Wired | A Dream of My Father

The great Austrian mountaineer Hermann Buhl, with his oldest daughter, Kriemhild, and his wife, Eugenie. In his memoir The Lonely Challenge, Buhl described his marriage: "My bride in her white wedding dress was an enchanting, dazzling vision. And in that instant I forgot all my worries and cares and—I humbly beg their forgiveness—the Mountains, too." [Photo] Courtesy Kriemhild Buhl

The life of the parents is the book their children read. There are those who are always destined to go first. Their path is a lonely one, surrounded by unknown obstacles and dangers, yet they never lose their confidence. One of these men was Hermann Buhl. His vision was called Nanga Parbat, an8125-meter peak in Pakistan. It turned into his mountain. Seven expeditions had already failed,and its snows had become a grave for thirty-one climbers. TheAustrian reached the summit in1953, without the use of supplemental oxygen, after a legendary solo climb. He was the first human up there, and for a moment, he got to see the world as only the Gods can. Then he went back to the world of people.