Hans Ertl

A film by Josef Hurton from the series 'Guest in South Tyrol'. The film portrays the first ascents of the Suldner mountains, especially the Ortles and the Königspitze. The well-known climber Hans Ertl defeated the Königsspitze in 1931 on a difficult route. In an interview he looks at this company from a distance of 50 years. The extreme climber Reinhold Messner comments in the film the alpine top performances of the mountain pioneers.

Piz Badile-Nordostwand is a docudrama about alpinism that takes place in Piz Badile. It was directed by Martin Schliessler in 1985 and produced by BR. It is a part of the series Der weg ist das ziel. 

Story of the first successful ascent of Nanga Parbat by austrian climber Hermann Buhl via the Rakhiot Flank (East Ridge), on July 3, 1953. The German-Austrian Willy-Merkl Memorial Expedition was organized by the half-brother of Willy Merkl, Karl Herrligkoffer and led by Peter Aschenbrenner, who had participated in the 1932 and 1934 attempts. The final push for the summit was dramatic: Buhl continued alone for the final 1300 meters, after his companions had turned back. Under the influence of stimulant drugs, he reached the summit dangerously late. In the descent, he lost a crampon, and caught by darkness, he was forced to bivouac. The ascent was made without oxygen. Buhl is the only man to have made the first ascent of an 8000m peak alone. Filmed in Agfacolor by Hans Ertl.

German film about a Himalayan expedition and the search for a mountain spirit, who guarded, according to the tradition of the locals, the peaks of high mountains. The long-lost and recently rediscovered and restored film is now a unique cinematic document because it is the first feature film that was shot directly in the Himalayas (up to 6400 m altitude). Hans Ertl even turned his Bell & Howell to the main summit of Sia Kangri, 7422m. Likewise, the film contains footage from India and Tibet, from a time long before the emergence of mass tourism. Some of the footage was later recycled in ‘Lost horizon’ (1937) by Frank Capra and in ‘Storm over Tibet’ (1952). 

Story of mountaineer Hermann Buhl and his attempt on the summit of Nanga Parbat in 1953. The characters and incidents are based on the descriptions as described in the soruce material 'Nanga Parbat pilgrimage' written by Hermann Buhl. A production that was part of a series of three teleplays called Mountain Men, which concerned climbers who were the first to scale three iconic mountains. The other two are: Matterhorn by Lucy Walker (A dangerous kind of love, Colin Godman), Mont Blanc by Jacques Balmat (The great white mountain, Colin Godman).