Mountaineering
The Red Bull family mourns the loss of David Lama
David Lama made a huge mark on the sports of climbing and mountaineering. The Austrian lived his dream and pursued his own course with passion.
We are immensely sad as we struggle to take in the news that the Red Bull family will have to bid farewell to such a charismatic person and loyal friend following an avalanche in Banff National Park. David Lama dedicated his life to the sport of climbing from childhood and was able to achieve a number of extraordinary accomplishments in mountaineering.
David was a truly exceptional athlete, who was always looking to find challenges and was able to set many impressive milestones in climbing from an early age, and later in mountaineering. His sheer determination took him to the peaks of the most difficult mountains in the world, while his passion rubbed off on the entire mountaineering community.
David Lama made a world-first ascent of Lunag Ri
© Martin Hanslmayr/Red Bull Content Pool
If you want to be a 21st century Columbus, you probably have to be either an astronaut or a mountaineer. I think that you can still find your own spirit of discovery today in the mountains
David was born with a love for the mountains – his father originates from Nepal in the area of Mount Everest, while his mother is from Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps. At the tender age of just five-years-old, he was scaling rocks for the first time and was supported greatly in his development by Peter Habeler, who quickly recognised his talent.
David embarked upon a career in competitive climbing at first and enjoyed great successes. He was crowned double youth world champion, became the youngest World Cup winner in history, won the European title in lead climbing and bouldering in 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 he took victory in the overall climbing World Cup standings.
From 2010, David then dedicated himself to nature and started to record superb achievements in mountaineering. One of his outstanding successes was making the first free ascent of the Compressor Route on Cerro Torre with Peter Ortner in 2012, which was recorded on film and delighted many people way beyond the climbing scene.
On 25 October 2018, he managed to make the first ascent of the 6,895m Lunag Ri in Nepal in a solo climb. It was an extraordinary demonstration of the willpower and determination of the Austrian, who always aimed high and followed these aims with absolute dedication.
David Lama will always be remembered for a first free ascent of Cerro Torre
© Lincoln Else/Red Bull Content Pool
David Lama was quite simply a huge inspiration and will always be remembered by the Red Bull family. We are offering our sincerest condolences to David's family and friends, as we bid farewell to an incredible athlete and friend at this terribly sad time.