Carlos Buhler Biography

Carlos Buhler is regarded as one of the best mountain climbers in the world. His climbing career spans 35 years and includes notable summits on five continents. He has been to Canada, Alaska, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uganda, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tibet on forty-four expeditions. In 1983, he was part of the American team that accomplished the first ascent of Mt. Everest's Kangshung (East) Face from Tibet. It was the final unclimbed face on Everest, and its ascent created the mountain's most technically difficult route. Their ascent has never been matched. Carlos' climbing goal is to improve his capacity to ascend the world's most challenging peaks with small, efficient teams and lightweight techniques. Carlos was chosen by the American Alpine Club, at the age of twenty-three, to be a part of a combined Soviet-American team climbing in the Pamir Range of Central Asia, hosted by the old Soviet Union's Mountaineering Federation. He was asked to join the Spanish Aragon Himalayan Expedition in 1980 when he and his Spanish colleagues made the first climb of Baruntse's spectacular East Ridge (23,390 feet) and the first ascent of the mountain by an American. He spearheaded a six-person Canadian-American assault on Makalu's renowned West Pillar (27,766 feet), the world's fifth-highest summit, in 1984. Despite being only the third team to finish the challenging Pillar, inclement weather forced them to withdraw 100 yards from the summit. He and his single American partner pioneered the first ascent of Ama Dablam's awe-inspiring Northeast Face during the Himalayan winter season of 1985. (22,349 ft.). In Nepal's Khumbu area, this mountain is a holy and beautiful summit. In 1988, he organized and led the first successful American expedition to the world's third-highest peak, Kangchenjunga (28,168 feet). He became the first American to stand atop this colossal challenge while leading this ultra-light team up its fierce North Wall. He reached the pinnacle together with an Austrian and a Basque teammate. In April 1989, he climbed Cho Oyu (26,940 ft.), the world's sixth-highest peak, in a two-man alpine-style ascent of its magnificent West Ridge. Carlos led a four-member International Expedition to Dhaulagiri I in the autumn of 1990. (26,794 ft.). He became the first North American to climb four of the world's fourteen summits above 8000 meters by climbing it with a Lithuanian and a Nepali companion (26,250 ft.). Carlos' British companion became ill in Base Camp in April 1992, shortly before their assault on Nepal's magnificent peak, Dorje Lhakpa (22,854 ft.). Despite this setback, he achieved their aim by climbing the West Ridge of this beautiful Himalayan peak for the first time solo. Carlos had to make one of his most tough climbing decisions in 1994. He and his Polish partner turned back only twenty minutes from the summit of K2 (28,250 ft.), the planet's second-highest mountain, due to a lack of daylight. Carlos went to K2 two years later to try the exceedingly difficult Chinese North Ridge. He reached the peak of this infamous goal in August 1996. He is one of just two North Americans who have made it to the summit of this ridge. Carlos led the Russian-American Nanga Parbat Expedition to victory in July 1997. He and his Russian companion became the first Americans and Russians to climb the notorious 26,660-foot peak in Pakistan, which is the world's ninth tallest. Carlos guided his Russian companions up the 5,200-foot North Face of Changabang (22,514 feet) in the Indian Himalaya in 1998. The five-man crew reached the peak united after sixteen days on the vertical cliff. Their climb developed one of the most challenging large wall routes in the Himalayan Mountains to date. Carlos and an American partner ascended a new route on the West Face of Peru's Siula Grande (20,813 feet)–the mountain featured in Simpson's book Touching the Void–in the spring of 1999. They accomplished the first climb of the magnificent Milarepa Peak (20,544 ft.) by its East Face in Tibet's Rowling Himalaya later that year. Carlos visited the little-known Ishkoman Valley in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Northwest Pakistan in August of 2000. He and his Russian colleague ascended the valley's most spectacular summit, Dhiang (Kampur) Peak (18,041 ft.), by its Northwest Face for the first time. Carlos joined Russian and Spanish friends to explore winter routes in the Caucasus during the winter of 2002. They ascended Mt. Elbrus in the dead of winter together (18,510 ft.). Later that year, Carlos joined an American team climbing Sepu Kangri, a renowned 22,821-foot mountain. He and his buddy completed the first climb of this coveted summit in Eastern Tibet's Nyanchen Tangla Mountains on October 2nd. Carlos and his American companions climbed the Gunnar Naslund East Face (12,600 ft.) in Alaska and the Pucahirca North West Face in Peru for the first time in 2003. (19,835 ft.). Carlos and two Russian colleagues ascended the exceedingly difficult North Face of Menlungtse in Tibet for the first time in May 2005. After weighing the options, the crew chose to descend the hazardous 5000-foot wall over the 23,559-foot peak owing to the sickness of one of their teammates. Carlos graduated from Western Washington University with a B.S. in Environmental Education and Human Ecology in 1978. He has been giving motivational speeches to companies and groups since 1984. His overarching message emphasizes the importance of individual effort and collaboration in achieving challenging goals. His pictures and writings have appeared in a number of books, journals, and publications, including the July 1984 issue of National Geographic, which featured the Everest East Face Expedition narrative. Carlos earned the Western Washington University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2003 for his efforts as a leader of lightweight multinational teams confronting extreme obstacles. He's using his mountaineering leadership expertise to help businesses all across the world address difficulties with organizational growth and managerial performance.

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