The Swiss are mourning the loss of one of their greatest sports heroes, speed climber Ueli Steck, who died on Sunday in the Himalaya. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
Steck, dubbed the “Swiss Machine”, was 40 and one of the most celebrated climbers of his generation. He was killed after falling about 1000 metres to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area between Everest’s Camps 1 and 2.
Steck’s body was recovered by helicopter and taken to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
He had been planning to climb Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse without supplemental oxygen. In the days leading up to his death, he had been posting photos of the expedition on his Facebook page. In his final post, Steck expressed his love for the area.
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In the following article, journalist and climber, Billi Bierling, pays tribute to friend, Ueli Steck, the Swiss elite climber who died on Sunday.
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“Good conditions on the Eiger. So cool morning climbing the Heckmair Route,” the 39-year-old alpinist stated on Movescount, the online community hosted by electronics company Suunto. Steck’s climbExternal link involved a vertical ascent of almost 1,600 m at an average speed of 1.1 km/h. At his fastest he managed speeds of up to 4.7 km/h. His 2008…
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The mountaineer nicknamed the “Swiss machine” ended the 82 summits campaign by reaching the top of the 4,102m Barre des Écrins mountain in the French Alps on Tuesday. Steck and Wohlleben travelled by bike or foot between the base camps, and tried to paraglide back down from the summits into the valleys where possible. “For…
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