Heavy is light work - Amusing stories from a long life as a mountaineer. The alpine Karl May - this is how the famous Viennese mountaineer and writer Karl Lukan was often referred to. His adventures are true stories. They tell of a time when climbing was still considered wild and dangerous. In the then still manageable climbing scene, everyone soon knew "Charly": a humorous, witty character who climbed barefoot up the tower cross of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, scrambled along the "Mäuerl" between Kobenzl and Kahlenberg when the word bouldering was not even known, and soon after 1945 ascended many of the most difficult rock faces in the Alps with well-known climbing partners like Hans Schwanda, Hubert Peterka, Hermann Buhl, or Heinrich Harrer. Climbing was "a piece of heaven" for him throughout his long, eventful life filled with experiences and encounters.