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The Himalayas by the Fingertips
A story of extreme climbing always sounds a bit like a fairy tale. As the altitude grows and the difficulties pile up, the eyes of the listeners open wider and wider. Some of them accept the account at face-value, others refuse to believe it, assuming the story-teller is telling stories. Not than you can blame them - it does take some imagination to picture somebody climbing mountain faces many kilometers high, going up steps no bigger than a bottle top, with holds only large enough for fingertips. And all these acrobatics at an altitude so high that the extreme thinness of the air tears the struggling lungs apart. The above is, however, no exaggeration. It is just as accurate as the account of the express ascent: 20 hours up an eight-thousand meter summit and back to base camp. Such extreme feats are part of sports climbing, a type of climbing reserved exclusively for the best - it is climbing by the fingertips.
Wojciech Fusek
(book in Polish, film in Polish with English subtitles)
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Film running time 50' 29'' |
