Dr. Olaf Rieck

About Dr. Olaf Rieck

When a strong desire for freedom meets boundaries that seem insurmountable, it might lead to exactly what happened to Olaf Rieck when the Iron Curtain fell. He had just completed his studies in veterinary medicine, and there was no holding him back. He was immediately drawn to the most extreme regions of our globe.

His first extensive travels took him to the Arctic, Alaska, and the Himalayas. But soon, even the well-trodden paths there were not enough for him. Expedition mountaineering became his calling. As early as 1995, he made his first attempt on an eight-thousander in the Karakoram, followed by more than thirty other expeditions in the Himalayas, Karakoram, Patagonia, and Peru. In between, he also conducted exciting kayak expeditions in Alaska and Spitsbergen or crossed the Patagonian ice field on skis.

By the late nineties, his projects had become so demanding that they were no longer compatible with his job as a university lecturer in Leipzig. After ten years of teaching at the University of Leipzig, Dr. Olaf Rieck resigned in 1998 to devote himself exclusively to his passion for the mountains as an expedition leader and tour guide in Nepal. That was also when he began photographing professionally and giving lectures about his ventures. And Olaf Rieck was truly adept at this, having delivered hundreds of lectures and presentations to students over many years at the university. This rigorous training served him well.

In the more than 25 years of his expedition activities, an inexhaustible treasure trove of stories and photos has accumulated, which Olaf Rieck has processed into a series of lectures. Captivating stories about his literally breathtaking experiences transport the audience to the limits of human existence. These stories are framed by the most magnificent landscapes on our planet. Thoughts on the reasons for his actions, about passion, fear, success, and failure are also important components of his multimedia presentations.

Olaf Rieck places particular emphasis on sophisticated and engaging rhetoric and perfect presentation with his own very powerful Full-HD projectors. Additionally, ambitious mountain hikers have been able to benefit from his experience and knowledge for many years on tours he personally leads in the Everest region of the Himalayas.