The Eiger North Face in the evening light

“I believe he was a totally happy person when it happened,” said Robert Boesch, the Swiss photographer and mountaineer, at the commemoration for his friend Ueli Steck, who had fallen to death from an altitude of about 7,600 meters on Nuptse on 30 April. Every SMS Ueli had sent from Everest Base Camp before had conveyed the message: Everything is perfect, motivation as well as fitness. Boesch believes that it was a spontaneous decision of the 40-year-old not to ascend to Everest South Col, as originally planned, but to climb Nuptse. “The conditions must have been good, otherwise he would not have been so early so far up,” said Robert. Surely Steck had climbed “in a flow”. Why he fell, could not be clarified: “That doesn’t matter, that’s just climbing. He did not have the quantum of luck he would have needed.”

“Like you and me”

Ueli Steck (1976-2017)

Some 600 people had followed the invitation of Steck’s family to commemorate the top climber at the Congress Center in Interlaken in Switzerland. The shock was still written in many faces after more than three weeks. Besides the climber’s family around Steck’s wife Nicole, Ueli’s parents and two brothers, there were many companions from the climbing scene: the Swiss Stephan Siegrist, Roger Schaeli and Evelyne Binsack, the American Melissa Arnot-Reid, the Briton Jonathan Griffith, to name just a few. Jon recalled that Ueli, even when he had long been an international climbing star, did not have any airs and graces. “He was a human being like you and me. He loved to sit down and talk to the people,” said Griffith, adding that Steck was a strong man who lived his personal challenges: “His motto was: Nothing is impossible. I miss his presence and energy. I miss him as a friend and mentor.”

Better tiger than sheep

Ueli Steck a few days before his fall to death

During the emotional commemoration also one of Ueli’s favorite sayings was recalled, which he had discovered on a sign near Annapurna and which had accompanied him from then on through life: “It is better to be a tiger for a day than a sheep for a thousand years.” Not only the speeches, but also the pictures and film sequences that were shown proved that Ueli had slipped into the role of the tiger much longer than for only a day. Steck inspired people – no matter whether he was speed climbing through the classic north faces of the Alps or doing his solo projects in the south faces of the eight-thousanders Annapurna and Shishapangma. “He has left a huge gap,” said his former companion Ueli Buehler. “If there is a consolation,” added Robert Boesch, “then it’s the fact that it happened in the Valley of Silence, surrounded by the highest mountains.” Where Ueli Steck felt most comfortable.

Tengboche Monastery

He would have liked that. At Tengboche Monastery in the Khumbu area, at almost 4,000 meters, with a view to Mount Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam, Ueli Steck’s ​​family bid farewell to the Swiss top climber during a Buddhist ceremony. The 40-year-old had fallen to death on Sunday on the 7861- meter-high Nuptse. “According to the Nepali tradition, the deceased was cremated in an impressive three-hour ceremony,” Steck’s family informed via Facebook. Uelis wife Nicole, his parents and parents-in-law took part. “The family perceived the ceremony as very solemn and impressive, sad and at the same time liberating.” The family will take a part of the ashes back to Switzerland, where a public memorial is planned for friends, acquaintances and companions. Place and time are not yet fixed. On Ueli Steck’ homepage ​​an online book of condolence was established.

Acclimatization plan changed at short notice

Ueli Steck above Camp 2 on Everest

The family also commented on the accident. Last Saturday, Steck had ascended to Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. “His original plan was to climb the next day via the Everest normal route up to the almost 8,000-meter-high South Col for further acclimatization. From Camp 2, Ueli found that the conditions in the Nuptse face were ideal. Therefore he decided in the evening to climb up on Nuptse and not to the South Col the following day.”

Steck set off from Camp 2 on Sunday at 4:30 a.m. local time along with the Frenchman Yannick Graziani. While Graziani continued on the Everest normal route, Ueli turned towards Nuptse. “Ueli’s accident happened at around 7,600 meters at about 9.00 a.m. (local time),” said Steck’s family. “His body was finally recovered by the Italian helicopter pilot Maurizio Folini at an altitude of about 6,600 meters and flown to a hospital in Kathmandu. The cause of the fall is still unknown.”

Where exactly did Steck ascend?

North flank of Nuptse (seen from the Geneva Spur on Everest)

The fatal accident is also being discussed among the mountaineers on the north side of Everest. Ralf Dujmovits, who – as reported – will try this spring for the eighth and, as he says, last time to scale the highest mountain in the world without bottled oxygen, was staying on the North Col at 7,000 meters for acclimatization, when he heard that Steck had died on Nuptse: “His death has touched me very much – I am profoundly saddened.” In September 1996, the now 55-year old German had succeeded, along with Axel Schlönvogt, the second ascent of the route via the Nuptse North Ridge, opened by an British expedition led by Doug Scott in 1979, which meanwhile, in Dujmovits’ words, “has unfortunately degenerated to a kind of normal route”: “I don’t know if Ueli wanted to take this route, which is now often secured with fixed ropes during the pre-monsoon period. It seems a little Ueli-unlike,” Ralf writes to me. “In 2003, the Benegas brothers from Argentina first climbed a very beautiful route (named ‘The Crystal Snake) on the right side (i.e. west) of the pillar. That would conform more to Ueli’s style. Or was he exploring a new route even further to the west?” In the end, says Dujmovits, he can only speculate. Steck had announced that he would try to traverse Everest and Lhotse, but he had a permit for Nuptse too.

Dujmovits: “One of the strongest allrounders”

Ralf Dujmovits (on Cholatse in April)

“I have experienced Ueli always very down-to-earth, lively, honest and friendly,” Ralf writes about Steck. “He was one of the strongest all-round climbers of our time, who has raised both mountain sports-specific training and professionalism to a new level. I was disappointed about his dealing with the avalanche accident in 2014 on Shishapangma. Admitting mistakes to the public as well as to a companion would certainly have given him even more splendor.”

Ueli Steck a few days before his fall to death

Why did Ueli Steck choose Nuptse to acclimatize himself? This is a question I ask myself, since on Sunday the news of the death of the Swiss spread like a run-fire. A few days earlier, the 40-year-old had climbed towards the West Shoulder of Everest. That made sense. After all, he planned to climb on his Everest-Lhotse traverse via the West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir to the highest. But Nuptse? Not exactly the classic tour to get acclimatized. What was the added value besides making additional height meters?

Reinhold Messner speculated in several interviews that Ueli might have planned to try the “great horseshoe”, the never-attempted round trip form Nuptse to Lhotse and Everest across the ridges between the mountains. I see no evidence for this after all I have heard and read. The Frenchman Yannick Graziani wrote in his blog that Ueli had asked him three days before his death, if he wanted to accompany him on Nuptse. The 43-year-old, who wants to climb Everest without bottled oxygen this spring, declined. It was really just an acclimatization trip, Yannick’s team told me on request: “Ueli never said or wrote about Nuptse or horseshoe. He was waiting for his Sherpa friend Tenji to recover from frostbite and reach together the West Shoulder.”

On Monday, I had written to some top climbers asking how they had experienced Ueli. Two other answers reached me.

Auer: “Steck inspired and encouraged us”

Hansjoerg Auer

The 33-year-old Austrian Hansjoerg Auer was shocked by the news of Steck’s death during a trip in the USA:

“Ueli was someone who did his climbing with full passion and personal commitment. He did not only inspire many alpinists, but also encouraged us with his ideas to continue going the next step to redefine our culture of mountaineering. I was able to discuss this topic with him a few times. And I will never forget his very personal, respectful and encouraging email after my loss of Gerry [Fiegl] on Nilgiri South [In fall 2015, the Austrian Fiegl fell to death on the descent from the 6839-meter-high mountain in the West of Nepal]. Good-bye, Ueli!”

Papert: “To the limits of the humanly possible”

Ines Papert

The 43-year-old German top-climber Ines Papert sent me these thoughtful words:

“I shed tears over Ueli’s loss. He has moved unbelievable things in alpinism and set new standards.

But no man is immortal, neither is Ueli. Nevertheless the news has hit me very hard, even if it did not come completely unexpected. Over the years, I’ve always been a bit worried and I wondered how far you can push the limits without running the risk of losing your life. I’m sure he knew how close he was to the edge. Criticizing this is absolutely presumptuous, because it was HIS life, a life in the mountains. He LIVED this life and was certainly happy.

But I always hoped that he would not find too many imitators with his access to alpinism. Light and fast can considerably reduce the risk on high mountains, to a certain extent. But the further you play the game, the closer you are to death. Ueli was aware of this, because he was not only incredibly motivated and strong but also an intelligent man.

It is many years back that we climbed together the route “Blaue Lagune” on the Wendenstöcke  [mountain massive in the Uri Alps in Switzerland] and that we were sitting in a Pizzeria in the Val di Cogne [side valley of the Aosta Valley in Italy] discussing ethical issues in mixed climbing. At the time, he was at the beginning of his career, but his enthusiasm, almost obsession for climbing and his ambition of exceeding limits was clearly noticeable. Later I could follow his successes only from the media, he had developed into a completely different direction than myself.

I always admired how far he was able to push his body and mind to the limits of the humanly possible. At the same time, I always feared that one day it would go wrong. It is a little comforting that he stayed where his home was: in the mountains of the world.”

Ueli Steck at the ISPO

Actually, Ueli Steck only wanted to do an active holiday in Tibet in autumn 2014. The 38-year-old top climber from Switzerland planned to climb the eight-thousander Shishapangma with his wife Nicole via the normal route. It soon became clear that it would not be as easy as it seemed first because there was too much snow on the mountain. “But just sitting around in the base camp, that’s really not my thing”, Ueli told me last week at the trade fair ISPO in Munich. “Thus I accompanied the guys in their summit attempt.” These guys were the German ski mountaineers Benedikt Boehm, Sebastian Haag and Martin Maier and the Italian Andrea Zambaldi. In the summit area, an avalanche descended: Haag and Zambaldi died, Maier survived seriously injured. Only Steck and Boehm were not swept away by the avalanche. Reason enough to talk with Ueli about risk and luck:

Ueli, people say, a cat has nine lives. How many lives do you have?

Oh, how many lives? I have already been very lucky a few times. But I don’t count these experiences because that makes you just crazy. When you go to the mountains, you run a certain risk. And you just have to accept it.

Advanced Base Camp on Shishapangma

Last fall on Shishapangma, an avalanche that went off in the summit area killed the ski mountaineers Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi. You were there, how close was it for you?

It was only luck that Beni (Boehm) and I were standing a bit further up. We also stood in the avalanche zone, but just a little bit on the side where not so much snow slipped away. We didn’t lose our footing, while the others were swept away. It was very close.

In a situation like this, how much is luck, how much instinct?

It’s difficult to say. Instinct means making decisions unconsciously. That’s something you can’t measure. There are really people doing almost always the right thing, and people say, they are always lucky. But what is luck? Maybe you make the right decision instinctively and stand on the right place. I wouldn’t necessarily say I survived due to my instinct. But I would neither say it was just pure luck. I simply can’t explain it.

You’ve already experienced several situations such as this. For example in 2007, when you were hit by a stone on your head at the Annapurna South Face and fell down unconscious several hundred meters.

That was pure luck. The only misfortune in this situation was being hit by the stone, the rest was pure luck. This had nothing to do with instinct or whatever.

Ueli in the Annapurna South Face

How do you deal with such an experience? Do you have a professional handling so that you can start the next project free from bias or do you reflect it like a layman would do?

I am very concerned about it. I must admit, that the Annapurna story in 2013 (Ueli risked much as he soloed the South Face on a route that had not yet been completed until then. It took him only 28 hours for ascent and descent.) threw me right off the track. Actually, it is very simple: When we climb mountains we try to take good decisions and not to run too much risk. In the end, however, we just have to make it clear that once we go to the mountains, no matter on what level, we risk an accident. For me, it’s only either black or white. Either I just accept it or not. If I don’t accept it, I can’t go to the mountains. But climbing and all the experiences when I do it are simply too important for me and give me too much. Therefore I accept the risk.

Are you as a professional climber forced to take a greater risk to be recognized?

No, I‘m absolutely not forced to anything. I can do whatever I want. I make my decisions for myself. When I set off, I have prepared the project for so long that it is feasible. I don’t have in mind: If I survive, I make a profitable business out of it. If I set off, I want to come back. This is a decisive factor. But of course I am in a different league compared to those who make an easy hike. On this high-end level, the risk is automatically much higher.

Alone in the tent

You always try to push your personal limits. Is there no danger of stripping the screw? Is it possible to say at some point: Enough is enough, that was the riskiest thing I’ve done, now I turn back the screw a bit?

That is exactly what is so difficult, and I’m aware of that. For example Annapurna: I reflected what happened there, and I was concerned about it. Actually, I’m the only one who can really judge how much risk I took and how much commitment I put into the climb. And let me tell you, it was much. I even accepted that I probably would not come back alive. And that’s too much. It’s easy to say here at the table, I turn back the screw a bit. But it’s a huge process really to feel it, to be able to hold your horses without thinking you should go even further. Just now I can’t say: I will no longer go to the Himalayas. And I know, if I’m in this situation again, I will make the same decision as I did on Annapurna and accept that risk.

Not too long ago, you said that due to the high risk the time of your solo-climbs was over and that you would henceforth prefer climbing in teams. In 2011, you left for Shishapangma in twos, but in the end you climbed solo through the South Face. The same on Annapurna in 2013. Is it difficult for you to find equally strong partners?

At least I try. (laughs) It didn’t work twice. It’s difficult to find someone who is at the same level and can also translate it into action. I have just this experience of solo climbs, thus it is always an option. That will always be the same in my life. It also happened to me when I wanted to climb the Eiger North Face with a friend. At the foot of the wall he said he felt bad and wouldn’t join me. Then I had the option to say: The weather is nice, I’ll climb anyway. See you for a drink at the Kleine Scheidegg station buffet in the afternoon!

Others would turn around.

Yes, because they do not have this option. Therefore, I find myself in these situations again and again.

What will you do next?

I really try to turn back the screw a bit. I plan a traverse in the Alps, all four-thousanders, with (the German climber) Michi Wohlleben. We just want to have fun to climb. In fall, I’ll go to Nuptse where I and Colin Haley want to repeat the route of Valery Babanov in Alpine style.

For explanation: In 2003, the Russians Valery Babanov and Yuri Kosholenko for the first time succeeded in reaching the summit of 7,804-meter-high Nuptse East (in the neighborhood of Mount Everest) via the South Pillar. They fixed ropes up to 6,400 meters – what resulted in a heated debate about their style of climbing. The route “had been desecrated by bolts and fixed ropes”, criticized US-climber Steve House, who had reached an altitude of 7,200 meters on the same route in Alpine Style in 2002. Babanov countered: “The mountain is waiting, you just need to go there and climb it!” That’s exactly what Ueli wants to do now.