David Lama

David Lama (; 4 August 1990 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian rock climber and alpinist. He won the European Championship in competition bouldering in 2007 and the European Championship in competition lead climbing in 2006. He is known for his first free ascent of the Compressor Route (South-East Ridge) on Cerro Torre. In 2018, in a solo expedition, he was the first to reach the summit of Lunag Ri in the Himalayas. In 2019, he was posthumously honoured with a Piolet d'Or for this first ascent.

Biography David Lama was born in 1990. His father is a mountain guide from Nepal and his mother is an Austrian from Innsbruck. He was five years old when Himalaya veteran Peter Habeler first watched Lama climb in a climbing camp organized by Habeler. Afterward, Habeler immediately called Lama's parents to tell them that their boy had an unusual talent. Lama then became part of the competition climbing team coached by Reinhold Scherer.

Competition climbing

In 2004, 14 years old, Lama won the European Youth Cup. In the same year, he climbed his first route.

He repeated his win at the European Youth Cup in 2005 and moved on to Senior competitions in 2006. The International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC) changed their rules so that Lama, only 15 years old at the time, could compete in the Senior World Cup. Lama became the youngest person to compete at the World Cup and the first to win both a lead and a bouldering World Cup final in his first season.

Lama became European Champion both in competition lead climbing (2006) and in competition bouldering (2007). In 2008 he won the overall ranking in the World Cup. In 2009, he placed 3rd at the World Championships in the lead discipline.

In 2011, he retired from competition climbing so he could focus solely on mountaineering.

For his first attempt in 2009, Lama brought along a film crew provided by his sponsor Red Bull. This first attempt ended in failure. Lama and his climbing partner Daniel Steuerer had to turn around due to bad weather. Back at base camp the conditions stayed bad and the team had to abandon the endeavor for the 2009/2010 season.

The aftermath of this first attempt started a scandal in the mountaineering scene. Both Lama and the Red Bull film crew were heavily criticized. The film crew had left behind at least 30 drilled bolts next to a route already laden with bolts. 700 metres of fixed rope and five haul bags were also left behind along the route. Argentinian guides were hired to remove the equipment, but they did not manage to remove all of it and none of the bolts were removed.

Lama stated that he was not aware of the large number of bolts that were drilled by the film team, but he took full responsibility for the actions and promised not to repeat the mistake.

Lama's first reaction was that he did not need the bolts for his climb anyway and he moved ahead with his free climbing attempt. According to Lama, they brought five bolts along, but they did not have to place any of them.

The documentary Cerro Torre: A Snowball's Chance in Hell documents the ascent.

Their first attempt was on 12 November 2015. They picked a rock crevice that would allow them to climb up to the northwest pillar of the mountain. Up on the ridge they planned to follow it up to the peak using mixed climbing techniques. It was already late when they reached the top of the ridge, so for the night they set up a bivouac underneath a boulder. They continued in the early morning of the next day. Lack of ice and bad snow conditions complicated protection. They decided for the latter and aborted the attempt around 300 metres below the summit.

Lama was left behind without a climbing partner at the base camp. Since Anker had declared that he would not return, Lama decided to start another attempt alone. Ascending the mountain this way together with a heavy backpack turned out to be too much of a challenge. Lama aborted this third attempt as well, not far from the location of the high point of the first expedition with Conrad Anker. Lama, along with climbers Jess Roskelley and Hansjörg Auer, was caught in an avalanche on Howse Peak in the Waputik Range of the Canadian Rockies. The group had climbed a new route on the east face of Howse Peak, one of the most challenging Canadian rock-and-ice faces.

Photographs from Roskelley's phone indicate that the three climbers had reached the summit on Tuesday, 16 April at 12:44 PM. Their bodies were found on 21 April 2019.

Competition climbing results David Lama in 2014 at the 1. Free Master Solo Event in Lienz, Austria

IFSC World Championships Discipline 2009 Xining Lead 3

UIAA and IFSC European Championships Discipline 2006 2007 2010 Lead 1 4 Bouldering 1

Number of medals in the UIAA and IFSC Climbing World Cups

Overall winner in IFSC World Cup 2008.

Lead / Combined Season Gold Silver Bronze Total2006 3 1 42007 1 12008 1 12009 1 1 Total 5 1 1 7

Bouldering

Season Gold Silver Bronze Total2006 1 12008 2 2 4 Total 3 2 5

IFSC Climbing World Youth Championships

European Youth Cups European Youth Cup Winner 2004 and 2005 (youth B, lead).

Notable ascents

Sport climbing

2000 Route Kindergarten at Osp (Slovenia). Difficulty . Being only 10 years old, Lama was the youngest person to climb a route of that grade at the time. 2004 Route Devers Satanique at the Gorges du Loup (France). On-Sight with difficulty (10-). 2004 Route 7pm JP Chaud at the Gorges du Loup (France). (10+/11-). His first ascend of that grade. 2007 Niederthai in the Ötztal (Austria): In a single day, he climbed the routes Gondor (8c), Mordor (8c+/9a) and In Memo Reini (8c). 2015 Route Latent Core (5.11 A1) in Zion National Park (USA), together with Conrad Anker, who had attempted the route 25 years before. 2015 Route Avaatara in the Baatara Gorge (Lebanon). .

Alpine climbing

2009 Pamir Altai (Kyrgyzstan): First free ascent of Asan (4230m), Northwest Face, together with , Giovanni Quirici and , and with photographer Rainer Eder. 2010 Sarche (Italy): Lama and climbed the first free ascent of Brento Centro, which they then freed within a day. 2010 Dolomites (Italy): Lama repeated (XI-) on Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Cima Ovest, after one day of trying. 2011 Cerro Torre (Argentina): Lama and climbed Cerro Torre via the Compressor Route. 2011 Grindelwald (Switzerland): Lama climbed Paciencia (8a) in the North Face of the Eiger with . 2011 Kashmir: Lama, and Denis Burdet climbed a first ascent Yoniverse, on Cerro Kishtwar. 2011 Lofer (Austria): Lama repeated Feuertaufe (8b) by Alexander Huber, as well as Stoamandl (8b), Donnervogel (8b) and Woher Kompass (8a+). 2012 Patagonia (Argentina): In 24 hours, David Lama did the first free ascent of the Compressor Route (South-East Ridge) of Cerro Torre with Peter Ortner. The route was the subject of controversy after two other climbers, American Hayden Kennedy and Canadian Jason Kruk, removed many of Cesare Maestri's bolts some days before Lama's ascent. 2012 Chogolisa (7668m) on the Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram (Pakistan): Lama and Ortner summited Chogolisa I and skied down the mountain's North-West Face. 2013 Sagwand (Austria): First winter ascent of Schiefer Riss on the Sagwand in Tyrol with Hansjörg Auer and Peter Ortner. 2013 The Moose's Tooth Massif (Alaska): From 12 to 14 April, Lama, together with Dani Arnold, made the first ascent of Bird of Prey (1500m, 6a, M7+, 90°, A2) up Moose's Tooth. 2014 Karakoram (Pakistan): First serious attempt (after a reconnaissance in 2013) at the unclimbed North-East Face of Masherbrum (K1). His partners were Peter Ortner and Hansjörg Auer. The team was forced to retreat before reaching the actual face because of persistent avalanche danger. 2017 Solu Khumbu (Nepal): Together with Hansjörg Auer and Alex Blümel, Lama summited Ama Dablam (6812 m) on 15 October, in order to acclimatise for the trio's second expedition to the South-East Pillar of Annapurna III (7555 m) which Lama's partners bowed out of eventually. 2018 Solu Khumbu (Nepal): First ascent (solo) of Lunag Ri (6907m) via the West Pillar, after three attempts (in 2015 and 2016, with Conrad Anker and solo). Honoured with a Piolet d'Or, posthumously, in July 2019. 2019 Alberta (Canada): Lama, Hansjörg Auer and Jess Roskelley climbed the mixed climbing route Andromeda Strain (M5, 700 m) on Mount Andromeda (3450 m).

Honor The first bivouac in the Himalayas, Nepal, has been named the "David Lama Biwak" in honor of David Lama's remarkable contributions to mountaineering and his deep connection between Nepal and Austria. This shelter, located at an altitude of 5,080 meters in Upper Jaboo, Rolwaling, Nepal, stands as a tribute to Lama's legacy in both the climbing community and his role in bridging cultural and mountaineering ties between the two nations.