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[29-07-1991] -
The chance of becoming one of the team for Dhaulagiri in 1991 never came off, but as I now had reached the highlight of my training I took hand of my usual climbing partner from Munich, Christoph, because with him I could be sure that I could make some challenging ascents from a starting point in Zinal. The same summer I had started doing mountain races, and I had just entered the 31 km long Sierre-Zinal race the day before we ascended to Cabane du Mountet to climb the Rothorngrat on Zinalrothorn, which with a grade D in difficulty would be the most difficult Alpine rock route I had ever climbed. The climb went surprisingly well, but during the descent I had just passed Le Rasoir and was about to traverse a slab when it detached itself from the rock face and thundered down in the valley with me on top. Luckily I had just before put in a wedge as protection so Christoph fell down on the other side of the ridge, and when the gardien of the hut heard the rockfall I had set off he called a helicopter for rescue. Via Zermatt I was hospitalized in Visp, but had mostly only received superficial bruises. One week later I returned to the hospital to have the stitches removed, and the following day I finished the Sierre-Zinal race.
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