STEFAN GLOWACZ

Adventure venture

Glowacz was able to experience first hand how close the parallels between his sport and entrepreneurship are when he founded his own company RED CHILI. Even though he was new to the world of commerce he was at home in the role of passionate strategist with courage to be flexible: “ You define goals and try to reach them in every expedition.”

The management seminars and inspirational talks evolve around economic and expedition-related questions: How important is good preparation? How different is reality from the phase of planning and how spontaneous must I react?

WALLS ON SILKROAD

Three major first ascents in remote mountains in Turkey, Iran and Tajikistan. They covered a total of 14 different countries and 18,000 kilometers.

Many people had advised the professional adventurer Stefan Glowacz and his team, consisting of Christian Schlesener, Josef Pfnürr and the filmmaker and Stefan’s son Tim Glowacz, against this trip beforehand. Before they embarked on the plan to make a first ascent of the Suntower in the region around the Alam Kuh in Iran with local climbers, even Iranian climbers living in exile abroad strongly advised against this project due to the political situation. “It was a difficult decision to travel to countries that are in part pure dictatorships and where the Foreign Office strongly advises against travel. In the end, as is so often the case, curiosity won out. ‘We want to see and experience the situation with our own eyes. In the end, the decision was the right one,” says Stefan Glowacz.

The motto of the “Walls on Silkroad” expedition was “United by Climbing”. Stefan Glowacz says: “There are always elements and shared passions that unite us humans, regardless of origin, religion, skin color or the conflicts that prevail in the world. In our case, climbing is our passion. In every country where we climbed our first ascents, we met wonderful people and learned a lot about their country and their situation. We now understand the context of events much better and can understand the wishes and needs of the people even more clearly. “Great friendships were made, which are of great value, especially for the people in Iran. Stefan Glowacz says: “We were stopped by complete strangers in the middle of the street in Tehran. They thanked us for having the courage to travel to their country and for not forgetting them as a result.”

The plan to climb a difficult first ascent in each country – in Turkey, Iran and Tajikistan – was ambitious. The team was constantly under time pressure, and the imponderables on the way through the unfamiliar countries sometimes frayed their nerves. In the Turkish Aladaglar Mountains, the team had to contend with bad weather for a long time and the consistently high climbing difficulties, which threw the schedule into disarray. In Iran, the Suntower is located at over 4,000 meters above sea level. Climbing at this altitude in the 10th degree of difficulty demanded a lot from the team.

The Pamir-Alai Mountains in Tajikistan presented the team with its third and final major challenge, and in the end the team achieved three fantastic first ascents at grade 10. The routes are now among the most difficult free climbing routes in the respective countries.

Lecture Walls on Silkroad – the format

The Walls on Silkroad lecture format consists of 2 parts: In the first multivision lecture part, Stefan Glowacz describes the exciting development of the expedition. He gives his audience an insight into the difficult confrontation with his moral conscience during the planning of an expedition to the world’s worst dictatorships. He talks about the logistical challenge of climbing three first ascents in three different countries in three months. Stefan talks about his encounters with the people in Iran and Tajikistan and the wonderful friendships that have developed as a result.

The multivision part of the presentation lasts about 50 minutes.

After a break comes the 47-minute film Walls on Silkroad, filmed and edited by Stefan’s son Tim.

The many outdoor film festivals have changed the audience’s viewing habits considerably in recent years. Stefan Glowacz has responded to this situation by splitting his presentation format. The combination of a personal approach and gripping film entertainment has proved to be extremely successful.

Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for a question and answer session with the audience.

WALLRIDE

Alpine adventure

2274 kilometers and 46,184 vertical meters by mountain bike. Mighty rock faces. Two first ascents. After numerous expeditions, climbing and adventure pro Stefan Glowacz and his rope companion Philipp Hans are looking for adventure on their doorstep – in the Alps. Neither of them have any idea of the dramas that this ultra-trans alp designed for sustainability will hold in store for them

Where does the adventure begin? In Greenland? In Patagonia? No, right on the doorstep! For former rock master and runner-up Stefan Glowacz (59), the adventure “The Wallride” starts with a childhood dream. Getting to know the Alps up close by bike has been on the climbing ace’s mind since childhood. The time has come in summer 2021. Together with his climbing partner Philipp Hans (30), he sets off from Lake Starnberg on a tour de force, “on which I have suffered like on none of my previous expeditions.”

“By fair means” is the motto of Glowacz and Hans. Consistently sustainable, completely self-sufficient and under their own steam, they want to complete the trail-heavy bike route – into the Dolomites, on to the French Southern Alps and finally back home via the Bernese Oberland. As climbers, the two are professionals, but as mountain bikers they are still inexperienced greenhorns. They have packed their climbing equipment, tent and sleeping bags onto trailers weighing 35 kilograms. This turns every climb into an almost absurd ordeal. And nasty surprises also await on the single trail downhills. But that’s not all. The after-effects of an unexpected heart operation push Stefan to his limits. “The Wallride” threatens to fail. But nothing can break Stefan’s will to overcome even the toughest challenges. A bike & climb tour of extremes that certainly won’t inspire everyone to follow suit, but whose participants are inspired with every day of their hellish ride to leave the comforts of everyday life behind and develop themselves further. Stefan and Philipp show: Real adventures don’t just wait at the end of the world. The really great adventures lie within ourselves.

Lecture Wallride – the format

The Wallride lecture format consists of 2 parts: In the first part, Stefan Glowacz explains how the vision for the Wallride company came about. In an exciting multi-vision presentation, Stefan covers everything from his successful competition career to an impressive crossing of Greenland. In temperatures as low as -50 degrees, the three of them in a small tent in a snowstorm, in the middle of the Greenlandic ice sheet, that’s when the crazy idea for Wallride was born.

The multivision part of the presentation lasts about 50 minutes.

After a break, the 47-minute film Wallride follows, which Stefan Glowacz and Phillipp Hans filmed mainly themselves. This means that the viewer is always close to the protagonists.

The many outdoor film festivals have changed the audience’s viewing habits considerably in recent years. Stefan Glowacz has responded to this situation by splitting his presentation format. The combination of a personal approach and gripping film entertainment has proven to be extremely successful.

Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for a question and answer session with the audience.

FASCINATION GREENLAND

In fall 2019, professional adventurer and climber Stefan Glowacz will launch his new lecture format “Fascination Greenland”.

When Stefan Glowacz and skipper Wolf Kloss crossed the infamous Drake Passage on the 14-metre steel yacht “Santa Maria” in 1999 to make the first ascent of the previously unclimbed Renard Tower in Antarctica, the adventurer vowed never to set foot on a sailing ship again. His experiences with seasickness were too painful at the time. This resolution lasted until 2018.

For years, Stefan Glowacz has been trying to organize his expeditions “by fair means”, reconciling nature conservation and nature protection in the best possible way. The most sustainable way to get there is and remains by sailing ship. In 2018, Glowacz set off for Greenland together with Philipp Hans, a representative of the young “wild” climbing generation, and photographer Thomas Ulrich: Once again on board the Santa Maria, once again with skipper Wolf Kloss.

Stefan Glowacz’s vision was to cover three expedition formats in a single expedition:

(1) To sail from Scotland to the west coast of Greenland
(2) To cross Greenland from west to east (1000 kilometers) on foot or by ski and snow kite
(3) First ascent of a 1300 meter high big wall
(4) Return to Scotland by sailing ship

The expedition also started right on the doorstep – sustainably and under the premise of leaving the smallest possible ecological footprint. Stefan Glowacz and his small team made the journey to Scotland in electric vehicles, which was an adventure in itself.

In his latest lecture “Fascination Greenland”, Stefan Glowacz describes his bizarre and amusing experiences at the charging stations for electric vehicles on the way to Scotland in his usual entertaining manner. The renewed “bad” acquaintance with seasickness and the discovery of slowness when sailing are of course also a topic.

Stefan Glowacz gives the viewer a look behind the scenes and talks openly and honestly about his doubts and fears in the icy desert of the Greenland ice sheet. He also discusses the mistakes the team made during planning and logistics and why the first ascent of the Big Wall in 2018 was not possible.

One year later, Stefan Glowacz returns. Under the motto “we will finish what we started”, Glowacz traveled to the east coast of Greenland in 2019 to make up for the first ascent. Once again with the sailing ship Santa Maria, once again with skipper Wolf Kloss. This time, the train will be used to travel to Scotland.

The breathtaking images and film sequences taken by Thomas Ulrich and Moritz Attenberger on two expeditions stand above everything else. They document unique landscapes from different perspectives: on water, on land and from the air. They transport the audience into an adventurous, inhospitable but at the same time extremely fascinating world.

“Fascination Greenland” is aimed at all those who hear the call to set off, who have a longing for adventure within them or who are inspired by magnificent landscapes and allow themselves to be carried away into mysterious worlds.

Lecture duration approx. 90 minutes

OFF INTO ADVENTURE

Stefan Glowacz knows that as an adventurer he enjoys many privileges. That is why he wants to let others share in his luck. His presentations are travels into seldom visited regions, which astound, as well as amuse the audience. He leaves speeches full of complicated terminology to the others. His main goal is to convey his passion for the Walls of the World to all walks of life. In his current presentation “Am Ende der Welt”, he takes the audience along into the ice desert of Baffin Island in the north- eastern part of Canada.

Glowacz also wrote and edited books such as “On The Rocks”, “Rocks Around The World” and participated in the films “The Race” and “Titlis – Chronik einer Erstbegehung”. And even if a German philosopher once said “Big things have one big enemy – big talks”, there even is a bigger enemy: silence.