What are you up to now that you are home? My priority is spending quality time with my wife and my friends. I’m also planning some lectures and I’m trying to find another sponsor for my next summer project. I’m also starting my rock climbing season, but it is so hard because I was in Pakistan all winter, I lost so much weight, especially muscles. My wife laughed when she saw me, she said that I have a huge head compared to my body.
Louis Rousseau, a high altitude climber from Quebec, lives a life on the edge. Lately he’s been attempting some of the world’s toughest mountains by unclimbed routes. Not to mention Louis and his team are doing this all in the middle of the winter, a season usually left for the burliest of climbers. Here’s a glimpse into Louis’ life as he returns home from a grueling trip to Gasherbrum I…
How long have you been climbing for? I started rock climbing and ice climbing at 15 years old. My mother thought it was a good sport for me, no real competition, no violence, cooperation, problem solving, sense of responsibility, adventure, traveling and possibility of working. At 18 I worked in summer camps and taught rock climbing. At 19 I worked in outdoor shops to pay for my university expenses.
What are some of your greatest climbing accomplishments? With four friends from Austria, I climbed a new route on Nanga Parbat in alpine style in 2009. In the same season, I made an attempt on K2 and reached 8365m. Deep snow and avalanche danger forced us back down after the Bottleneck and the traverse.
How do you train for high altitude climbing when you are home? Very similar to marathon training, so I’m doing long runs and interval training sessions. I’m doing a lot of steep trail running and lots of stairs. In Montreal, we have a small hill called Mont-Royal in the center of the city, it is very beautiful. I always go there for trail running and I’m looking for the steepest trail to do my interval session. The goal is to heighten my VO2 Max capacity and the key is doing interval. Training with people that are way stronger than you is also a good idea.
“Night was falling and extreme cold came fast.
The pitch ended nowhere”
How long have you been thinking about climbing the world’s tallest peaks in the middle of winter? We started planning Gasherbrum I winter expedition 2011 when we came back from Nanga Parbat and K2 in September 2009, but I’ve thought about climbing in winter for a long time. I was fascinated about winter climbing, but I wanted to try something different, climbing a technical route in winter. I think I got a good taste of it.
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