Climbing world rocked by cheating
Friday September 10, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Christian Stangl has now said he got to within 1,000m of the summit, but at the time he said he made it to the top.

No-one else has made the summit this season despite several attempts.

He lied to please his sponsors.

He apparently confessed to his girlfriend and she convinced him to come out with the truth.

It emerged after other climbers questioned whether he had made it.

It is also reported that he thought his claim was about to be outed so he made his confession.

He told the Austrian broadcaster ORF that he faked his feat in a "state of coma due to stress and fear of failure."

The 44-year is said to be disappointed with himself and considering what to do.

"I'll take a timeout now to find out where I'm supposed to be in this world. There's barely anything left for me if the mountain factor slips away," he said to The Austrian Times.

Self-portrait on "summit' of K2 Photo; Christian Stangl

Stangle attempted to climb the mountain in 2009 and 2008. K2 is probably the hardest mountain in the world to climb.

Earlier this summer we reported on the attempt of the extreme skier, Fredrik Ericsson, to climb it and then ski down.

Sadly he perished in the attempt.

Fredrik was a good friend of us here at PlanetSKI and a remarkable man.

For details of Fredrik's accident see here.

Cheating and bending the rules in the mountaineering world is not un-common.

People take photos just below summits . While some have more experienced climbers carry their equipment or pull them up the difficult sections. Does this mean they did it on their own?

This incident has sent shock waves through both the mountaineering world and Austrian sporting world.

Stangl specialised in climbing quickly and without much equipment.

He was nick-named 'the skyrunner'.

Now some of his other feats and achievements are being called into question.

He holds speed records for several summits.

For more information see this story on the web site, planetmountain - nothing to do with us here at PlanetSKI.eu, but we like the name!

For the spirit of the mountains.

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