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A Slovenian mountaineer born in 1969, who died on Langtang Lirung in 2009.
Personal details
name: Tomaž Humar
date of birth: 18 February 1969 – Ljubljana
date of death: 10 November 2009 (conventional date) – Langtang Lirung, Nepal
Nationality: Slovenian
Occupation: mountaineer
Affiliation: Kamnik Mountaineering Club
Biography
Raised in Kamnik, Humar had his first climbing experiences at home, in the family cellar, jumping from a beam toanother, over his father’s tools, and later on nearby rocks, using a harness made from the seatbelt of a Fiat car. In 1987, he joined the local mountaineering club, which was part of the organised structure of the Slovenian Mountaineering Association: novices followed a rigorous training programme, and a small committee selected the most promising candidates to take part in expeditions. That system had produced a generation of top-class Himalayan mountaineers, and Humar was regarded as a rising star within it.
His first Himalayan expedition, to Nepal, took place when he was twenty-five years old. He was subsequently invited to join the 1995 Annapurna expedition by expedition leader Tone Škarja, but when Škarja ordered him to descend, he continued alone to the summit. In the obituary published in the American Alpine Journal, Bernadette McDonald describes that decision as the definitive break with the leadership of Slovenian mountaineering, though it did not prevent him from continuing to climb. The following year, with Vanja Furlan, he climbed the north-west face ofAma Dablam in alpine style, an ascent awarded the Piolet d’Or.
1997 left a lasting mark on his career. On Nuptse, after opening a route on the west face with Janez Jeglič, Humar reached the summit shortly after his partner and found only his footprints and the radio that Jeglič had been carrying: his partner had fallen just beyond the summit. He descended alone. The descent was praised, but according to McDonald, some in the climbing community blamed him for Jeglič’s death; Humar himself went so far as to say that he had returned from Nuptse as “the wrong man”. From then on, he almost always climbed alone.
In the autumn of 1999, he made a solo ascent of the south face of Dhaulagiri. To document the ascent, he set up a website, which attracted a huge amount of traffic and made the expedition one of the first instances in which a high-altitude endeavour was followed live by a wide audience. A few months later, he fell whilst working on the construction of his house and suffered multiple fractures. Following botched surgical procedures and moments when his life was at risk, it seemed he would never walk again. Instead, he returned to the mountains: Shishapangma in 2002, the south face of Aconcagua in 2003, Jannu in 2004, and Cholatse in 2005.
In August 2005, during a solo attempt on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, he was stranded for days by bad weather and avalanches and called for help. He was rescued by a Pakistani army helicopter. According to McDonald, the reaction was polarised between the two communities: mountaineering journalists and many colleagues criticised him harshly, whilst in Slovenia – where the story was covered on television for ten days – he became a national hero and many proposed him as a candidate for the presidency. In the years that followed, he continued to climb, returning to Annapurna in 2007.
In November 2009, he set off on a new solo ascent of the south face of Langtang Lirung. On 7 November, he climbed up a wide couloir and bivouacked at 6,100m. On 9 November, he radioed the cook at base camp to say he was at 6,300m and could not continue, and that he would be descending; later, he reported that he had been injured. His last communication was on the morning of 10 November, the date conventionally accepted as the date of his death. Searches by helicopter and a team of Sherpas proved fruitless, until a team from Air Zermatt located the body on 14 November, at around 5,600 metres, on the south-west face, lower down and further to the left than where they had been searching. The condition of the body, which was frozen, made it impossible to determine the injuries or the cause of death. Humar was cremated in Kathmandu and his ashes were scattered at the Langtang Lirung base camp. A few days later, several thousand people gathered on a meadow near his home in the Kamnik Alps to pay their last respects.
Mountaineering achievements
Ganesh V – 1994 – new route on the south-east face, with Stane Belak-Šrauf - Ganesh Himal, Nepal
Annapurna I (8,091 m) - 1995 – solo ascent to the summit during a Slovenian expedition, against the expedition leader’s advice - Annapurna Himal, Nepal
Ama Dablam (6,812 m) - 1996 – new route on the north-west face in alpine style, with Vanja Furlan, awarded the Piolet d’Or – Khumbu, Nepal
Bobaye (6,808 m) - 1996 – first ever ascent, solo, up the north-west face (2 November) – Api Himal, Nepal
Lobuche East (6,119m) - 1997 – new route, with Janez Jeglič and Carlos Carsolio – Khumbu, Nepal
West Nuptse II, north-west summit (7,742m) - 1997 – new route on the west face (31 October), with Janez Jeglič, who fell just beyond the summit – Khumbu, Nepal
El Capitan, Reticent Wall (2,307 m) - 1998 – solo ascent in around fifteen days – Yosemite Valley, United States
Dhaulagiri I (8,167m) - 1999 – Mobitel Route, a new solo route on the south face (approximately 4,000 m in length, from 25 October to 3 November); exited the face at approximately 8,000m and descended via the north-east ridge, without reaching the summit - Dhaulagiri Himal, Nepal
Aconcagua (6,960m) - 2003 – new route on the south face, with Aleš Koželj – Andes, Argentina
Jannu - 2004 – attempt on the east face – Kangchenjunga Himal, Nepal
Cholatse - 2005 – second ascent of the north-east face via a variant route (23 April), with Aleš Koželj and Janko Oprešnik – Khumbu, Nepal
Nanga Parbat (8,125 m) - 2005 – solo attempt on a new route on the Rupal Face, cut short by a helicopter rescue (August) – Pakistan
Annapurna I, eastern summit – 2007 - new solo route in the eastern sector of the south face, reaching the eastern summit but not continuing to the main summit – Annapurna Himal, Nepal
Langtang Lirung (7,227m) - 2009 – solo attempt on the south face, reaching approximately 6,300 m, during which he died – Langtang Himal, Nepal
Works
Nuptse’s West Face, American Alpine Journal, vol. 72, 1998
Ni nemogočih poti, Ljubljana, Mobitel, 2001
Bibliography
As a writer no critical study of his written work has been found
As a significant reference
Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar, London, Hutchinson, 2008
Antonella Cicogna, The South Face of Dhaulagiri: An Interview with Tomaž Humar, American Alpine Journal, 2000
Bernadette McDonald, Tomaz Humar, 1969–2009, American Alpine Journal, 2010