Bernadette McDonald - Tomaž Humar

McDonald, Bernadette, 1951

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Tomaz

Humar

By the same authoxN

Voices from the SummitExtreme LandscapeWhose Water Is It?

Ill Call You in KathmanduBrotherhood of the Rope

CONTENTS

'

.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Section one

Tomaz Humars parents on their wedding day

TomazHumar, 1971

Tomazs birthday, 1973

Climbing Lover Overhang

Sergeja and Tomaz on their wedding day, 1991

Painting church steeples, 1988

Tomaz and Srauf enjoying hot springs, 1994

V

Srauf at Camp I on Ganesh V

Srauf on ridge between Camps I & II on Ganesh V

Tomaz on the summit of Annapurna, 1995

Climbing Am a Dablams Northwest Face, 1996

Vanja Furlan at a bivouac on the Northwest Face of Ama Dablam

Tomaz with newborn son, Tomi

The Humar Family, 2001

Janez Jeglic and Carlos Carsolio

Tomaz on the summit of Nuptse, 1997

Sergeja, 1990

Tomaz after summiting El Capitans Reticent Wall, 1998

Triumphant return after soloing the South Face of Dhaulagiri, 1999

At the Trento Film Festival, 2000

Tomaz in intensive care, 2000

Training at Jannu Base Camp, 2004

Tomaz abseiling on Jannu East

Section two

Stipe Bozic filming below Jannu EastAnda Perdan praying at Jannu Base CampTomaz belaying Ales on AconcaguaTomaz belaying Ales on Cholatse, 2005Ales on the summit of Cholatse

Ales and Tomaz bivouacking on Nanga Parbats Rupal Face, 2005Maja and Tomaz

Tomaz greeting Steve House at the Rupal Face Base Camp

Tomaz kisses the ground after being rescued

Tomaz at Base Camp in obvious pain and distress

Tomaz embracing his Sirdar, Javed

Portrait of Tomaz taken below Fhotses South Face, 2006

Elizabeth Hawley with Tomaz

Rock island on the South Face of Annapurna

View from Annapurnas East Ridge

All photographs are reproduced courtesy of Tomaz Humar

Maps

Himalayas

Ama Dablam

Nuptse

Bobaye

Dhaulagiri

Annapurna

FOREWORD

REINHOLD MESSNER

I have had the great fortune to climb all over the world. I have also metmany climbers who have accomplished much more difficult things than I.Tomaz Humar is one of these climbers.

Modem mountaineering is a British and central European invention.Further developments were made in the USA, in Japan and, above all, inthe countries on the other side of the former Iron Curtain. Finally, it wasSlovenian climbers who took alpinism one step further. The extent to whichSlovenian mountaineers have dominated big wall mountaineering over thelast decade is illustrated by their impressive routes on the South-West Faceof Shishapangma (2,150 metres, 1989), the South-East Face of Api (2,600metres), the North-West Face of Bobaye (2,500 metres), the South Face ofNampa (1,950 metres, all 1996) and the North Face of Gyachung Khang(1999). The new routes that have been climbed in the last decade wouldhave been unthinkable in the 1980s. Only the very best dare to attempt thebig problems, and drama, failure and tragedy are, unfortunately, anintegral part of the game.

It was the Slovenians, Vanja Furlan and Tomaz Humar, who made thefirst ascent of the 1,650-metre high, extremely difficult, West Face of AmaDablam from 30 April to 4 May, 1996, in alpine style. They dedicated theirroute to the passionate Big Wall climber, Slovenian, Stane Belak, whomade the first ascents of the South Face of Makalu and the right-hand sideof the South Face of Dhaulagiri, and then lost his life in December 1995 inthe Julian Alps.

Then, Tomaz Humar and Janez Jeglic made an alpine-style ascent of theextremely difficult 2,500-metre West Face of the North-West Summit ofNuptse. Jeglic had gone on ahead a short way below the top, reached thesummit at 1.00 p.m. and waved. A short while later, Humar reached thehighest point, but failed to meet up with his partner. He could see his