Ueli Steck

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Ueli Steck (2012)

Ueli Steck (born October 4, 1976 in Langnau im Emmental ; † April 30, 2017 at Nuptse , Nepal ; nickname : Swiss Machine ) was a Swiss extreme mountaineer . He was considered one of the world's best solo climbers and was best known for his very fast ascents of high alpine routes. The trained carpenter last lived with his wife in Ringgenberg near Interlaken . On April 30, 2017, he was killed in a mountain accident on the Nuptse not far from Mount Everest .

Life

Steck began climbing at the age of 12, and at the age of 18 he climbed the north face of the Eiger , then climbed the famous Bonatti pillar in the Mont Blanc massif . In June 2004 he and Stephan Siegrist climbed the triad of Eiger , Mönch and Jungfrau within 25 hours. Another success was the so-called Khumbu -Express in 2005, for which the climbing magazine Climb! was voted one of the three best alpinists in Europe. These are the first solo ascents of the north face of Cholatse (6440 m) and the east face of Tawoche (6505 m).

Climbing on the direct line over the southern flank to the summit of Annapurna in the Himalayas , he was hit by a falling stone in 2007. Unconscious and with a smashed helmet, Steck slipped more than 200 meters, but otherwise remained uninjured with bruises and a concussion.

In 2008 he broke off his ascent of the route to help the Basque-Spanish mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza . He was still able to reach Ochoa alive, but he died a short time later in the presence of Steck. Steck and his companion Simon Anthamatten were awarded the Prix ​​Courage 2008 by Observer magazine because they risked their lives to save other mountaineers.

In 2008 Steck received the Eiger Award for his mountaineering achievements and in 2009, together with Simon Anthamatten, the Piolet d'Or for the 2008 first ascent of the north face of the Tengkangpoche in alpine style.

In 2013, Steck got into a one-hour violent argument with around a hundred Sherpas on Mount Everest together with the Italian Simone Moro and the British Jonathan Griffith in camp 2, as a result of which he was injured in the face by a stone throw. Because of knife attacks and death threats, all three mountaineers had to continue to descend to the base camp before nightfall, packed with essentials. The expedition was then canceled. The cause of the dispute is said to have been a disgruntled Sherpa leader who was disturbed by the ascending mountaineers during his security work below Camp 3 and who felt his assistants endangered by falling chunks of ice.

On October 9 and 10, 2013, Steck climbed solo in 28 hours (ascent and descent) through the Annapurna south face to the 8,091  m high summit, which was celebrated as a quantum leap in alpinism and on March 29, 2014 also with the Piolet d'Or was awarded. This inspection of Steck, which could only be observed by third parties up to a height of 7050  m , has been questioned in various publications. Steck could not provide any photos, he had not switched on the GPS watch he was carrying, and further inconsistencies arose when he asked about details.

On September 24, 2014, during a tour organized by Benedikt Böhm and Sebastian Haag , in which Steck also took part, Haag and Andrea Zambaldi died in an avalanche on the summit of Shishapangma . Martin Maier, who was also buried but later rescued, later raised allegations against Böhm and Steck. The two of them gave up on him too early and not exhausted all possibilities to save him.

Between June 11 and August 11, 2015, Ueli Steck climbed all 82 four-thousand-meter peaks in the Alps , covering the distances between the mountains only on his own - either on foot, by bike or paraglider . Steck planned and started the project together with Michael Wohlleben . However, he had to give up after the first five peaks due to an injury, whereupon Steck continued the project alone with changing partners, including some mountains with his wife. On his tour, Steck covered a total of 117,450 meters in altitude and 1,770 kilometers in 62 days. Originally 80 days were planned for the project, but thanks to the excellent weather, Steck was faster than expected.

On April 30, 2017, at the age of 40, Steck had a fatal accident near Camp 2 on Mount Everest during a training tour on the Nuptse.

Ueli Steck was cremated and buried on May 4, 2017 in Tengboche Monastery , Nepal , in the presence of his wife and close relatives.

Special alpine achievements

  • 1995 Eiger north face , Heckmair route, (1800 m AS)
  • 1998 Mönch Hastoncouloir, solo in 3.5 hours (1000 m AS-)
  • 1999 Eiger Lauper route, solo in 5 hours (1800 m AS-)
  • 2000 Eiger north face, Yeti route, second ascent (7c / A0)
  • 2000 Mönch north face, Direttissima first ascent (1000 m M5 / Wi5)
First ascent route of the Pumori west side of Bühler / Steck 2001
  • 2001 Grandes Jorasses Walkerpfeiler, winter ascent (1200 m AS)
  • 2001 Pumori , first ascent of the west route (1400 m M4 / 80 degrees ice) with Ueli Bühler
  • 2001 First ascent of the route The Young Spider in the Eiger north face (1800 m M7 / Wi6; 7a / A2)
  • 2002 Mount Dickey , Alaska first ascent (1700 m M7 + AI6 5.9 / A1)
  • 2002/03 Two attempts at Jannu north face (7710 m) Nepal , together with Erhard Loretan
  • 2003 Punta Heron (Patagonia)
  • 2003 Red point ascent of La vida es silbar (Eiger north face 900 m 7c)
  • 2004 Trilogy Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau (north walls) in 25 hours
  • 2005 First solo ascent of the Tawoche east face (6515 m) and the Cholatse north face (6440 m) (Khumbu Express)
  • 2006 solo ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn
  • 2006 Eiger north face, winter solo ascent by The Young Spider
  • 2006 First ascent of the north face of Gasherbrum II with summit success on Gasherbrum II Ost (7772 m)
  • 2007 Eiger north face, speed record Heckmair route in 3:54 hours, solo
  • 2008 Eiger north face, speed record Heckmair route in 2:47:33 hours, solo and without any use of existing ropes and fixed points
  • 2008 Grand Jorasses North Face, Colton McIntyre Route speed record in 2:21 hours, solo
  • 2008 Tengkampoche north face (6500 m, Nepal) first ascent with Simon Anthamatten in alpine style (no bolts, no fixed ropes, four days for ascent and descent), awarded the Piolet d'Or .
  • 2009 Matterhorn north face, speed record, classic Schmid route in 1:56 hours, solo
  • 2009 Solo ascent of Gasherbrum II (8034 m).
  • 2009 Makalu (8485 m), normal route
  • 2011 Shishapangma (8027 m): Solo ascent of the southwest face
  • 2011 Cho Oyu (8188 m): In a rope team with Don Bowie , ascent of the west face, 18 days after the summit of Shishapangma
  • 2012 Mount Everest , together with the 21-year-old Sherpa Tenji
  • 2013 Annapurna (8091 m): First solo ascent of the south face, 28 hours for ascent and descent (unoccupied). For this achievement he received his second Piolet d'Or in 2014 .
  • 2015 Ascent of all 82 four-thousand-meter peaks in the Alps in 61 days without any motorized movement between the individual mountains.
  • 2015 Eiger north face, new speed record on the Heckmair route in 2:22:50 hours, solo With this he regained the record after Dani Arnold had beaten Steck's old record with 2 hours 28 minutes in the meantime.

Works

literature

Documentation

Web links

Commons : Ueli Steck  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin Steinbach Tarnutzer: Steck's crash in the Himalayas - “I wouldn't be satisfied if I couldn't climb a mountain” In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from May 1, 2017
  2. ↑ a b Rajan Pokhrel: 'Swiss Machine' Ueli Steck killed in Mt Everest accident. In: The Himalayan Times. April 30, 2017, accessed April 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ Stephanie Geiger: "To me, failure means: when I die" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 30, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ portrait. In: 82summits.com. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  5. ↑ Vinicio Stefanello: Ueli Steck - Khumbu Express - Piolet d'Or 2005 In: planetmountain.com Retrieved on January 1, 2019.
  6. ^ Report by Ueli Steck on Ochoa's death ( memento of April 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), May 24, 2008.
  7. ↑ Report on Ochoa's death on www.mounteverest.net ( Memento from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  8. ↑ The winners are Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten . In: Observer . September 26, 2008.
  9. ^ Eiger Award 2008: Laudation Ueli Steck by Röbi Bösch (PDF).
  10. ↑ Stephan Orth: Brawl on Mount Everest: "They almost got killed" . In: Spiegel Online . April 29, 2013, accessed April 30, 2013.
  11. ↑ Ueli Steck and his colleagues were threatened with death . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  12. ↑ a b Inconsistencies in Steck's Annapurna Solo . from: bergstieg.com.Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  13. ↑ a b Dominik Osswald: What happened that night? Ueli Steck's ascent of Annapurna over the south face is the alpine achievement of the century. There is only one problem: there is no evidence. In: Das Magazin N ° 10, Tamedia, Zurich March 7, 2015, pp. 12–19 (PDF).
  14. ↑ Fabienne Riklin: Drama in the death zone. In: Switzerland on Sunday . July 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ a b 82 Summits completed. In: uelisteck.ch. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  16. ↑ Bruno Petroni: Ueli Steck is now on tour alone. In: Berner Zeitung . June 24, 2015.
  17. ↑ Extreme mountaineer Ueli Steck “The feeling that I could keep walking”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung August 13, 2015.
  18. ↑ Accident in the Himalayas: extreme mountaineer Ueli Steck dies while attempting to record . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . April 30, 2017.
  19. ↑ Alexandra Kohler: On the death of Ueli Steck: He wanted to achieve something that no one has achieved before - this attempt cost him his life . In: NZZ am Sonntag . April 30, 2017.
  20. ↑ Natascha Knecht: Obituary for Ueli Steck: "I have failed if I don't come home" . In: Spiegel Online . 1st May 2017.
  21. ↑ Extreme mountaineer Ueli Steck buried in Nepal orf.at, May 4, 2017, accessed May 4, 2017.
  22. ↑ Ueli Steck will find his final resting place in this temple . In: Tages-Anzeiger . 1st May 2017.
  23. ↑ Report on www.bergstieg.com and report in the Tagesschau of Swiss television on February 16, 2008.
  24. ^ Report of the Tagesanzeiger ( Memento of March 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  25. ^ Expedition Report 2008 ( Memento from April 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).
  26. ^ Report in the Tagesschau of Swiss television ( Memento from January 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  27. ↑ Summit success on Everest without bottled oxygen ( memento from January 15, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) on uelisteck.ch. Retrieved May 19, 2012.
  28. ↑ Ueli Steck climbs through Annapurna south face on nzz.ch. Retrieved October 12, 2013.
  29. ↑ Appreciation on pioletsdor.com ( Memento from April 1, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ).
  30. ↑ Ueli Steck manages all four-thousand-meter peaks in the Alps in 62 days spiegel.de, August 12, 2015.
  31. ↑ Six minutes faster: Ueli Steck recovers the Eiger record. blick.ch, accessed on November 18, 2015 .
  32. ^ 'Swiss machine' Ueli Steck reclaims the Eiger record. SWI swissinfo.ch, accessed on November 18, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Steck, Ueli
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Swiss Machine; The Swiss Machine (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss extreme mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Langnau im Emmental , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 2017
Place of death Nuptse , Nepal