 
Audio/Video Interview with Veikka
Gustafsson
A Rapid Climb to the Top
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Veikka Gustafsson, the 31-year-old climber from Finland who has become famous as Ed Viesturs' partner in climbing 8,000 meter peaks, is living a life many
aspiring high-altitude climbers can only dream of. By now, Gustafsson's record
of high ascents stands for itself, but what surprises most is how rapidly he has
established himself as a world-class climber. Like so many climbers, Gustafsson
long had a burning desire to climb big peaks. But it was a combination of his
remarkable physical ability, along with an equally amazing stroke of luck that
enabled him to reach the top of the heap so quickly.
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His 8,000 meter peaks also include K2, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Broad Peak, as well as a second ascent of Everest (without supplemental oxygen). It's a resume so impressive that in his native country Gustafsson's fame is huge, so much so there's a best-selling action figure based on him: Veikka, Mountain Climber. The doll comes complete with little ice tools, base camp tents, tiny crampons, ropes and other accessories. It's a smash hit with children in Finland.
"It is pretty funny," said Gustafsson, who's first name is pronounced "Vay-ka." "Normally toys are violent, there are guns and things, so I was thinking: Why not? If kids can learn something positive from it, if I can be a positive role model, then it's a good thing."
Already, pundits are comparing the climbing partnership between Gustafsson and Viesturs to that of Peter Habeler and Reinhold Messner, who gained fame more than a decade ago climbing 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen. As the pair sets their sights on Annapurna this spring, it's the strength of that partnership that comes through from both Viesturs and Gustafsson. Both climbers see in each other an equal, and between them is an almost eerie affinity and similarity of judgement.
A client on Rob Hall's guided climb of Mount Everest in 1993, Gustafsson met
Ed Viesturs, and other veteran climbers, at dinner one night in Kathmandu.
Gustafsson was successful on Everest that season, his first 8,000-meter peak.
Two years later, in 1995 was Gustafsson's formative season: he climbed Lhotse
with Australian Michael Groom and, just days after, he traipsed off to Makalu
with Hall and Viesturs for a successful oxygenless ascent of this, the fifth
highest mountain on earth.
"Year after year," said Gustafsson, "the partnership works better and better. Like this spring what happened, at least 10 times, I was trying...I was just like thinking in my head that we should do this or we shouldn't do this, before I, you know, said it loud. So Ed said it. And Ed said in one interview we had in Kathmandu, Ed said you know, it's like a good relationship, like marriage. You know what the other one is thinking and you don't have to use that much words.
"And the fact that it works in the mountains is critical, because you know sometimes you're roped up and like 50 meters away, and you can't see and you can't hear. So it's very important that it works."
Viesturs is similarly struck by the strength of the partnership. "We click," Viesturs told MountainZone.com. "Veikka and I, we think alike. I'll look at him and literally take the words right out of his mouth. I'll say something, and he'll say, 'you know I was just going to say that,' or, 'I was just going to do that.' We defer to each other. If one of us is hesitant about something, and thinks, 'you know let's...what do you say we go this way?' The other guy'll just go, 'Okay, it's good with me.'
"And when we're roped together," Viesturs continued, "I feel totally comfortable with his ability. I'm not afraid that he's going to fall. I don't think he's afraid I'm going to fall. So we climb well together. We have a good time. We're good friends. It just works great."
Both men climb without oxygen (when not guiding), and their combined abilities have gotten them up five 8,000 meter peaks together, sometimes in one push. In April 1999, both climbers were fit and acclimated following their successful ascent of Manaslu, and so went immediately to Dhaulagiri by helicopter and climbed the peak alpine style in three days, almost like a couple of weekend climbers doing a local hill.
The ascent of Dhaulagiri is a long way from Gustafsson's childhood in Finland.
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"There's a best-selling action figure based on him: Veikka, Mountain Climber. The doll comes complete with little ice tools, base camp tents, tiny crampons, ropes and other accessories..." |
"Well, I started climbing when I was 16 years old," he said. "Since I come from Finland and we don't have any mountains at all, I went to the Alps and then to Norway to do the climbing. And, of course, part of my climbing hobby was that I was reading the books of Hillary and Tenzing and all the other...my heroes, I would say. And I was thinking that would be cool to do something one day. And then in 1992, I got the opportunity to go to Everest... and I went and here I am!"
Gustafsson's innate strength and endurance in the mountains is almost legendary, perhaps exemplified by the fact his climb of K2 in 1994 required him to make, essentially, two ascents of the fearsome peak.
"Rob Hall and I decided to go to the summit with some other people," remembers Gustafsson. "Rob was the only guy to use oxygen. And there was a lot of deep snow, we were really slow. Eventually we got over the Bottleneck Couloir and suddenly it became really cold because the sun went the other side of the mountain. And Rob was maybe 100 meters above the rest of us, because he was quicker with the oxygen.
"I felt like a schoolboy with these big heroes and big names, and they were discussing should we turn around. We knew that the summit is really close but we didn't know exactly how close. And so we decided to turn around. We found out later we had turned around about 40 meters below the summit. About 10 days later I went back up with Michael Groom and successfully summited."
Viesturs and Gustafsson once again made news with their alpine-style ascent of Dhaulagiri in April 1999. The pair had been on Dhaulagiri the year before, within a few hours of the summit, but had turned around because of what they both felt was unreasonable avalanche danger.
"The Dhaulagiri climb was unusual for us, too," said Gustafsson. "And it felt great, to go up so quickly, both of us feeling really strong. We'd been there before, so we knew the route. But still, it was a great thing."
In a few months, Gustafsson and Viesturs will venture once again to the Himalaya for an attempt without oxygen on 26,545-foot Annapurna. While other expeditions struggle with logistics, supplies and bottled oxygen, the pair will head off with little fanfare and without entourage, going light and by themselves.
"Oh, yeah," said the unassuming Gustafsson, "we plan to climb Annapurna in the same style we did on Manaslu and Dhaulagiri –just the two of us."
— Peter Potterfield, MountainZone.com Staff
MORE INTERVIEWS: Ed Viesturs | Conrad Anker
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