Ulli & Peter

Q&A

How did you first get into climbing?

Ulli: As a baby I was carried around in the mountains on my father’s back. As soon as I could walk we started climbing together.

Peter: As a child climbing trees. By 11 years old my parents allowed me to join a climbing course driven by the German alpine club. We were a group of 10 mad climbing youngsters and two mountain guides.

If you had to give one piece of advice to someone starting to climb, what would it be?

Ulli: Never give up – but also never ever fall down.

Peter: Find a couple of amusing, committed and good friends who also like to climb every day, every minute, every second of their life.

What is the most challenging or rewarding climb you have achieved?

Ulli: Matterhorn Northface (Schmidt Route).  We didn´t sleep one minute the night before the climb due to heavy winds which tried to destroy our tent. In combination with our very poor acclimatisation the climb took way longer than expected. By midnight we were finally standing on the summit – enjoying the nocturnal views in Zermatt on one side and Cervinia on the other side. And believe me, the descent to Zermatt can take some time.

Peter: Projects with about a 50:50 chance to succeed or to fail. If you are focused you may achieve your goal or you may not. I remember myself lying on an icy ledge. It was one day before my partner and friend Ben, who is meteorologist, figured out that there will be one of these famous weather windows. At four o’ clock in the evening we had to stop climbing because of the strong wind. We were lying there in our bivi bags huddled close to each other like sheep. The whole route lay below us without any fixed material. Rappelling? Better not! So throughout the night I lay wondering if the GFS-data was really trustworthy. Next day we sat on top of Fitz Roy. We were lucky.