Extreme mountaineer Dani Arnold "The idea of my wife being in an accident is unbearable"
Dani Arnold is one of the best extreme mountaineers in the world. He prefers to tackle rock faces without belaying. Now he talks to his wife about how their daughter changed his drive.
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- Dani Arnold from Uri has been considered one of the best extreme mountaineers in the world for more than ten years.
- With almost 240,000 followers on Instagram, the 40-year-old is one of the stars of the scene.
- In " Spiegel " magazine, he and his wife Denise talk about the deadly dangers on the mountain and what has changed since the couple first became parents to a daughter four years ago.
"The idea of Denise being directly involved in an accident is unbearable."
In the German news magazine "Spiegel", Dani Arnold and his wife Denise talk about the deadly dangers on the mountain, climbing without a safety device and without a rope, a so-called free solo ascent, and what has changed since their daughter was born four years ago.
Arnold has been regarded as one of the best extreme mountaineers in the world for more than ten years. With almost 240,000 followers on Instagram, the man from Uri is one of the stars of the scene.
But there are also people who think the 40-year-old is crazy. Irresponsible towards his wife Denise, who is the same age, and their daughter (4).
Dani Arnold: "I wanted the ultimate from an early age"
Even at a young age, Dani Arnold wanted to climb the biggest and most difficult mountains possible. His breakthrough came at the age of 27. He conquered the north face of the Eiger, more than 1,800 meters of the steepest rock, alone, in 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Faster than anyone before him.
If you want to be at the top as an extreme mountaineer, you have to compete with the best on the world's biggest walls, says Arnold.
"There is this complete exposure up there. If you make a mistake, it's certain death. I turn this total seriousness into a game. It's my way of dealing with danger."
When asked whether this game doesn't make you reckless at some point, Arnold answers in Der Spiegel: "There was a time when I succeeded at everything. The biggest walls in the world. I felt immortal. The feeling of being good is brutally dangerous on the mountain."
Dani Arnold does what "nobody else does"
Despite the deadly dangers on the mountain, Denise Arnold has little influence on her husband's decisions and plans.
"He wants to do something that nobody else does. As soon as he has a goal, everything is set in motion to achieve it. During this time, he lives a bit in his own world," the 40-year-old told Der Spiegel.
When her husband sets off, she simply tells him to take the guardian angel with him. However, the Arnold couple only talk about mortal danger or dying in exceptional cases.
Later, Denise Arnold talks about how terrible the days are when her husband is climbing and she waits at home and doesn't hear from him for hours. So it's not surprising that there are moments when she asks herself: Is this still necessary? Isn't that enough?
Not so uncompromising since the birth of her daughter
But Dani Arnold doesn't want to stop, not yet: "I could think: I've achieved a lot, I'll just stop. But it's not that simple. Climbing is more than just a sport for me. But of course I'm getting older. I'm getting slower, less focused."
At the end of the interview with Der Spiegel, the extreme mountaineer from Uri reveals that the birth of his daughter four years ago changed something in him.
The extreme mountaineer is currently looking for a free solo route that he wants to climb next: "I've looked at a few and realized that I don't dare anymore. Something that has always worked suddenly no longer works. I'm no longer so uncompromising."
