Dani Arnold during his stay in Cologne

Once again, he has almost sprinted up a wall. Last August, Swiss Dani Arnold climbed the Grandes Jorasses North Face solo and without rope in the new record time of 2:04 hours. In 1938, it had taken the first climbers (led by Italian Riccardo Cassin) three days to complete the route via the Walker Spur. Since 2015, the 34-year-old is also holding the speed record for climbing the North Face of the Matterhorn (1:46 hours). Dani had made his first bang in 2011 when he broke Ueli Steck’s record in the Eiger North Face by 20 minutes and reached the summit after 2:28 hours. Steck had regained the best time in 2015 (2:22 hours).

Dani Arnold is a mountain guide and lives with his wife Denise in the canton of Uri in the 4,000-person village of Bürglen, where more than 200 inhabitants (no joke, he confirmed it to me) bear the name Arnold. I met Dani in my hometown Cologne – before his appearance as the main speaker of the Cologne Alpine Day.

Dani, how do you like the name “Usain Bolt of the classical north faces in the Alps”?

I think it’s a bit exaggerated. I am certainly very fast, but there are many other very, very good climbers. I think it’s just not true that I’m the best.

Grandes Jorasses North Face

But perhaps the fastest. After all, you hold the speed record on two of the three classic north faces in the Alps. When you climb so fast, do you sometimes get into a state of intoxication, like when running, when at some point a flow sets in and everything seems to go by itself?

Yes, there is such a feeling. I then feel free and light. If you, for example, climb the Waterfall Chimney, the Fragile Band and the Fragile Crack in the Eiger North Face, it usually takes you a lot of time. But when you’re doing it solo and at speed, you just follow one spot after the other. And then you really have the feeling that it’s fast.

Last summer you climbed the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses in two hours four minutes, 17 minutes faster than the previous record holder Ueli Steck. You climbed completely without rope and other security equipment. How much risk is allowed from your point of view?

It’s not possible without risk, that’s quite clear. On the other hand, it was my goal to climb the Walker Spur without any security equipment. It was just to be the mountain and me. I first had to find out: Do I dare at all? Is it still safe? Then I decided upon this route. And I never had the feeling that I was taking a huge risk. I don’t think you can say in general that less equipment means higher risk.

How did you prepare yourself? Did you know every climbing move of this route?

The route is 1,200 meters long. I have the talent to remember places and climbing moves very well. I know, for example, how the grips look like at the Rebuffat-Corner, one of the difficult spots, and which hand I have to use on which grip. You also need a “rolling planning”, as I call it,  and a lot of self-confidence.

In the wall

You once said that there was a right to risk. What did you mean by that?

If you live for something, prepare seriously for it and then enter a danger zone, society will not accept that. I don’t think that’s right. After all, you don’t just approach these things negligently, out of ignorance or stupidity. If you really prepare yourself for something and take it seriously, you can also take a little risk, because it’s one hundred percent worth it.

Dealing with your speed records means also coming across the name Ueli Steck, because it was his records that you broke. He fell to his death at the age of 40 last year on Nuptse. Was that a warning, a reminder for you?

He did exactly the same as I do now. And of course you immediately think: Hej, that can also happen to you. I believe every accident – not only Ueli’s, but also those of other climbers – remains in the brain. That doesn’t mean that you are going a completely different way now. But I’m sure that I take not as much risk now as I did five or ten years ago.

Dani shortly before leaving the wall

When climbing at the highest level, there is always the danger of overtightening the screw one day. How do you protect from this?

The danger of going a step too far at some point is obvious. This also scares me a little, because of course I always try to reach the optimum and a little bit more. In order to counteract this, I go fishing, for example, or I simply spend time with friends and family, where we don’t talk about the subject of climbing at all. That helps me to get away from it a bit. Otherwise everything would be about climbing and also about this more, more, more. I have to have other thoughts and also to leave it well enough alone.

In the general public you are known above all because of your speed ascents. And yet you are a complete climber. For example, you are one of the first winter ascenders of Cerro Egger in Patagonia and you were also on expedition with the Huber brothers in the Karakoram. Does it bother you that you are often reduced to speed climbing in public?

It bothers me a bit. On the other hand, speed climbing allows me to make a living from climbing because there are enough lectures and sponsors. That’s why it’s important. When I do a 90-minute lecture on an evening, I use the fame for speed climbing to tell my heart stories, for example about mixed climbing in Scotland, these very, very difficult climbs.

Dani Arnold (3rd from r.) in 2015 with Thomas and Alexander Huber, their Pakistani companion Rasool, Mario Walder and Seppi Dabringer (from right)

Will you go on big expeditions again in the next few years?

Definitely. In terms of difficulty and speed, things won’t go on this way forever. Then new stories on new mountains in unknown regions will come up. With the Huber brothers I really found two great guys with whom I really enjoy traveling. This is almost more important to me than being extremely strong. You have to have a good time together. And that’s what we have.

Would an eight-thousander also be interesting for you?

Certainly. Up to now I never felt the need to climb up there, but it’s developing slowly. I would like to experience what it feels like.

Do you have a dream destination, a mountain you absolutely still want to climb?

Actually not. The Eiger North Face, for example, wasn’t this one and only goal for me. I have many, many ideas. When it becomes more concrete in preparation, I focus on a mountain. And then it suddenly becomes my mountain, and there is no other one.

Dani while ice climbing in the Helmcken Falls in Canada

You have climbed the three big north faces of the Alps solo and at great speed, so a circle has closed – unless you want to regain the Eiger record. Are you going to tick off speed climbing now?

With the record in the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, it’s a bit over. Most likely I won’t go back to the Eiger again. But I want to keep the whole topic open. I don’t really have a concrete speed project at the moment, but that can change suddenly for me. I think I haven’t quite finished that yet.

When will we see you again on a big expedition?

In winter I want to go ice climbing in Russia or China. I have never been there in high winter. I also want to meet the people living in these extremely cold regions. That fascinates me too. There are certainly cold fingers there! (laughs)

Can you climb a mountain just completely normal, without any ulterior motive on an extreme route?

Yes, there are those days when I have no ambitions and can just enjoy it. I still love this being outside. 

David Göttler

They have two homes. German professional climber David Göttler and his partner Monica Piris spend the winter in Chamonix am Mont Blanc, the summer in Monica’s native northern Spain, between the towns of Bilbao and Santander, “where Spain is still really green”, David enthuses. This summer, as reported, Göttler had returned from Pakistan empty-handed. Bad weather had put a spoke in the wheel of him and his teammate, Italian Hervé Barmasse, on the 7,932-meter-high Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram. Yesterday Göttler celebrated his 40th birthday in Spain – not in the mountains, but on the construction site, as he tells me, when I belated congratulate him: “I have finished my training room. So it was a good day.”

40 years, David, that’s a mark. Many ook back then on their lives or make plans for the future. You too?

For me it was just a normal birthday. However, you are thinking a little bit about the fact that now perhaps the middle of life has been reached. I don’t feel I’ve missed anything or done something wrong. But I’m also looking forward to the next 40 years. My father turns 79 next winter and is still every day en route in the mountains, paragliding, snowboarding or climbing. If I have only inherited a little bit of these genes, then I still have 40 more good years ahead. Especially in high-altitude climbing I can still do amazing things in the next few years. And I’m looking forward to it.

David with Ueli Steck (l.) in spring 2016

Did you yesterday also think of Ueli Steck, with whom you tackled Shishapangma South Face in spring 2016? Last year, he fell to his death on Nuptse – at the age of forty. Are you worried about overtightening the screw yourself one day?

I always try to deal with the risk very consciously – as Ueli did too, by the way.  I thought of him yesterday, but more with my future in mind: It would have been so nice to be able to plan new goals with him.

What goals have you set for yourself?

First I plan to run a marathon in the lowlands in a respectable time. I will probably do this at the beginning of December. In the longer term, for the next five years or so, I want to tackle some of the eight-thousanders. Gasherbrum IV, where Hervé and I were this summer, is also still on the list.

Yoga in base camp

Which eight-thousanders do you have in mind?

I have not yet decided in which order to approach them. But one of the eight-thousanders on my list is Kangchenjunga, where, on the fascinating north side of the mountain, my eight-thousander career began in 2003. I would like to make another attempt there. Then Nanga Parbat, a super exciting mountain, where I was already once in winter (in 2014 he had reached an altitude of 7,200 meters with Polish climber Tomek Mackiewicz). Mount Everest without bottled oxygen is also still a goal for me, even though there are so many people on the highest of all mountains. I would like to try out how the 400 more meters of altitude feel compared to the other eight-thousanders I have scaled so far (David has reached the summits of five 8000er so far: Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak, Dhaulagiri, Lhotse and Makalu). Also Gasherbrum I, which I viewed this summer from G IV, still offers many possibilities for new or unusual trips beyond the normal route.

With Herve Barmasse (r.)

You were with Herve Barmasse on Gasherbrum IV. What did you experience?

It was a super strange season in the Karakoram due to the weather. People may have been blinded by the news that there were more summit successes on K2 than ever before. But commercial climbing has meanwhile also reached K2: There are fixed ropes from the bottom to the top, many Sherpas are in action, breaking the trail and pitching up the camps. Almost all summitters used bottled oxygen. Things looked very different on the other eight-thousanders. On Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II, for example, only two climbers each reached the summit: Luis Stitzinger and Gianpaolo Corona on G I, Adam Bielecki and Felix Berg on G II. Bad weather and resulting adverse conditions on the mountain also made Gasherbrum IV difficult for us and prevented a real summit attempt.

How high did you get?

We reached our highest point during our acclimatization phase at 7,100 meters, just below the East Face. During the summit attempt we only got to Camp 1 at 6,000 meters. It snowed all night and still in the morning, there was no visibility. Because of too high danger of avalanches we then turned back.

En route on Gasherbrum IV

There were many other climbers besides you who returned home empty-handed too because of the persistently bad weather. As in the last years, the conditions in the classical summer season in the Karakoram were problematic. Shouldn’t one arrive later in the year because of the effects of climate change?

We discussed this topic in base camp. Maybe we really shouldn’t climb during these “old school weather windows” when the best conditions used to be in the past. Climate is changing. Not only high precipitation, but also too hot and dry summers are rather bad for many climbing projects. I think we might really have to experiment in the future and travel to the Karakoram at other times. In the classical summer season it seems to become more and more difficult.

Tenjing Sherpa climbing Everest

The good weather window in the Himalayas is impressively long. Since this spring’s first ascent of Mount Everest on 13 May by the Sherpa team that had fixed the ropes up to the summit on the south side of the mountain, climbers have reached the highest point at 8,850 meters day after day. Several hundred summit successes have since been counted. Today, Tenjing Sherpa also succeeded, without bottled oxygen. The 26-year-old wants to climb directly afterwards the neighboring eight-thousander Lhotse, if conditions allow it. According to Iswari Poudel, managing director of the expedition organizer “Himalayan Guides”, Lakpa Dendi Sherpa, just like Tenjing, reached the summit without breathing mask today. It was already Lakpa’s third (!) Everest ascent this season, Poudel said.

Colibasanu and Hamor give up

Horia Colibasanu (r.) and Peter Hamor (l.)

Briton Jon Griffith, who accompanied Tenjing Sherpa to the summit as a photographer and filmmaker, used bottled oxygen on his ascent. They see their expedition as a tribute to their friend, the Swiss top climber Ueli Steck who fell to death a year ago on the nearly-eight-thousander Nuptse. In 2017, Ueli and Tenjing had planned an Everest-Lhotse traverse without bottled oxygen via the Everest West Ridge. That’s exactly what the Romanian Horia Colibasanu and the Slovak Peter Hamor wanted to tackle this spring. They declared their expedition over today. The avalanche danger on the route was too great, Horia explained the decision. They had climbed up to an altitude of 7,500 meters.

Lämmle without breathing mask on Lhotse

Thomas Lämmle on top of Lhotse

Already last Sunday, the German climber Thomas Lämmle reached the 8,516 meter high summit of Lhotse, just eight days after his success on Makalu. “Same style: Solo, without oxygen and carried all equipment (tent, stove, food, sleeping bag, etc.) by my own,” ​Lämmle wrote yesterday on Facebook. For the 52-year-old from the city of Waldburg in Baden-Württemberg, Lhotse was the seventh eight-thousander after Cho Oyu (in 2003), Gasherbrum II (in 2005 and 2013), Manaslu (in 2008), Shishapangma (in 2013), Mount Everest (in 2016) and Makalu.

Three of the four world’s highest mountains in 25 days

Nima Jangmu Sherpa

An extraordinary feat was also achieved by Nima Jangmu Sherpa. The 27-year-old reached yesterday as the first woman from Nepal the 8,586 meter high summit of Kangchenjunga. Thus the Sherpani scaled within 25 days the three highest mountains in Nepal, which are three of the four highest in the world. On 29 April, Nima Jangmu had stood on top of Lhotse, on 14 May on the summit of Mount Everest – with breathing mask. In 2008, the Frenchwomen Elisabeth Revol had also scaled three eight-thousanders in one season. Only 16 days had lain then between her ascents of Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support.

Besides Nima Jangmu Sherpa, another female climber from the team of the Nepalese expedition operator “Imagine” managed a Kangchenjunga summit success yesterday: Chinese Dong Hong Juan stood on her 13th eight-thousander.

Update 25 May: According to Iswari Paudel, Managing Director of Himalayan Guides Nepal Treks & Expedition P. Ltd., Tenji Sherpa decided after his yesterday’s Everest summit success not to climb Lhotse and instead descend to BC.

Update 1 June: Billi Bierling told me that Tenjing had used bottled oxygen above the South Summit (8,750 m), Lakpka Dendi above the South Col (7,900m). Means: No Everest ascent without breathing mask this spring.

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.

David Goettler at their highest point (in the background the summit)

Only a few meters have been missing to the top, but they’ve climbed through the wall. David Goettler and Hervé Barmasse entered the Shishapangma South Face on Sunday morning and climbed in 13 hours to a point just below the 8,027-meter-high summit. “We found a last traverse of about ten meters and then five meters up to the summit too delicate due to the avalanche danger,” David writes to me after returning to the Base Camp. Originally, the 38-year-old German and his one year older climbing partner from Italy had planned to open a new route through the South Face. Like in spring 2016, when David had tried the same with the Swiss Ueli Steck, the weather conditions impeded the project.

In Ueli’s style

David Goettler (l.) and Hervé Barmasse (r.)

“We had only a very short weather window of about 24 hours with little wind and no snowfall,” writes Goettler. “That is why we decided to try to reach the summit in a very light and fast style via the Girona route.” The route was opened in 1995 by a Spanish team. Also in spring 2016, David had climbed with Steck this route, but only up to an altitude of 7,800 meters. Last February, Steck, Goettler and Barmasse had prepared for their expeditions with a joint intensive training camp in Nepal. On 30 April, Ueli had fallen to death on Nuptse. In their mind, he accompanied them through the Shishapangma South Face, says David: “It makes me happy that I made it to the top this time, in the style I’ve learned from Ueli. And that Hervé and I kept a clear head up there and forewent the last meters. These meters were simple, but in our opinion too dangerous in these conditions.”

“We want to return”

Another attempt to open a new route through the Shishapangma South Wall will not happen – at least not this year. “The weather forecast for the coming week until the end of the month is not promising. Around 27 May there will be less wind but snowfall,” writes Goettler. “That’s why we think that we have no chance for the new route. We will pack up here for this year. But we want to come back.” They both return home from Tibet satisfied, says David: “For Herve and me, it was one of the best performances we’ve ever done.”

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 (1976-2017)

Ueli Steck is dead. Fallen to death somewhere on Everest. Incredible. I can not believe it. What has happened? The exact circumstances are not yet clear. The body of the 40-year-old was found somewhere between Camp 1 (at 6,100 m) and 2 (6,400 m). Steck climbed solo on Nuptse, slipped and fell about 1,000 meters deep, reports the Kathmandu-based newspaper “The Himalayan Times”. In the past week, Ueli had reported via Facebook on a “quick day” climbing from Base Camp up to 7,000 meters and back again. The attached photo showed him with trailrunning shoes. Typical Ueli, I twittered with a twinkle in my eye – and the thought: Only one like him gets away with this, “The Swiss Machine”, the “Speedy Gonzales” among the high-altitude climbers, undisputedly one of the best.

Accepting risk

Ueli Steck above Camp 2 on Everest

I’ve often met Ueli or phoned him. He did not shy away from the risk, but he was not a reckless gambler. So his probably biggest coup, the solo climb via the Annapurna South Face in fall 2013, had even driven him into a deep personal crisis. He felt that he had overtightened the screw with this project because he had not really been able to control the hazards. Risk management was a topic he was dealing with. “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”, Ueli once told me. “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.“

“My dream“

Fast en route

Five weeks ago, before Ueli left for Nepal, we talked to each other. He was looking forward to returning to Mount Everest. He had checked off his traumatic experience there in spring 2013 – the attack of a Sherpa mob in high camp against him, Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith. He looked forward optimistically. His project, the Everest-Lhotse traverse was ambitious, just typical Ueli: via the rarely climbed West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir to the summit, then down to the South Col and (via the variant opened in 2010 by the native Kazakh Denis Urubko) to the 8,611-meter-high summit of Lhotse – as always on his eight-thousander projects without supplemental oxygen. “That would be my dream,” said Ueli, still a realist: “There must be perfect conditions and the weather must be good and stable. I think it’s important to have ideas, but in the end you have to decide on the mountain what is possible and impossible.”

On the same wavelenght

On a narrow ridge

We agreed to talk to each other again if he would have completed his acclimatization phase on Everest. Now we will never again do it, neither about his projects and dreams nor about anything else. That makes me sad. Not only because he was a great climber, but also because I felt we were tuned to the same wavelength. Ueli will be missing, my thoughts are with his wife Nicole and his family.

“People say, a cat has nine lives. How many lives do you have?” I once asked Ueli. He took the time to answer: “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.”

Kilian Jornet (r.) and Emelie Forsberg (l.) in Kathmandu

“I feel really acclimatized and strong in altitude,” said Kilian Jornet – already before he set off towards the Himalayas last weekend. As a training for his eight-thousander expedition, the speed specialist had climbed along with his Swedish girl friend Emelie Forsberg in Norway, and the day before their departure both had started at the Trofeo Mezzalama in Italy, one of the classic races for ski mountaineers in . Kilian had won second place in a team with the Swiss Martin Anthamatten and Werner Marti, Emelie had won the women’s competition along with the Swiss Jennifer Fiechter and the French Laetitia Roux. Jornet and Forsberg traveled via the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to Tibet. Within the next two weeks, they want to climb Cho Oyu, with an altitude of 8,188 meters the sixth highest mountain on earth. “If everything goes well, we could be on the summit on 7 or May,” said Emelie, for whom it is the first experience on an eight-thousander. And Kilian adds: “For me, it will be good preparation for Everest because I’ll be better acclimatized when I get there.”

Light and fast

Kilian Jornet on Everest in 2016

The 29-year-old Catalan specified his plan for a speed climb of the highest mountain on earth. He is aiming for the summit at the end of May. This time, Jornet will be accompanied on Everest only by the cameraman Sébastien Montaz-Rosset. He wanted to climb up to the summit either via the Norton or the Hornbein couloir, Kilian said, “of course, depending on the conditions.” At first, he plans further acclimatization trips starting from the Advanced Base Camp at 6,300 meters. Then Jornet wants to return to Rongbuk Monastery at 5,000 meters, the last permanently inhabited settlement below the summit. From there he plans to climb the mountain, if possible, in a single push, without the use of bottled oxygen. “Light and quick. There are people who think it’s madness,” said Kilian, “but for me the mountain is a space where everyone should be free to do what they think they can do. I like to travel light so I can be quick. In this way, we spend less time at altitude and suffer less fatigue, although we are aware that it makes the expedition more risky.” In fall 2016, the snowmasses on Everest had prevented Jornet from doing a serious speed attempt at all.

Steck: “Great conditions”

Ueli Steck above Camp 2

Ueli Steck is also a fast man, who by the way has already speed climbed together with Jornet. The Swiss top climber has been on the south side of Mount Everest for almost two weeks now. The 40-year-old has just spent two nights in Camp 2 at 6,400 meters. “Beautiful weather and warm,” Ueli writes on Facebook. “I was taking the chance to go and have a look towards the West Shoulder. Conditions are great so far. But you never know, it can change until in one month!” According to Ueli, his climbing partner Tenjing Sherpa suffered frostbite. “Hopefully frostbite is getting better soon, so that we can be together on the mountain again.” Steck wants to do a spectacular Everest-Lhotse traverse this spring: via the rarely climbed West Ridge and the Hornbein Couloir to the summit, then down to the South Col and (via the variant opened in 2010 by the native Kazakh Denis Urubko) to the 8,611-meter-high summit of Lhotse – as always on his eight-thousander projects without supplemental oxygen. In this combination, the traverse has never been tried. “That would be my dream,” Ueli told me before the expedition. “But I am also realistic and experienced enough to know that it can only work if very, very much matches. There must be perfect conditions and the weather must be good and stable. I think it’s important to have ideas, but in the end you have to decide on the mountain what is possible and impossible.”

Shishapangma South Face

This wall has enthused him. The second spring in a row, the German professional climber David Goettler will try to open a new route through the South Face of the 8027-meter-high Shishapangma in Tibet. After his failed attempt in 2016 with the Swiss Ueli Steck, the 38-year-old is now on the road with Hervé Barmasse. The 39-year-old Italian is a very experienced climber who has made headlines in recent years, especially with new routes on his home mountain, the Matterhorn. Hervé has also succeeded spectacular first ascents in the Karakoram and in Patagonia. Barmasse has not yet scaled an eight-thousander. I got a hold of Goettler on the phone, just before his departure to the Himalayas, on the way to the airport.

David, you’re just on your way to Nepal. What is your feeling?

David Goettler

I am very, very positive and totally motivated. I think I have rarely invested so much time, training and preparation for an expedition. There could be a new route on an eight-thousander. I’ve been on Shishapangma South Face last year and know what it looks like there, and it’s absolutely possible. I feel quite tense, but in a very positive sense.

You trained intensively in the Khumbu area in February, along with Hervé Barmasse and Ueli Steck. Has this special pre-training in Nepal proven successful from your point of view?

Only when we are back from the Khumbu in two weeks, I’ll be able to say whether it really has paid off as we hope. But considering how I felt at home in the mountains around Chamonix at 4,000 meters, I can already say that I feel a very positive effect.

Barmasse, Steck, Tenji Sherpa and Goettler (from l. to r.)

You will spend two weeks in Nepal before you travel to Shishapangma in Tibet. What exactly are you planning to acclimatize?

We don’t want to spend such a training-intensive time as in February, when we really did a lot of mountain running. Instead, we seek to manage our resources a bit. But of course we will hike and climb. In February, we deposited our equipment in Chukhung [village at 4,730 meters in the Khumbu area]. There we will pitch up our “Base Camp”. From there we will definitely climb Island Peak [a technically relatively easy 6,180-meter-high mountain] again and cross the usual passes. But we will not do anything really challenging. We save this for Shishapangma.

Last year, you traveled to Shishapangma South Face along with Ueli Steck, now with Hervé Barmasse. The same geographical destination – also exactly the same sporting goal?

I want to realize last year’s idea to open a new route through the Shishapangma South Face now with Hervé. That’s our goal. In 2016, due to the unstable weather, it ended with two one-day attempts. I hope we will have more stable weather in Tibet this spring, so that we can seriously try to climb this new route – and hopefully succeed.

Steck and Goettler in Shishapangma South Face (in 2016)

You were speed climbing last year. Do you take more time now?

We can not be so fast on the new route. It is technical terrain, the key passage which you can recognize on pictures is quite far up. We plan to climb the wall within about three days. This means that we will have automatically no longer this high speed, because we need tent, sleeping bag, mat, cooker and food. This is a big millstone around our neck and makes us slower. It will not be possible to climb this technically challenging route and descend in one day.

Do you consider, as Ueli and you did last year, to traverse the summit and descent on the north side of Shishapangma?

We want to descend on the south side – also because I know two descend options from last year. This is much easier from the logistic point of view. A traverse is not our priority issue.

David on the Shishapangma ridge

Do you believe that your chances have increased because you’ve been there last year?

Definitely. For such challenging goals, you may have to invest two or three years to get to know the conditions better. I think, I now have a much better feel for the wall. I know exactly what awaits us there. This is mentally an advantage. In addition, I could train accordingly.

But you can not influence the weather.

Of course not. I always quarrel with it, because I invest so much in the preparation and try to eliminate all the uncertainties. But in the end, I’m going to engage with a game where I can not control many components, like the weather or the conditions. If such a thing happens like the earthquake in 2015, there’s nothing you can do.

The rules have not changed: No matter how well prepared or fit I am, in the end it depends on whether we get a weather window of three or four days to make a real attempt. On the one hand, I am a bit bothered by it, on the other hand it is exactly what defines expedition mountaineering, that you don’t have such a kind of certainty.

Herve Barmasse

You will be now on expedition with Hervé for the first time? Do you have good chemistry?

Yes. It’s just good to be en route with an Italian, because you always have fun. We are about the same age and we have many similarities in life. We’ve known each other for a long time, we’ve trained together. However, we’ve never done such a great thing like this before. But I have a great feeling. I think we work very well as a team. This will be very important this time. Besides Hervé and me, only a cook and a kitchen boy will be in Base Camp. It will be even lonelier than, for example, on Nanga Parbat in winter. I am already looking forward to experiencing this unfiltered, pure expedition feeling in such a small team.

Ueli Steck

He looks forward, not back. “I will never forget what happened on Everest in 2013,” the Swiss top climber Ueli Steck tells me. “But I believe I will have absolutely no problem with it. It’s over. I’m very motivated and I’ll go with a very good feeling.” In spring 2013, a Sherpa mob had attacked Steck, the Italian Simone Moro and the Briton Jonathan Griffith and had threatened them with death. This spring, Ueli will return to the highest mountain on earth. His goal: the traverse of Mount Everest and Lhotse. The 40-year-old will climb with Tenji Sherpa, with whom he had already scaled Everest without bottled oxygen in 2012. The 24-year-old belongs to “a new generation of Sherpas, who really enjoy climbing and are not only interested in doing business,” says Ueli. “I’m really looking forward to being en route with him.”

As reported, Steck had completed an intensive training camp with the German David Goettler and the Italian Hervé Barmasse in the Khumbu area in February. Subsequently, Ueli returned to Switzerland for a few weeks. He will set off to Kathmandu on 8 April.

Ueli, during the training Camp in Nepal in February you ran and climbed a total of about 250 kilometers with 15,000 meters in elevation. How much has been added since then?

Mountain run in the Khumbu region (down Cho La to Gokyo,  in the background Gokyo Ri)

I am not quite sure. I have no longer made such a large scale, but focused on intensive training. However, last week I made another 10,000 meters in elevation. So probably a total of 25,000 meters have been added.

What does this intensive training look like?

Mainly, I do interval and threshold training. These are relatively short units of physical stress, but with a high pulse frequency. This is to push the maximum pulse.

How is your current physical condition?

If you ask me today, it’s actually perfect. I can not change many things anymore, it is only fine-tuning. I can not manage a big increase in performance before I leave. But at the moment I am in top form, my performance parameters are actually sensational. Very likely, I will now do it this way every year.

Ueli (l.) and Tenji on the summit of Island Peak

How will you continue your acclimatization in Nepal?

I will go straight to Everest Base Camp. As I see it, I might ascend to Camp 2 [at 6,400 meters] on the second day after arrival and spend some time there. For me, it is also important that I have slept two nights on the South Col at almost 8,000 meters before it really starts. But for sure, I will also climb up to the West Shoulder during acclimatization to see how the conditions are.

Do you still prefer doing the traverse via the West Shoulder?

It would be the most elegant if we are able to traverse the summit ascending via the Hornbein Couloir, then descending to the South Col and up to the summit of Lhotse. That would be my dream. But I am also realistic and experienced enough to know that it can only work if very, very much matches: There must be perfect conditions and the weather must be good and stable. I think it’s important to have ideas, but in the end you have to decide on the mountain what is possible and impossible.

Everest (l.) and Lhotse (in the centre)

The Everest-Lhotse traverse has never been achieved without the use of supplemental oxygen. How high do you assess the chance of success?

There must something be going quite wrong, so that the traverse via the normal route turns out to be impossible. But we’ve seen it last year on Shishapangma: If the weather doesn’t fit, you have just no chance. You never know beforehand how high the chance really is. But I believe I am able to succeed.

Many expect a record spring season on Everest, meaning that the mountain will be really crowded. This doesn’t sound like ideal conditions for an ambitious project such as a traverse.

It doesn’t have any influence how many people are on the mountain. It doesn’t matter if the people get stuck in a traffic jam on the fixed rope. You do not need to use it and can climb on the side.

Could it be your tactics to schedule the summit attempt as early as possible in the season?

Early in the season, there is often the problem that it’s still very cold. If you go without bottled oxygen, however, it should be relatively warm. Therefore, it’s most likely not an option to set off early. I’ll go rather late. Let the first weather window pass by, then most climbers have already been on the summit, and it will become calmer on the mountain. I think, this is the more likely option.

Barmasse, Steck, Tenji Sherpa and Goettler (from l. to r.)

What a high-caliber training group! The Swiss Ueli Steck, the Nepalese Tenji Sherpa, the German David Goettler and the Italian Hervé Barmasse have been preparing themselves for their expeditions in spring in the village of Chukhung in the Everest region for ten days. Steck and Tenji Sherpa plan to traverse Mount Everest and Lhotse. No one has yet managed to do this without bottled oxygen. Goettler and Barmasse want to open a new route via the Shishapangma South Face in Tibet. In the course of the training, mountain running was at the focus. “I ran three times from Chukhung (4,730 meters) to Island Peak (6,180 meters),” writes Ueli. He had climbed and run a total of about 12,000 vertical meters over a distance of around 150 kilometers. “My body and my soul feel great,” says Steck. “I really enjoy being here in Nepal with such good friends. Just climb and run and nothing else.”

“Personal experiment”

Ueli (l.) and Tenji on the summit of Island Peak

Currently, the four climbers are continuing their training program in the area around Namche Bazaar, the 3,440-meter-high main village of the Khumbu region. They will then return to Europe for four weeks. An unusual form of preparation. “It is a personal experiment of us all,” answers David Goettler to my concerns that acclimatization effect could get lost in the meantime. “At home we want to sleep as often as possible as high as possible or to climb.  We are almost sure that it will lead to a faster acclimatization when we’ll return for our actual expeditions in April. We’ll see whether the plan works out.”

Hervé’s dream

Training for Shishapangma South Face

In spring 2016, David and Ueli had been stopped by bad weather in their attempt to open a new route via the Shishapangma South Face. “The South Face really fascinated me, and I just want to go back there,” writes Goettler. “Hopefully we will have better weather this year!” Due to his Everest-Lhotse project, Steck was not available as climbing partner this time, so David has teamed up with Hervé Barmasse. The 39-year-old is a very experienced climber who has made headlines in recent years especially with new routes on his home mountain, the Matterhorn. Hervé has also succeeded spectacular first ascents in the Karakoram and in Patagonia. Barmasse had two major surgeries last year. “He is back in the game,” writes David about the Italian, who has so far never stood on top of an eight-thousander. “It remains my dream to climb my first eight-thousander on a new route,” Hervé had told me in November 2012. This may not have changed.

Namaste, Chomo! This is Stefan.

Hej, I haven’t heard from you for a long time.

Sorry for that. I wanted to check on your condition.

Sunshine, minus 26 degrees Celsius, 65 km/h at the summit, good visibility.

Sounds like calm winter weather.

I like it.

Have you heard that you’ll be visited?

For sure a few hardy hikers who’ll be standing in Base Camp, cursing because once again the batteries of their digital cameras have run down due to the cold.

Wrong prediction! Two real mountaineers want to climb you in winter.

Is it already 1 April? Since 1993 nobody has climbed to my head. Don’t tell me, it’s this guy from Japan, who has already frozen almost all fingers and is scratching me every fall!

Mount Everest, Lhotse, Makalu (from l. to r.)

No, neither joke nor Kuriki. The Spaniards Alex Txikon and Carlos Rubio will set off to Kathmandu on the first Christmas Day and will come around at Base Camp in the first week of January. How do you find that?

Not bad, a bit of distraction does no harm. It’s good against winter depression, says my therapist.

And what else does he prescribe to you?

Well, the usual in case of burnout: Much rest, above all don’t read the newspaper!

Why this?

Because of the “faked news”.

Does Donald Trump now also want to climb Everest?

Who knows? After the Chinese now want to build a large tourist center on the north side, he could come up with the idea of ​​opening a casino on the south side. But I did not mean Trump when I said “faked news”.

But?

Real (1,2) and fake (3,4) (© The Himalayan Times)

Well, these summit dodgers. These two Indians, who have copied themselves into the summit pictures of other climbers gaining Everest certificates by trickery.

They shouldn’t rob you of your sleep. They were unmasked, and they were suspended from their work for the Indian police.

That’s all I need! I made a proposal to the Nepalese government after this story.

A proposal?

They should install a speed camera at the summit as it is used in road traffic to catch speeders. If someone passes the light barrier, he is photographed. Of course solar-powered.

And, how did the government in Kathmandu react?

They rejected the proposal.

For what reason?

This reform would make the liaison officers unnecessary, they said.

Everest Base Camp

But usually they don’t appear in Base Camp anyway, after they have collected their money from the expeditions.

That’s it. So far, they have not been there because they thought it was unnecessary. Now they would not be there because they would be unnecessary.

Strange logic.

Some things are strange when people deal with me. Why do you think I need a therapist?

But you are the highest of all mountains. You should be bursting with self-confidence.

Just a facade. And it begins to crumble.

I thought climate change was the cause of increasing ice- and rockfall on your flanks.

Right! But when I said the crumbling facade I meant it rather in a more figurative sense. I just want to be respected.

What can I do to strengthen your ego?

Send me less egomaniacs and more top climbers!

Ueli Steck

A good start will be made with Txikon. Finally, he has climbed Nanga Parbat for the first time in winter. And in spring, Ueli Steck will arrive.

To be beaten again? (Laughs)

Stop, Chomo! That’s nothing to make jokes about. He wants to try the Everest-Lhotse traverse. Without breathing mask.

Ui, it takes my breath away. (Laughs) Man, laughed twice in half a minute. Why don’t you call me more frequently?

Okay, promised! Chomo, even if you are a Buddhist: Merry Christmas!

And you!

Ueli Steck

The experience on Mount Everest in spring 2013 has changed Ueli Steck. “The moment when I realized that the Sherpas wanted to kill me, a world came crashing in,” the 40-year-old Swiss top climber wrote in his new book “The Next Step”. “After that, my look at the world was a different one. I withdrew because I did not trust anyone anymore.” In spring 2017, Ueli will return to Everest – to try to traverse the highest mountain on earth and the 8,516-meter-high Lhotse. I talked to Steck about Everest.

Ueli, what does Mount Everest mean for you personally?

Everest is the highest mountain in the world. If high altitude climbing is your thing, it is, with an altitude of 8,848 meters, a dimension of its own and therefore the most interesting and exciting mountain.

Everest, Lhotse and Makalu (from l.)

In 2013, you had – as you describe in your new book – a traumatic experience, when a Sherpa mob seeked to kill you. Do you feel that you have come to terms with this story?

Come to terms? Such things shape you for your whole life. I’ll always carry it with me. But I think I can handle it now. The story has found a place in me.

Did you draw lessons from this incident for your visit next spring?

For sure. I have talked to many people. You can meet bad people all over the world, you just have to accept that. This also applies to Everest.

Do you believe that you will be able to avoid such conflicts in the future?

I think I’ll distance myself much more. This is the only solution. But there are also many good Sherpas or other good locals and only a few odd people. You just have to avoid these people. It’s like being in a big city, where you also have to ensure that you don’t enter the wrong district.

Ueli at the IMS in Bressanone

You want to do the Everest-Lhotse traverse – climbing up the West Shoulder, as already planned in 2013?

This would, of course, be the most beautiful, the perfect option. It’s my big dream if it works that way. But we have to look at the conditions. You can not say yet how they will be. Maybe I have to do the traverse via the normal route, and then, only in the next step, via the West Shoulder. I see that very realistically.

You will climb with Tenji Sherpa, with whom you have been traveling a lot, i.a. in 2012 on Everest. Is he as a climber the equal of you?

As a climbing partner certainly not, but surely as a high-altitude mountaineer, because he tolerates the great height. For a partner, it is not just a question of how good he is. It’s also very important that the team works. For me, it’s also a big part of the project to climb together.

But if you pick up pace, many others can not keep up with you.

Sure. If it does not work, it’s just like it is. But it can also tilt to the other side, in the sense that I am tired and someone else climbs on.

After the successful 2016 season, Everest Base Camp as well as the normal route will probably be crowded again in 2017. Is this a problem for you?

If you’re a good climber, you’ll just climb off the track. This is absolutely no topic for me.

Training with David Goettler on Aiguille Verte

How do you train for Everest?

I have already increased the volume considerably. I have some ideas on how I can train differently, also in terms of altitude training so that it becomes possible. So far, no one has ever been able to traverse Everest and Lhotse without supplemental oxygen. It’s a big challenge. I believe that I am able to do this, but I have to be prepared optimally. I am climbing many vertical meters, so my body is getting used to it.

You have already scaled Everest without bottled oxygen in 2012. Thus you know that you are able to handle the altitude. Does this knowledge help you?

Yes sure. That’s what I have just said. If I am on Everest and realize, hej, it’s a too big challenge to climb via the west flank and traverse the summit, I will try it first via the normal route. In climbing you have to do it step by step and you must be realistic. It’s crucial to accumulate knowledge so that things become quite normal.

Last question: What will you do at Christmas?

I’ll spend Christmas with my and Nicole’s family (Nicole is Ueli’s wife). And then we’ll go climbing for a few days.