Ueli Steck, one of the great mountaineers of this time died yesterday near Mt. Everest in some type of fall.
Steck was known for his rapid ascents of iconic routes. One of his most amazing feats was basically running up the north face of the Eiger, a forbidding 5,000 ft precipice in the Swiss Alps that has claimed more than few lives (and was made infamous in a few novels, including the riveting The White Spider, and The Climb up to Hell., as well as Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction).
Climbers who attempt the Nordwand are typically greeted with falling rock and ice, avalanches of rock and ice slurry, high winds, alternating sections of bare rock, rime ice, and snow, and withering exposure. And that's on a good day. The first ascent took 3 days (there is no place to pitch a tent on this wall).
Yet in 2007, Steck motored up the Eiger in under 4 hours. Next year, he did it in just under 3 hours. Then in 2015 he did it in 2 hours and 23 minutes.
The video below gives some amazing footage of his 2015 ascent.
Steck also was the guy who found the body of famed American alpinist Alex Lowe in 2016 on Sishapangma after Lowe disappeared in an avalanche in 1999.
It seems that most elite mountaineers don't live to retirement age. Add Steck to the list of the great ones who left too soon. RIP.
Steck was known for his rapid ascents of iconic routes. One of his most amazing feats was basically running up the north face of the Eiger, a forbidding 5,000 ft precipice in the Swiss Alps that has claimed more than few lives (and was made infamous in a few novels, including the riveting The White Spider, and The Climb up to Hell., as well as Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction).
Climbers who attempt the Nordwand are typically greeted with falling rock and ice, avalanches of rock and ice slurry, high winds, alternating sections of bare rock, rime ice, and snow, and withering exposure. And that's on a good day. The first ascent took 3 days (there is no place to pitch a tent on this wall).
Yet in 2007, Steck motored up the Eiger in under 4 hours. Next year, he did it in just under 3 hours. Then in 2015 he did it in 2 hours and 23 minutes.
The video below gives some amazing footage of his 2015 ascent.
Steck also was the guy who found the body of famed American alpinist Alex Lowe in 2016 on Sishapangma after Lowe disappeared in an avalanche in 1999.
It seems that most elite mountaineers don't live to retirement age. Add Steck to the list of the great ones who left too soon. RIP.
