Remembering David Lama, Hansjörg Auer & Jess Roskelley

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Austria’s David Lama and Hansjörg Auer and America's Jess Roskelley, who died in descent after having climbed House Peak in Canada. Not only was the Austrian American trio considered to be a prudent and exceptional phenomenon in the mountaineering scene, as a team they seemed to unite some of the spearheads of modern alpinism. Worldwide sympathy was enormous when the three young mountaineers were first reported missing five years ago and then found dead shortly afterwards.

In spring 2022, led by David's parents Claudia and Rinzi Lama, a group of 10 people consisting of David's closest circle set off for Nepal, including also his partner Peter Ortner, his long-time coach Reinhold Scherer and girlfriend Hadley Hammer. The aim of the trip was to set up a last resting-place for some of Lama's ashes at the summit of the almost 5,800 metre high Fox Peak, which Lama had climbed several times to acclimatise.

"We watched through binoculars from base camp as David's friends built a chorten, a kind of Nepalese shrine, on the summit of Fox Peak and left some of his ashes there," says Claudia Lama, summarising her impressions of the trip. "We deliberately chose the northernmost part of the Solu Khumbu on the border to Tibet because it is far away from the crowded tracks and that's why David liked it so much. It's good to know that part of David will forever be in such a special place in the middle of the Nepalese mountains," adds father Rinzi Lama, who grew up less than a hundred kilometres away and was once the only child in his family to attend school thanks to a scholarship from Sir Edmund Hillary.

David Lama
After a highly successful career in competition climbing, Tyrolean David Lama was increasingly drawn to the mountains from 2010 onwards. He achieved a milestone in 2012 with the first free ascent of the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre in Patagonia. In October 2018 he made headlines around the world with his solo first ascent of the 6907-metre-high Lunag Ri (Nepal). Just a few months later, the then 28-year-old Lama set off for Canada together with fellow Tyrolean Auer and the American Roskelley to climb in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The most obvious chronology of events indicates that the experienced trio were swept to their deaths by an avalanche on their descent after successfully climbing the notorious Howse Peak.