Swiss mountaineer Ueli Steck was training for a new record in April 2017: Climbing Mount Everest, descending via the South Col and re-ascending the Lhotse...all without supplemental oxygen. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
Ueli Steck has made a name for himself by winning several speed climbing records on the Eiger North Face over the last few years.
In 2013 Steck made the first solo ascent of Annapurna in the Himalaya, winning the most prestigious climbing award, the Piolet d’Or, for the second time.
A year earlier he was involved in a highly publicised fight that broke out between his team and a group of Sherpas on the west face of Mount Everest.
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Speed climber Steck breaks Annapurna record
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The climb is already being hailed as one of the greatest achievements in modern Himalayan history. “Ueli Steck is an amazing climber and it’s no surprise that he managed to become the first person to solo the south face of Annapurna 1 in an unprecedented time of 28 hours,” said the Himalayan chronicler, Elizabeth Hawley. …
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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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Arnold tells swissinfo.ch how he set out on April 20 with just half a litre of sugar-water and no real intention of breaking the speed record up a route that in 1938 took three days for the first climbers to complete (and survive). The 27-year-old mountain guide from canton Uri in central Switzerland climbed the…
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