Matthias Auer

Hansjörg Auer, Matthias Auer and Simon Anthamatten set off for a great goal: the Kunyang Chish East. With its 7.400 metre this summit belongs to the highest still untouched mountains on earth. The challenge is not only physical. They do not know what will be awaiting them in the higher walls, except altitude and cold. Bivouacs on isolated snow mushrooms or in crevasses, in order to be protected against the masses of the falling new snow, constitute a big mental challenge. The way to the summit requires a high capacity for suffering in all areas.

Probably no one has explored solo climbing like Hansjörg Auer, whose memorable feat on the 'fish route' has forever marked the history of this very peculiar kind of mountaineering. 'The hardest thing to do when you're doing free solo,' says Hansjörg, 'is not the ascent. It is to go back home.' Why? Because when loneliness strips you naked you understand the importance of the relationships you build with people around you. 'No turning back' is an introspective and epic film, delicate and powerful: there is not only vertical life, there is not only performance. There is an all-round discovery of what makes a life worth living.

The video of the first ascent of The Music of Chance, established in winter 2012 on the Kristallwand face, Kirchkogel in Austria.