Christian Kuntner

Christian Kuntner (January 15, 1962 – May 18, 2005) was an Italian extreme climber. He died in May 2005 while climbing the Annapurna from North Side.

Life He was born in Prad, Italy and grew up there. He completed his schooling at Bolzano with a major in Mechanical Engineering and started working as a freelancer.

In 1991, he summitted his first eight-thousander, Cho Oyo, alongside Wanda Rutkiewicz. In 1994, he summitted Dhaulagiri.

In 1998, he cycled the 10,000 km route of the Silk Road. The next year, in 1999, he connected with a new climbing partner, Abele Blanc and together they would summit many of the world's highest peaks together.

In 2001 he cycled the entire length of the American continent, from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina over nine months.

In 2002, he made his second attempt at Annapurna, but was unsuccessful. Instead, he and Abele Blanc went to climb 64 of the 84 peaks in the Alps. If successful, he would have been the sixth person in history to have climbed all eight-thousanders.

Death While making his fourth attempt at the summit of Annapurna, he was hit by falling seracs while climbing from camp 2. An emergency medical doctor was climbing on the mountain that day and rushed to the scene. He suffered internal bleeding, and his injuries were fatal. Kuntner died on May 18, 2005.