Professional alpinist and extreme climber Stefan Glowacz sees himself as “a traveler through life”. Stefan can look back on a climbing career spanning over 20 years, during which time he has gone from being one of the best sport climbers in the world to the complete adventurer, from daredevil young rock athlete to responsible expedition climber. In a short film clip he explains what it is that fascinates him about his sport and what drives him to keep heading off to explore the remotest corners of the world.
Sitting with Stefan, you can sense the man’s character – the relentless determination, the passion, the triumphs and tribulations, the huge desire to explore places where no one has been and, above all, to explore his own personal limits. Marmot PRO Stefan Glowacz can look back on an eventful climbing career. By his mid-twenties it seemed as if he had achieved everything: winner of the demonstration competition at the Olympic Games in Albertville; second in the IFSC World Championships; three-times winner of the prestigious Arco Rock Masters; star and poster boy of the climbing scene; a bold young rock climber, perhaps a little too bold at times.
In 1993, Stefan finished his career as a competition climber and embarked on a new and more intensive career path, a journey that has lasted to this day. He still climbs, but he no longer competes against other athletes; instead he pits himself against the wind, rain and snow. Stefan is now an expedition climber, and the style of his expeditions (“By fair means”) is equally as important for him as the climbing itself. His trips often involve several weeks of travelling – through deserts, glaciers and jungles; on foot, by canoe or using sleds. He travels to places like Brazil, Venezuela, Oman and Vietnam and climbs big walls that were thought to be unclimbable, like the Roraima Tepui in Venezuela, the Piedra Riscada in Brazil and the Majlis al Jinn cavern in Oman.
Stefan allows Marmot to participate in his adventures through photographs, lectures and documentary films like “Jäger des Augenblicks” and his most recent documentary about a first ascent in the Gorges du Verdon. It is these unique and intensive moments on the way to achieving a seemingly unachievable goal that give Stefan life.
INFO: Marmot
