Blinding bravery

Thinking you’re safe is the safest way to get hurt

Andreas "Andy" Holzer has climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. He has toured Antarctica on skis, defying ice storms, extreme gales, freezing temperatures and the steepest rock faces. On 21 May 2017, he finally achieved his dream of reaching the summit of Mount Everest. He joined us for a chat about safety, fear, and how blind people "see" their surroundings.

Andy, you would think that climbing the highest mountains in the world would require the full use of all your senses. As someone who’s visually impaired, how did you get into mountaineering?

Andy Holzer: I grew up in the Dolomites and was born blind. As a child, I didn’t even know that what I was doing was considered mountaineering. I simply found that I could get about more easily on steep slopes than I could on flat terrain. As a blind person, you use your hands a lot to orient yourself, which is difficult when walking upright. When I was scrambling over rocks, I suddenly had the world under control. That’s why moun-taineering is still the safe option for me to this day.

You have climbed the highest peaks in the world. What does the word "safety" mean to you?

As a mountaineer who can’t see, every step I take is another step into the unknown. Over the years, however, I have learned to live with this constant sense of uncertainty, and to learn from the fact that something unexpected could happen at any time. Ultimately, that’s what keeps me safe even in unsafe situations. I had to take countless steps like this to reach this realisation. It’s the kind of thing you really have to work at, allowing yourself to feel the fear time and again so that you can eventually make it work for you in a positive way. Nobody but myself is responsible for making sure that I am really and truly safe. And safety is always relative.
As a blind person, you use your hands a lot to orient yourself, which is difficult when walking upright.
When I was scrambling over rocks, I suddenly had the world under control.
– Andy Holzer

With weather changes, heavy rain, ice storms, the stress of being in extreme situations, can you ever really be "safe" when scaling a mountain?

If you feel safe as a mountaineer, I would recommend staying at home. Because if you feel too safe, you make mistakes that can be fatal on the mountain. My unique sense of humour always has me calling out to my climbing partners when we’re at a scary point in the climb: “Only the fearless fall!”. Mountaineering is all about understanding the forces of nature, your own capabilities and those of the team. It is always a balancing act. The real trick is to plan the tour as realistically as possible in advance, identifying and evaluating the dangers and being aware that there are always uncertainties.

How do you prepare for an expedition? What do you pay particular attention to?

Over the last 15 years, I have done 21 expeditions. There are the usual mandatory preparations that every-one has to make, such as precise planning of the route and the equipment, putting the team together, arranging the food, sorting out the funding and logistics or studying the weather forecast. For me personally, the important thing is to work out whether the destination and the route make sense for a blind person like myself, and whether the route can be adapted to my abilities – or, even better, whether my abilities can be adapted to the route I most want to take. So far, my team and I have managed to climb the highest mountains on every continent using my ideal route.

As an extreme mountaineer, you depend on your team and you have to be able to trust one another. Is it always the same belay partner accompanying you?

Having the right team is the single most important factor in achieving your goals. It is essential to cultivate a sense of mutual dependency within the team, whereby the team is always aware that they are relying on each other; they look out for one another and help each other out. However, I prefer "open systems" in which the team varies from one expedition to the next. It’s not important to me to always have exactly the same team, nor do I need my colleagues to have experience of working with someone who is visually impaired. The key thing is that my belay partners are as good as possible at working as part of a team.
15
years
21
expeditions

How do you climb a mountain? Are you guided along by a rope or someone’s hand, or do you feel your way along?

No, I don’t have to be guided in any special way. The success of the tour depends on what we call "dynamic leadership", meaning that everyone in the team has to be able to lead at any time, but also to stand back and be led by someone else. In other words: I have to guide my leaders so that they can guide me! I use my senses to help me. I hear, touch and feel my way to the top. Also, I can do things like using my ice pick to expand my tactile and acoustic skills and tell me whether the snow is frozen solid, melting, brittle or light and fluffy, which helps me to know how safe it is to walk on.

You climb some of the most difficult routes in the world. Do you think your senses are stronger than most sighted people? Can that be an advantage in certain situations?

In purely mathematical terms, I have 80% of the traditionally recognised senses or perception that sight-ed people have. However, my brain isn’t aware that I can’t see. So I "see" all the more intensely with my other senses. In my mind, I have images of my surroundings – a 3D visualisation that is generated by specific information taken from various stimuli in my environment. In addition to the usual four senses such as hearing, smell, taste and touch, I also have my sense of balance, temperature and the other physical sensations in my body. These senses allow me to form an overall impression of my surroundings, which is how I "see", so to speak. In fact, other people are often unable to work out which member of our team is blind.
It’s a sort of confirmation that my thought process is in line with what’s really happening around me.
If I make a mistake, I won’t get up the mountain.
– Andy Holzer

In enclosed spaces, sensory inputs are less pronounced than in the great outdoors. Do you feel less safe indoors than outdoors?

Yes, definitely. I grew up in the great outdoors – in the mountains – and I perceive nature very vividly through smells, sounds, temperature fluctuations, winds or topographical changes. I have been exploring the natural world since childhood, which has given me a pro-found sense of safety when it comes to navigating the great outdoors. Nature is inherently logical. So-called civilisation, on the other hand – the man-made world – is a much more difficult place for me to navigate. The built world is unpredictable; it often lacks the intrinsic logic of nature. I tend just to get annoyed by guidance systems for the blind.
In purely mathematical terms, I have 80% of the traditionally recognised senses or perception that sight-ed people have. However, my brain isn’t aware that I can’t see. So I "see” all the more intensely with my other senses.
– Andy Holzer

How do you protect yourself on a psychological level when you feel uneasy or unsafe about an ascent or descent? How do you decide whether to go on or turn back?

When we’re on a climb and I feel uneasy or uncomfortable in a certain situation, I articulate that to the team. I call upon the help of my sighted colleagues and we explore the issue together. There have been times when my climbing partners have noticed from my hesitant or uncertain movements that I may have sensed something was not quite right. And there have also been moments when I’ve been the one to warn the team of an impending problem, having identified it earlier.

In your book about conquering Everest, you write: "Imagine being thrown out of a plane at an altitude of almost 9000 metres. It’s 40 degrees below zero, there’s an icy wind blasting your ears, and the oxygen level of the air you’re breathing is only a third of what it should be: you can’t actually survive that. And now, strap a rucksack on your back and push your mind and body harder than you ever have be-fore ...". Why do you take on such strenuous and dangerous challenges?

Some people believe in life after death. Deep down, I am a very religious person and I do feel that there’s some sort of divine power above us, but, first and fore-most, I believe in life before death – a life that is there to be experienced, enjoyed and conquered. Spending 24 hours a day, 365 days a year living in comfort and safety gets dull and makes you lethargic. I am a curious person. I want to discover new things, over-come new challenges and develop even further. And to do this, I have to leave the safety of my own four walls and get out of my comfort zone ...

When you stand at the top of a mountain, what do you "see"; what do you feel?

My brain generates images even without my eyes. When I arrive at the summit, that’s when I get real feedback that I made the right decisions; that I chose the right material; that I had the right belay partner. When I reach the peak, I feel like I’ve won. It’s a sort of confirmation that my thought process is in line with what’s really happening around me. If I make a mistake, I won’t get up the mountain.

Safety means being protected from danger or harm. What makes you feel scared, what are you afraid of?

I feel fear or insecurity every day. Fear manifests it-self in many different ways and isn’t something you can fight off. Fear is a release of hormones – a warning signal that instantly tells us that something is wrong. It is there to warn us and protects us from danger. Like hunger or thirst, fear is part of our subconscious, and it is indispensable. Suppressing your fear and believing that you are completely safe is the safest way to get hurt.
iNFO
Andreas „Andy“ Josef Holzer (*1966) was born in 1966 in Lienz, East Tyrol. He is a mountaineer, extreme athlete and guest speaker. He was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal disease that left him blind from birth. Holzer did his first few well-known climbs in 1994. Over the fol-lowing few years, he went on to climb six of the ‘seven summits’ – the highest mountains on each of the world’s continents: Kilimanjaro (Africa), Elbrus (Europe), Aconcagua (South America), Mount McKinley (North America), Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Mount Vinson (Antarctica). On 21 May 2017, Holzer and his partners Wolfgang Klocker and Klemens Bichler conquered Everest. The highest mountain in the world, Andy Holzer is the first blind man to reach the summit via the Mallory route on the north side. In his talks, Holzer tries to share with people the way he "sees" the world, and the extraordinary experiences he has had as a blind climber on the world’s highest mountains.

Recommended reading:
Andy Holzer: Balanceakt. Blind auf die Gipfel der Welt.
Walter-Verlag, Mannheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-530-50613-6.

Andy Holzer: Mein Everest. Blind nach ganz oben.
Patmos Verlag, Mannheim 2018, ISBN 978-3-8436-1093-3.


Photo Copyright: Wolfgang Klocker, Amlach