Срещнах Томас Хубер през 2018 г. в Банско, където той беше гост на Банско филм фест. Спомням си как избухна на сцената, изпълни залата с мощна енергия и остави публиката без дъх. Презентацията му изглеждаше абсолютно професионално направена, но мисля, че той спечели продължителните аплодисменти и изправи хората на крака с друго - с естественото си поведение и с емоцията, която влагаше в това, което прави. Нямаше грам надменност и претенциозност, все едно обичаше тази непозната публика и искаше да й се обясни в любов.
Разговорът ни беше непринуден и с усещането за близост като между приятели, тет-а-тет. Ето го:
Излъчено по Българското национално радио: 18 декември 2018
Публикувано също от "K2 Pakistan": 18 май 2020
Линкове - по-долу
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You have such a biography - so many dangerous ascents, and you are still alive. Why - because of God, because of good luck or because of your personal qualities?
Huber: First of all, I have no dangerous moments, I had only great moments and I've really learnt what it means to survive in the mountains, because when you accept the deadly danger, then you have this instinct in yourself to stay alive. I had very scary moments in my life, I had a big fall - I nearly died, but that was when I was not conscious about what I am doing. I thought it was all easy and I think it is always very dangerous when you think it’s easy. So, if you always think about and you realize where you are, that you can die - you will stay alive, and this is very great lesson what I got as a human, as a climber and as a mountaineer.
What is like to climb with your brother Alex, because there is always a competition between two brothers, is this the same in your case?
Huber: Yes, it was always a competition, a kind of friendly, brotherly competition. For example, my brother was in some cases more lucky than me, because he was not so many times injured. I was many times injured, I had many operations, but Alex helped me so much to keep on going. So I was worry about fight and I trained to get back because I wanted to be as good as Alex. I had ups and downs and then we met again on the same level.
You say that for you the dialogue with the rocks is more important than the competition. What did this dialogue give you?
Huber: In the dialogue with the rocks you learn so much about life, about respect, especially when this dialogue brought me to all places of the world. And what I realized was that we are all one world, that all humans are one. I learned so much about respect, respect to people, respect to nature and that this our environment is the only place we can survive. And we have to take care about our world, not always to waste and to take everything from our environment. This is what I've really learned - in this dialogue with the rocks. And, of course, I learned also that the trust is not only a word, it has to be earned. You need to have a responsibility for your brother or for your partner and then this trust gives you power to achieve the impossible and to make the impossible possible. It has so much value, so much life, so much fire in it - it’s amazing.
Do you meditate?
Huber: I have a personal pray - I pray to God before I go and this is my meditation. For some reasons, I have always signs if I have to go or not. It’s a kind of feeling. From some power, or from some energy which is in the mountain. I listen very carefully the nature. If I hear something, or if I see something, or if suddenly it happens something, then I know - yes, it’s right, I am going, and then, when I’m going, I’m getting like a machine. I’m really going. I go for it. But if there are some signs, I decide to not to go, because one thing is bigger than everything and it’s my life, there is no mountain that I want to risk my life for. Of course, I go into very risky situations, but I don’t do it to die, I do it to live. That’s the big difference.
You said that when you climb, you do it like a machine. How do you recover after a few hours of climbing?
Huber: When I was in Cerro Kishtvar, I was 11 days on the wall - I was really like a machine, I nearly ate nothing, I worked as hell, and my body was working. But when finally I got down to BC, then I really felt how destroyed I was. Suddenly I had so much pain in my feet and I needed two or three weeks to recover. This is really when you are on the edge. On the edge your body is working like a super machine. You are not getting sick, you want to survive and you want to achieve. This is a little chemical factory in your body - put some adrenaline here, put some dopamine there, so your body works. But when you’ve done, you are destroyed.
Yosemite or Himalayas - which one has a bigger place in your heart?
Huber: The biggest place in my heart is for my kids. And between Yosemite and Himalayas... None of them, because every moment in the mountains when I’ve climbed in the past and where I want to climb in the future - is an episode of my life and it is very important. Even the small things. For now I am looking forward to go to Patagonia, because I have so many friends there, and I am looking forward to back to Pakistan. The last time I was to Yosemite was 10 years ago and for sure I had the best time, the wildest time in my life over there. So, I never will say - this one is better or the other one is better. Just in this moment my life choose more Pakistan and Patagonia.
Seven years ago you are diagnosed with kidney tumor. How did it affect your life?
Huber: To be honest, I was so thankful and I just want to say I was so lucky... Just lucky that this tumor doesn't' create metastasizes, it was the good one. It was very big, they took it out and everything since then is fine. But that was the moment when I felt really on the edge, with no rope. And it’s not a good feeling, because you have no more solutions. The only solution is in somebody else. You just have to trust, to believe and just go as a climber - step by step, not thinking that you are dying. I saw that life is the biggest value that you have. When your body is healthy, you can achieve everything, you can be a father, you can be a father, you can be a climber, you can be a musician, you can be everything, you can be wild.
What is the most important thing that you want to happen to you in the future?
Huber: I want to see my kids growing and being free-minded, and wild, and crazy... Like me (laughing). They don’t need to be climbers but, to be honest, the best thing will be to see them that everyone choose their way and they are happy humans and humans who give the world some thoughts - that we have to change.
Българско национално радио: https://bnr.bg/horizont/post/101059237/jivata-legenda-na-svetovnoto-katerene-tomas-huber-opasno-e-kogato-mislish-che-e-lesno