Finished! Ueli Steck

Actually, Ueli Steck doesn’t like the nickname “Swiss Machine”. But once again he confirmed his reputation. As a precisely running Swiss watch, the 38-year-old completed his project “82 Summits”– on the double: “Speedy Ueli” scaled all 82 four-thousanders of the Alps in only 61 days, 19 days faster than previously intended. He covered the distance between the mountains using muscle power only: by bike or on foot.

With changing partners

Ueli shortened the descent from the peaks by paragliding where possible. Doing this he early had to say good-bye to his original partner for the project.

On the double

The German professional climber Michi Wohlleben had to give up after one and a half weeks due to a rough landing on his backside after paragliding from the Schreckhorn in Switzerland. Ueli climbed on, sometimes alone, sometimes with climbing partners: e.g. with his wife Nicole or fellow climbers as Andreas Steindl, David Goettler or Jonathan Griffith.

Tragically incident

The project was overshadowed by a fatality. The 32-year-old Dutchman Martijn Seuren fell from the Rochefort Ridge to death, when he accompanied Ueli in the Mont Blanc massif.

And now Nuptse East?

Ueli decided to continue his project. Yesterday he completed it by standing on top of the 4,102-meter-high summit of the Barre des Écrins in France. “I am still super psyched, I could move on”, the Swiss wrote on Facebook. “Let’s see what comes next!” Originally, Ueli intended to repeat the route of Valeri Babanov and Yuri Kosholenko on the 7804-meter-high Nuptse East (in the neighborhood of Mount Everest): in a team with the American Colin Haley, in Alpine style. However, Steck had announced this before the devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April. Let’s hope he sticks to his plan!