Oakley – The Helper in the Hour of Need

That could have been painful! In August last year, amateur mountaineer Niko Bepler was in Switzerland to climb the Matterhorn – one of the highest mountains in the Alps. While the way up was a complete success, the descent almost became the summiteer’s undoing.

While abseiling, the adventurer noticed that his rope was stuck about four metres above his head. To loosen it, he swung it back and forth. When he succeeded, he happily retrieved the rope. But he rejoiced too soon! By freeing the rope, the rock above Niko must have loosened. Because when he was retrieving the rope, a rock chunk the size of a pizza came loose and fell into his face!

Hard to believe, but true: Bepler was able to turn his head away in the last millisecond so that the piece of rock did not hit him in the middle of the nose, but on the right side of his face. Since it’s part of the standard equipment of every mountaineer, the extreme sportsman had sunglasses on to protect him from glare. And not just any sunglasses, to be precise, it was the legendary Oakley Holbrook, which served him not only as a filter for the sun’s rays, but also as a physical shield. For despite the impact and the resulting enormous effect on the material, the lenses of the Oakley sunglasses did not break. Thus, this sunglass model proved to be much more than just an anti-glare shield, but was even an essential layer of protection in an emergency, to which Bepler owes his unharmed eyesight. All that remained was the shock and a scar on his cheek.

Niko Bepler was kind enough to share his story with us. As a thank you, he was allowed to choose a new pair of sunglasses from our range. Although the old Holbrook is still intact, we are not surprised that he’s chosen another Holbrook model again. You can never have enough guardian angels.

If this testimonial of Oakley sunglasses has convinced you and you would also like to enjoy the unique Oakley quality, you can find our entire Oakley range here.