What drives us?

What drives us?

Exper­i­encing things that money can’t buy.

I’ve been trav­elling and exploring the world for 30 years now. My favourite ways to do so are during mountain climbs and on islands. The sun should beam down on my face, even when it is –30 degrees Celsius on an eight-thou­sander. A good travel speed is slow motion – on foot, on a bike, in climbing boots or on touring skis. Always with a rucksack. It’s always easier to travel with less luggage. Travel means adventure, and the adventure consists of not knowing in advance whether you will reach your goal or what this goal actually is.

Crimson sunsets, breath­taking views of wild moun­taintops and glim­mering mountain lakes – these are the images I take home with me. They give me the strength and energy I need in my everyday life, a feeling of satis­faction and a very special form of happiness. The feeling of happiness I feel on a summit has abso­lutely nothing to do with the height of the mountain.

I fall under the spell of cultures and religions. I’m fascinated by foreign countries and their people. People like the monks in Lhasa who shovel snow in a driving storm or Nepalese women who wrap their babies on their backs in colourful cloths and then work in the fields. It is fascinating to see how these people get by with so few material things and seem to be more satisfied than we are in the West. In our bubble of luxury in which we own everything and are still not happy.

No matter how much I have seen or exper­ienced – world heritage sites, euphoria on a summit, a personal best – I primarily travel for the purpose of expanding my horizons and gaining sources of inspiration, with really special moments enjoyed away from famous sights. Seeing a butcher shop in the heat of Pakistan or a fried guinea pig in Peru certainly provides me with exotic knowledge about food culture, hygiene and animal welfare. But it also does something more. It adds completely soothing and, ulti­mately, reju­venating grounding to my life. As an effective coun­ter­weight to the packaged, sterile and hectic-jittery world in which we live. We spend our lives in a bubble of luxury that frequently fogs up and prevents us from seeing the essence of life and enables us to shut ourselves off much too quickly.