Passion
“I see it as brilliant luck that I realised in 1983, by sheer coincidence, that my true source of inspiration lies in the mountains. I went mobile camping with a few friends in the Austrian mountains and instantly felt: this is it! After that, no year has passed without the mountains featuring in it. And whether I’m on a hiking trip in the Alps or the Himalayas, camping in a tent or mountain hut, climbing rocks or negotiating my way through the snow, I always feel happy in the mountains. That’s where I can push my personal boundaries. Where I can distance myself from the daily hustle and bustle and put into perspective what I find truly important in life. It is also a unique experience to find that you build such strong ties with your teammates during the climb.”
What started with difficult hikes in 1983 continued to develop into a purer form of true mountaineering. One thing led to another and in 1994 Katja travelled to Nepal for her first mountaineering experience. This was followed by scaling Mera Peak (6,500 m) in 1995. The 8,201-metre high Cho Oyu became her first peak above the 8,000-metre mark. A year later, on Ascension Day 1999, followed the ultimate summit: Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain standing at 8,848 m. Katja describes this adventure in her Dutch book entitled “Hoog spel” (High Stakes, not translated in English).
Those who think your job as mountaineer is finished once you have scaled Everest are sadly mistaken. Of course, in an absolute sense, there are no higher summits, but there are enough mountains that are technically much more difficult to climb than the easiest route on Mount Everest. Challenges galore, in other words.
“You can always develop yourself further, if you want. On whichever level. During a climb, the challenge can also lie in the region or in the way you personally give shape to an expedition.
In 2004, I organised my own independent expedition. Objective: to climb Gasherbrum 1 and 2 in Pakistan. It was fantastic to do this together with my husband Henk Wesselius, especially when we reached the summit of Gasherbrum 1 (8,068 m) together, thereby becoming the first Dutch subjects to do so. I always look back on this climb with a good feeling, especially since it was teamwork that helped us reach this summit. Teamwork within our own group of four climbers and with two other groups. The summit is important, but it is also about the route and the manner in which you reach the top.”
For more information about Katja Staartjes’s climbing expeditions, see Expeditions.
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