About a week ago we received the unbelievably sad news that our friend and colleague, Peter "Resl" Ressmann had been killed in a climbing accident.

Resl was not only a thoroughbred alpinist - among his accomplishments was, for example, the first ski descent of Mount St. Elias, the "longest ski descent in the world", in 2007 -, but he was also a exceptional character. In 2006, I was lucky to share with him unforgettable days on Broad Peak in Pakistan, and in my book, "Broad Peak-Dream and Nightmare", subsequently described him thus:

"Calm, unpretentious - someone who said what he thought, did what he said, and neither used too many nor too little words."

Resl, you will be always missed, yet never forgotten.

http://nangaparbat1970.at

It is perhaps the most told and most fiercely debated story in mountaineering history: the story of Reinhold Messner and the death of his brother, Guenther, on Nanga Parbat in 1970. It is a story of contradictions, controversies, suspicions, and apportioning of blame - polarized to this day.

Is there a way beyond the polarized debate? A way to prevent an author being automatically cornered as either a Messner-supporter or Messner-critic?

It's the way of this book.

It asks critical questions without moralizing. It observes and analyses, but doesn't judge and value. Because there are no heroes and villains in this book, no victims and culprits - only human beings, who, in differing proportions, are always both. This book is about understanding the events from back then to today, about the diversity of voices and opinions, about evolution and repeating patterns of a story.

"Circumstances do not shape the man; they only reveal him." (Epiktet, greek philosopher, 50-125; quoted on p. 220)

"The constant repetition of moralistic outrage is as natural as it is irrelevant. Outrage alone fosters neither knowledge nor understanding. And understanding is not approval."

(Carolin Emcke in "Stumme Gewalt", p. 72; quoted on p. 219)

My new book is due mid-March. As the book deals a lot with how history is written and perceived, the following text - which I recently came across in a book - seems very fitting. Enjoy!

"Newspapers, journals, books are traditional sources of information and opinion. Today, telephones and computers are added to the mix, along with radio and television. Knowledge is a step further from belief. We are bombarded with knowledge - data, information, opinion, advice, etc.

But the saying that 'knowledge is power' is another one of those ego-feeding illusions. Knowledge by itself is incomplete. The step beyond knowledge is understanding. Do we understand what we know? Could it be, for example, that half of what we know [...] is really irrelevant and nonessential?

Understanding demands time, alone. To sort out and then put together again - in some order - what we think we know. Our trap is to treat 'knowledge' as a be-all-and-end-all. If the knowledge we have at hand doesn't immediately offer us a solution, then we rush out to find more knowledge, more data, more information. I suggest a very contrarian, 'counter-cultural' alternative. We need to stop and think, to see if we understand the knowledge we already have at hand. [...] Logic, analysis, and deduction have become virtually lost arts. It's because we don't take the time to practice them. We know a lot, understand little. We are easily led, easily influenced. We spend too much time on the phone and on computer bulletin boards, and not enough time alone, thinking - for ourselves.

People who are at the forefront of research are particularly vulnerable. Knowledge, opinion and advice simply flow their way. They have to insist on time and space - alone - to think. Otherwise they can literally 'overdose' on knowledge. The mind-control devices of attention deflection and disinformation are designed to create this overload."

If this text strikes a chord and you'd like to know how this relates to mountaineering history, tune in again in mid-March ...

The renowned German climbing magazine "Alpin" rated "Tatort Mount Everest" their Book of the Month in September. "Can you ask for more?" is the conclusion of their review of a compelling detective story.

The informative British website "Mount Everest - The British Story" recently posted an interview with me. You can read the full interview at

http://www.everest1953.co.uk/JochenHemmleb.php

Enjoy!

Ten Years ago, on May 1, 1999, the "Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition" (of which I was one of the instigators and participants) discovered the body of Himalayan pioneer George Mallory, 75 years after his disappearance on Mount Everest in 1924. The find made headlines worldwide and reignited a decades-old debate: Were Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, the first to climb the world's highest mountain, 29 years before Hillary and Tensing?

The search for a solution to the riddle of Mallory and Irvine is a threefold journey. First, there is Mallory and Irvine's last climb and the traces telling of its course. Then there are the experiences of other expeditions, giving insights into what Mallory and Irvine might have done. And lastly, there are my own formative years of detective work.

All three of the journeys are told in my new book:

Tatort Mount Everest - Der Fall Mallory

Neue Fakten und Hintergründe

(Crime Scene Mount Everest - The Mallory Case)

• Including exclusive interviews with the man who probably found Irvine
• Including all findings of the Mallory & Irvine Research Expeditions 1999, 2001, and 2004
• Including the most detailed chronicle of the British and Chinese expeditions to the north side of Everest 1921-1979
• Including previously unpublished photographs and documents
• With a foreword by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Ralf Dujmovits

Terra Magica, June 2009; 272 pp., color throughout; 17,3 x 24,5 cm, Hardcover with DJ

24,95 €

ISBN: 978-3-7243-1022-8

More information on this website after June 22.

The 2nd edition of "Broad Peak-Traum und Albtraum" (Broad Peak-Dream and Nightmare" is out since the beginning of January. It has an additional chapter about the successful recovery of Markus Kronthaler's body from the mountain last summer.

On June 9, 1957, four Austrians – Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, Marcus Schmuck, and Fritz Wintersteller – make the sensational first ascent of Broad Peak, 8047 m. Three weeks later, Hermann Buhl is killed on a nearby 7000 m-peak, Chogolisa.

In summer, 2006, an Austrian-German expedition sets off to follow the traces of Hermann Buhls last expedition. One of their members doesn’t return...

Jochen Hemmleb interweaves the story of the 1957 first ascent with the dramatic events of 2006 – a compelling, honest account of Himalayan expeditions then and now, about climbers, their motivations – and the death of a close friend… (in German)