Lama about the Red Bull controversy

Austrian climber, David Lama has now decided to comment on what happened during his attempt to free climb the Compressor route on Cerro Torre, Patagonia.In short, Lama says he regrets what happened, that this wasn't the plan and that he has learned from the mistakes made. He had his hands and mind full, and had to concentrate on his own climbing, leaving the safety of the film crew to be handled by a team of three mountain guides. This was agreed from the start. The main focus for the guides was the safety of the crew. Apparently the best option to guarantee this was to fix a line, using a total of 26 new bolts. Lama acknowledges the fact that there are plenty of cracks where you can place gear, but also says he understands why the guides opted for bolts instead as removable gear and inexperienced climbers, i.e the film crew, is a dangerous mix.Lama also states that the plan always was to remove everything and leave the mountain as clean as possible, but that this was made impossible by exceptionally bad weather, even by Patagonian standards.Finally he concludes that he will use a different tactic if he were to try it again. No bolts, even if this would make filming impossibleI've got a feeling we haven't heard the last word of this…

David LamaBjörn Pohl – UKC, 26 Jul 2010© David Lama

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