"I am driven by the curiosity for the unknown."

On November 20, the German extreme climber, Stefan Glowacz (41), will embark on one of the most adventurous expeditions of his career. Together with a team of long-term tour companions, the star of Werner Herzog’s "Scream of Stone" wants to battle his way through the Venezuelan jungle all the way to the Acopan-Tepui table mountains, and there undertake the first-ever climb of a 700-meter-high face. In part one of our interview, he explains what fascinates him so much about these mountains and why his expeditions into remote areas bring him closer to himself.

Stefan, on your trips what occupation do you put when you are filling in the check-in form at hotels? Discoverer? Extreme climber? Adventurer?

When I am traveling with the film maker, Werner Herzog, he always writes in “shepherd”. I am less eccentric and usually just put athlete, which best describes my profession.

What you actually do goes way beyond sports. What feeling drives you to keep pursuing new summits and routes?

I think the curiosity for the unknown – the unexplored out there in nature, as well as that inside myself. Because my expeditions always bring me to mental frontiers.

Some people could ask themselves whether you might not just be running from something when you are in the Antarctic, the Canadian wilderness or in the jungle of Venezuela?

I have asked myself this question many times. I think it is important to take a timeout from your normal life from time to time and just get away, so that you are able to come back in a content state. For me, my expeditions to remote areas serve as a kind of grounding. I love fast cars, I love the comforts of our civilization. But after every expedition, I know that all you really need is a safe campground and a warm meal.

Your next goal is to climb the still totally virgin north face of the Acopan Tepui in the Venezuelan rain forest. How did the idea for this project come about?

The novel "Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle, which I read as a boy, is to blame. In it, an expedition team discovers a dinosaur and other extinct life forms on a high plateau in Venezuela – this totally fascinated me. Many years later, I came across the book "Islands in Time". In this book, the journalist, Uwe George, scientifically describes the phenomenon of the Venezuelan table mountains, where evolution stopped and where ancient plant types continue to grow. From then on, I couldn’t shake the idea of climbing there.

You have enforced the rule, “by fair means”, for this expedition even with the journey getting here. This means you will go without technical equipment not only on the climb, but you will also travel through the wilderness with canoes and by foot.

Theoretically, these days anyone could be brought to any point in the world by helicopter. But what kind of allure does that offer? I think that the further development of expedition climbing can only lie in the return to its roots.