Trump for people from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. So far, the great outcry of the climbing scene has stayed away. Is it perhaps because in these countries – with the exception of Iran – the number of mountaineers and climbers is limited? Or because those countries are (still) not among the favorite destinations of the mountain friends? After all, German top climber Stefan Glowacz didn’t mince his words.

For freedom, tolerance and respect

“With the restriction of freedom of travel for certain nationalities, I feel indirectly affected because friends and acquaintances are directly affected,” the 51-year-old writes on Facebook. “Like the Iranian climber Nasim Eshqi, whom I personally know and appreciate.” The 36-year-old woman is one of the best rock climbers in her country.

Nasim Eshqi in action

Climbers, says Stefan Glowacz, define their sport above all by freedom: “No rules, no referees. We appreciate and live the freedom to be able to set off at any time (and almost everywhere). Freedom is the decisive part why climbing is so fascinating for many of us.” Democratic values ​​are in danger, says Glowacz: “Have the incidents and wars of the past not shown us that it only works by cooperation? With tolerance and respect, such as we climbers experience again and again – no matter what country we are traveling to?” Glowacz warns against burying our heads in the sand in the face of Trump’s policy: “Dodging or staying silent means accepting. We should want to change something.”

A shame!

Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh is angry

The Iranian sports climber Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh does not know what to do after Trump’s entry ban. “I am just an athlete and I did not choose where to born,” the 28-year-old writes on Facebook. “Even though I love my culture and country, I’m just trying for progress, better living and working on my goals as many other successful people do.” Trump’s decision is “racist and inhuman”, says Farnaz. “It’s a shame! If all people in the world had the same conditions, we could see who is really talented.”

Thomas Huber (in 2014)

Approximately 1.8 seconds. That was the time it took when Thomas Huber fell 16 meters deep from a rock face on the Brendlberg in the Berchtesgaden region in Bavaria – now two weeks ago. As previously reported, the 49-year-old German top climber, the older of the two Huber brothers, landed on soft forest floor. As it turned out later, Thomas suffered a skull fracture and had to undergo surgery immediately. The doctor’s reassuring prognosis afterwards: no permanent damage. Meanwhile, Thomas has left the hospital and is recovering at home. I have phoned him.

Thomas, first things first: How are you?

I’m doing very well. I am aware of the immense luck that I had. I received it gratefully. I don’t look back what could have happened, I’m just happy that it happened the way it happened. Of course, it would have been better if I had avoided it and the accident had not even happened. But that’s what’s happening in climbing. I felt totally safe in my routine, and that’s often where the devil is in.

The rock face on the Brendlberg

Are all your injuries curable?

It’s like a miracle that nothing more happened to me. That’s what the surgeons have told me too. After all, I fell 16 meters deep, we have measured it. All my injuries are curable. And it seems I’ll be 100 percent fit in the near future.

16 meters, that’s as high as one and a half single-family houses. Have you still thought anything during your fall or was it just pure instinct?

All was instinct. You do no longer think but only act. At every second I was fully conscious and obviously I have instinctively done everything right. But I was no longer able to control it. It happened so quickly and it was so surprising. You are then no longer in reality, it is like being on a second level, where only your body reacts and makes you survive in the end. I had 1,000 guardian angels. I’m sure there was anything that has made me survive. Otherwise I would not have been able to get back on my feet afterwards and walk down the mountain without help. I’ve not a single bruise. I have suffered only the skull fracture, a dislocated finger and a few broken spinous processes of vertebrae that had scraped over the rock.

Thomas after the surgery

You have probably abseiled already ten thousands of times in your life. One wonders how this incident could happen to you at all? Was it just a short moment lack of concentration?

No, the routine was to blame. When you are climbing a wall for the first time, it is frightening, not only on El Capitan, but also on Brendlberg, even though this wall is only 70 meters high but very steep, very alpine. I have been constantly climbing there in the last two months and have opened several routes. The wall has become for me a kind of a living room, I felt totally comfortable there. It was my second home, my summer job before the expedition. We filmed in the route “Watzmannflimmern”, which is a (difficulty) 9+. I wanted to fix a rope for the cameramen. When I had trained in the route that I finally climbed during the preceding months, I had always used a 60-meter rope. It was long enough to get to the ledge, five meters were still left then. But the rope, I used now, belonged to a friend. I did not know that it was cut off.
I abseil and remove three quickdraws from the first pitch of a neighboring route. Everything is good, I abseil to the ledge. And – tamm! – I fall. I was really fully concentrated. It was another story that was responsible, just the full routine that everything had always gone well during the previous months. Just like a master carpenter who, after 10,000 cuts with a circular saw, cuts off his finger.

Going to climb on

It was very close, you have cheated death. Do you ask yourself: Do I continue as before?

If you are not able to deal with a story, you really have to ask this question. But if you are aware of this immense luck you had and if you are grateful that you are staying alive, then you can continue to go the mountains. You simply always have to be aware of what you are doing. The most dangerous thing is when you think you have everything under control. I have learned from my accident: Actually you must not rely on anyone or anything except on yourself. Put on your harness and check that the buckle is closed! Even if it is routine, look always at it, as a backup! Even though I have abseiled there for the 20th time, a new rope means just a new situation. Michael Schumacher (the Formula 1 record world champion had a serious ski accident in 2013)  has not fallen so deep as I did, and alas he is not well. Others fall half a meter deep and may be dead. I just say: Thanks, thanks, for staying alive.

Initially you had planned to travel along with some friends to the seven-thousander Latok I in Pakistan to tackle the legendary North Ridge route. Of course, this plan is out-of-date now. What will you do now?

Actually, I don’t want to talk about it now. I’m under medical treatment. I just had a first EEG, which was very positive. Now let’s see that I recover and get perfectly healthy again. Too often, people make the big mistake to look too far into the future. I look at the present. And I am just happy now and grateful that I am still living.

Albert Precht (1947-2015)

Austria is mourning another of its great climbers. On Friday – the day when in Linz Edi Koblmueller was buried, who had frozen to death on a ski tour in Georgia – Albert Precht died in a climbing accident in Crete. The 67-year-old and his 68-year-old longtime climbing partner Robert Joelli fell to death, when they were climbing the Kapsa Wall in the Pervolakia Gorge. The cause of the accident is still unclear. Precht had traveled with his wife and friends from his hometown Bischofshofen to the Greek island where he regularly spent climbing holidays for years.

Adventure without safety net

Precht was a mountain guide and a carpenter by trade, but he made his money as a train driver for the Austrian Federal Railways. He started to climb lately but then the more passionate. With 21 years he succeeded in climbing his first new route in the Alps. The information on how many first ascents he did until his death, vary between 800 and 1,000, not only in the Alps, but also in Norway, Corsica, Jordan or Oman. Albert was an advocate of strict climbing ethics, his credo: No first ascent with bolts. Also his free solo climbs were sensational. “The ultimate challenge is to climb a new route, solo without any tool. Climbing solo means adventure without safety net”, Precht said once in an interview with the magazine of the Austrian Alpine Club.

Deep feeling of live

He was not able to climb the highest mountains: “I had problems with high altitude as I experienced three times. Thus my way did not lead to the eight-thousanders, alas!”As an extreme climber Albert Precht was aware of the risk to lose his life: “When I remember some of these situations, I have to confess that there was a will to let it go, to get rid of the obsession to survive. But this confrontation with death was always a deep feeling of life too.”