UKC

I'm surprised that this hasn't seen much press attention but I got an email from Steck about the Integral a couple of weeks ago. He'd just blasted the Peuterey Integral in an incredibly fast time- something like 10 hours on the route itself and just over 16 hours from valley to valley....

That's one hell of an achievement

http://www.uelisteck.ch/en/item/12-integrale-de-peuterey/12-integrale-de-pe...

In reply to Jon Griffith:

Excellent, states its his first time on the sunny South side as well!

In reply to Jon Griffith:

Well it did sort of turn up Jon - in the thread about Kilian Jornet and the Matterhorn! http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=560720&v=1#x7466282
I had it in my mind that you'd done the same thing recently... or am I getting mixed up with your Miage/Bionnassay thing?

In reply to jon: ah sorry I was a bit out of the loop for the last month and didnt see anything on a search on UKC. I did it last year with Jeff so not solo, and it took us a while longer to single push than the Steck!!

Jon

In reply to Jon Griffith:

No, you're absolutely right, it should have a place to itself - I really meant that if Ben hadn't mentioned it in the Matterhorn thread, no-one would have known! So... how long for you guys then?

In reply to Jon Griffith:
What a very modest blog entry as well - super.

In reply to walts4:
Apparently it wasn't his first time on the Peuterey intergral- he'd had an abortive attempt apparently....

Absolutely amazing time though

In reply to Jon Griffith: Really enjoyed that thanks. I would love to do it sometime. What a route.

In reply to jon:


Ah, I missed it Jon, sorry.
Ueli's overall time is certainly incredible - but Val Veny >> Aiguille Noire in 4H30 is just mind blowing!

In reply to Jon Bracey:
Looking at Steck's blog, my understanding was that he had had a trip up the Noire with Caroline Georg and then soloed the integral. You can see different ropes and jacket in the various photos.

Yes, very good time.

But not perhaps as fast as he could go.
The old (AC 1977) guidebook times for the Noire South ridge were about two hours to the hut and a fastest time on the ridge of 5.5 hours.
So only about 60% of an old guidebook time.
Compare this with his demolition of Eiger, Matterhorn and GJ timings.
He must have been pacing himself.

What I find most impressive is a fast time up the upper Peuterey ridge, it must have been pure slush in mid afternoon, or was he lucky that the low cloud kept the sun off the snow?

In reply to Rick Graham:

Looking at that guidebook now (mine's 1976). Whereas it does indeed say 'best time for a roped party 5 1/2 hours', it gives a regular guidebook time of 12 - 16 hours. But I agree, not the same rate of ascent as the others, though very different terrain... maybe?

In reply to Rick Graham:

Ah, I just remembered this:

In reply to jon:

Yes, very different terrain, pure rock for the Noire.
Sensibly, he took rock boots for fast secure climbing on the granite slopers.
I am sure he could have done it in boots but not as quick, worth changing footwear.

Amusingly, I notice his rack consisted of a single green camalot. A very useful size, Peter's favourite, hope for the boy yet.

In reply to Rick Graham: You're correct there but then alot of his solos are not done with intent to break or set a record. I had spoken to him lots about the Integral as it suits his fast and technical solo style really well, not just because he could set a record if you see what i mean.

I think you also have to take in to account that the speed records that we keep seeing in the news from Kilian and Ueli are quite different to what he just did on the Integral. Jorasses aside, all the records are done after tons of attempts and recces (which is what makes his Jorasses speeed record his most 'impressive' one in his view). It makes a huge difference not going in onsight on such big alpine routes as you can have a track in and know exactly where to go, what rack to bring, what the crux entails etc. For example do you think Kilian could have done the Innominata last year in his 'trainers' set up without a track that he put in the week before? (Am not putting his achievements down here because it is just so mind blowing i dont understand it, but you can see the difference in style that not going in onsight allows you to do).

Ueli recce'd the Noire with Carolyn but that is only part of the Integral. I've done it twice and I still got horribly lost in the dark on the Blanche and I was roped up with someone who had also done it before.

In any case I dont think he will mind me pasting these in from our emails, it just shows I think that he wasn't going for a record. He was very much just out climbing for himself and having fun- and I guess post Everest I am very happy to finally see he has got his head back.

I just had a great time on peutere integral. And i wasn't Speedsoloing. I spend 30 Minutes on the Noir and on summit of Mont Blanc i just hang out for 45 minutes enjoining the afternoon. But i now that's maybe my strongest side of climbing. I can climb very efficient and i don't be afraid climbing without a rope.

I had a great Day leaving from Camping in Valveny and finish in les Houches. It taked ne16h 9 min. Was lots of fun and lots of climbing. O just love to much this things. Its just so nice cover so much ground in a Day. I eaven walked back from les Houches to Les Bossons, just because it was such a nice day...

In reply to Jon Griffith: Absolutely brilliant. What really comes across with people like Ueli and Kilian is their genuine love of the mountains. That's something we can all relate to, even if the routes and/or times seem a bit much.

In reply to Jon Griffith:

Wow Jon, you were up early this morning! Just on a slight tangent, any idea why Kilian wasn't in the UTMB this weekend?

In reply to Jon Griffith: This just proves what we already know, that Ueli Steck is not in fact human.

You are also not human, given your description of doing half the Peuterey integrale with a hole in your head, when you were insanely tired to start with.

The striking thing about Uelis's description is not just that he is some sort of climbing terminator, but that he is also so efficient and has such good mountain instincts. Leave aside his casual references to "first climb the Aiguille Noire" as though it were a gentle preamble to the main event, but then he goes on to say "next I climbed the Aig Blanche and had to do 3 abseils" as though it were a trivial step to be overcome. Those abseils were very problematic and very easy to get stuck on, quite apart from the entire ascent of the Blanche being dismissed in half a sentence. Ever had to prussick up the entire length of an abseil rope, with the weather closing in on the Aig Blanche? I can assure you it is not a fun exercise, nor is it quick, yet Ueli mentions both those abseils and the much harder and more serious abseils off the Noire (by repute, I have never done them), only slightly and in passing as though they were a trivial inconvenience. Which they probably are for him.

BTW, you can inform Ueli that he has yet to thank us for the steps on the Aiguille Blanche summit ridge.

In reply to Simon4:

Surprisingly, I saw Ueli Steck at the cafe at the Val Veny campground after his ascent, and the most surprising thing to me was that he looks completely human. I always thought he would have to be much skinnier to put up these silly times, in the Wiggins / Froome mould, but not at all.

CB

In 1983 Jean Marc Boivin did the Integrale de Peuterey in 10hrs 30min, only 2hrs 45min for south arete of the Noire. Blistering. His time likely doesn't include the approach from Val Veny but still he was moving and that was a darn long time ago.

Christophe Profit's original winter solo took 32 hours (1985), then in a very dry winter he did it in 19 hours (1989).

And Alain Ghersen... it is hard to comprehend what he did at the time in that massive link-up of his. He set up the bar really darn high.

Obviously this does not take away from Ueli's amazing feat, but it is good not to forget the past.

In reply to luco:

I completely agree- Alain Ghersen's enchainment was simply way out there and its important that todays in vogue fast ascents are kept in context with history.

In reply to Simon4:


They must have REALLY deep ones to last seven weeks, Simon!

In reply to jon:


Well in our complete panic, we were kicking very, very hard!

I'd like to see just how quickly these superheros can go if we break a few of their bones. Jon Griffiths has already made an honourable start in this direction by climbing most of the integrale with his head almost knocked off by stonefall. This could launch a whole new series of records :

1) Eiger Nordwand, 1936 route with a leg broken in Kleine Scheidegg
2) Matterhorn Zmutt nose with an open surgeons trepaning hole
3) Routes on the Argentiere North wall with all the fingers of one or more hand dislocated

and many more still weirder achievements.

In reply to Jon Bracey:


It'd be interesting to see what someone like Steck could make of the American Direct/Walker/Peuterey Integrale enchainement. But to be able to make a direct comparison with Ghersen's 66 hours, Steck would have to parapente from the Grandes Jorasses to the Val Veny.

In reply to Simon4:

Well, I'm still waiting for *your* expression of deep gratitude for the steps from the Eccles to Monzino (inluding the small scenic but unecessary detour over the rocks near Col Freney).

In reply to jon:

One more that I forgot, Fred Vimal did the Walker Spur and the Integrale de Peuterey in 40 hours Chamonix to Chamonix. It took him only 4:30 hs to do the Walker. This must have been in the mid 1990s.

I think Ueli should have included not only recent fast ascent history to his write up, but also the older, more impressive stuff: Boivin, Profit, Ghersen, Vimal, etc.

Looking forward to see Lindsay Griffin's write up in the BMC site (I am assuming he will write something about it). Lindsay should be able to provide all the context and accurate detail that this bit of news deserves.

In reply to jon:

One of the most appealing thing about Steck's style is that he seems (correct me if I'm wrong) to go out and do these things without a big media circus surrounding the ascents - just him and the mountain. A refreshing contrast with some of the high profile antics of the eighties and so on. Ok, he might go back for some film and photos later, but it seems a much more honest approach.

In reply to luco:

In fact Ghersen and Vimal were competing with each other at the time, so Vimal's enchainement was, I think, just before Ghersen's. Ghersen climbed the Walker the same day as us, so a bit earlier than your guess - 3 August 1990. In fact he was slowed down quite a bit by getting lost in the dark by following some CRS boys' headlights straight up rather than going left, at the bottom, and then when his trail rope snagged a few times higher up and had to wait for me to punter up and free it! My memory was that he summitted at about 11:00am as I remember seeing a helicopter arrive (to drop off his parapente) but the link I gave http://www.alpinisme.com/FR/histoire-alpinisme/les-drus/index.php?fic=p29 implied he got there about midday, but of course, that only means that maybe the heli dropped it off a bit earlier. He summitted approximately 2 1/2 hours ahead of us which means he climbed the actual face in a sedate 8 hours as against Vimal's 4 1/2, which I find strange difficult to understand. However, I must add that having seen the helicopter, I immediately assumed that he'd got in it - it was only later that I learned that he'd parapented down!

So, how would the parapente bit sit with this record business, I wonder?

In reply to jon:
What a cool story Jon. Thanks for sharing. Good point about the parapente. Seems like every generation has its own goals and its own set of means it accepts. Now the deal seems to be to do records valley to valley, church to church (heaven forbid it would be otherwise), back then enchainments were the think to do, at some point in time and even today for many people mostly the uphill time counts, for Profit the use of helicopters was ok, etc, etc. Seems to me that everything is valid as long as you explain clearly what you did.

In reply to MG:


Well if those were the steps that we followed from some point below the Col Eccles to the Eccles bivouac in zero visibility, the ones that Wayne kept saying he could see and I was very dubious if they actually existed or were an over-optimistic figment of his imagination, I certainly am very grateful! We found the Eccles bivi at 9:30 at night, following them (and Wayne's GPS).

A long front-pointing traverse across a steep snow slope above the Brouillard glacier, then over a rock shoulder to a point about 2 rope lengths above the hut? If so, I certainly owe you a pint or 10.

In reply to Jon Griffith:

I add to the Peuterey records the 22 hours Courmayeur to Courmayeur done by Matteo Pellin and Arnaud Clavel in 1995 for the 100 years of the Courmayeur guides society.

There's been several sub 3 hours solos of the South ridge (from the base, not from Val Veny) but as most people know, the possibility of such antics on the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey are severely limited by the nasty tendency of the above mentioned peak to kill people not being exceedingly careful.

I think Steck climbed the Peuterey ridge very much keeping this in mind (he's a very good mountaineer before anything else)

In reply to Jon Griffith:

Young slovenian climber Luka Lindic soloed Peuterey Integrale in less than 16 hours. Here's more info: http://lukalindic.si/?p=260

Greets,
P.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

Luca, why are people ignoring Jean Marc Boivin's 1983 10:30 hour ascent? simply because they don't know about it? Lindsay Griffin does not even mention it in his BMC article about Steck's ascent. I was very surprised by that. I expected better work from Lindsay, although I know he is on vacation so perhaps that explains it.

Also, what do you know about Fred Vimal's split times when he linked the Walker Spur and the Integrale de Peuterey in 40 hours round trip Chamonix to Chamonix? His time up the Peuterey must have been quite fast. Where did he start from? did we walk off Grandes Jorasses?

I simply find it sad that all the news media has been reporting this story with no historical context. I don't mean to take away from Ueli's amazing feat, but it is not cool to gloss over people like Boivin, Vimal, etc.

In reply to luco:

I tried searching for something about Vimal but couldn't come up with anything other than a few rants from Ivano Ghirardini and some articles loosely linking Fred to Hugues Beauzile... I find there's too much difference between Vimal's and Ghersen's times for the Walker.

In reply to jon:

The info I have about Vimal comes from Mark Twight who was is Cham at the time and knew Fred. If you look at Mark's book Extreme Alpinism the info is there too.

In reply to jon:

Here Jon: in extreme alpinism is on googlebooks

http://books.google.it/books?id=DHYSEvCp2e8C&printsec=frontcover&dq...

look at page 140
if you want I can put you in touch with Mark or forward his emails to me about it

He is also the one that alerted me to Boivin's 10:30hs ascent of the Integrale the Peuterey.

cheers

In reply to luco: Hi Luco I found this a useful site http://www.wwwright.com/climbing/speed/french_alps.htm
when putting together our Climb Mag report on Jornet and Steck http://www.climbmagazine.com/news/2013/08/impressive-speed-in-the-alps

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Nice one Ian! Congrats on the good, detailed and careful reporting. Good work.

In reply to luco: I dont think anyway is 'glossing' over history here. But just because it has been done before it doesnt mean that it's any less impressive for it to be done again.

The French are for sure the masters of enchainments and Boivin was part of a very small number that could be termed of as visionary. But Luka and Ueli's times are no less impressive. I think it's interesting that the times aren't hugely different- we assume that nowadays we need to be moving twice as fast as twenty or thirty years ago. But it's not like the human body has evolved in the last thirty years. We can look at the advancement of gear but then if your ethos is light and fast then you're not taking any gear with you in the first place, so weight isn't going to change a huge amount. On the face of it the Peuterey Integral is mainly a rock route so it doent hugely surprise me that there wont be a big difference in Ueli and Boivin time. Ice is another matter though as I feel that hardware has evolved hugely since the 80s and early 90s, but rock shoes for that 'grade' of climbing have not evolved so much comparatively (in my opinion).

I think it's important to not see this as a speed record. That was never the point. You can split hairs for ever when it comes to that: was there a track? had they recced the route before? were conditions better? And this goes for both nowadays and ascents made decades ago. In fact you can point out that nowadays these speed 'records' are done in a more purist style than back then. The idea of using helicopters or having support teams nowadays is pretty unethical when it comes to enchainments whilst back then it was considered ok- I am not saying that every enchainment was done in this way but a huge amount of them were. (How do you think the early enchainments were done using a hang glider? The climber certainly didnt carry them up). I think that's maybe part of the problem of writing this up: it's hard to find out detailed info about past times on enchainments. For example did Boivin start from the valley, from the hut, from the church? It all makes a difference and unless you know every specific detail you cant really compare them. Just writing that Boivin did it in 10 hours 30 mins doesnt really tell you much if you see what I mean?

I think thats the problem with all this speed record stuff. There are so many external factors, including style, that affect the final time. So all in all who gives a damn? Surely what actually matters is that he can actually cover that kind of terrain at such speed- whether or not it took him 10 hours or 14 hours doesnt make the slightest difference to me as they are both incredibly fast and subject to external factors. Yes it's very impressive that Ueli did the Eiger in such a fast time but he has now climbed the thing 38 times! Is it more impressive than someone coming along for the onsight and doing it an hour slower? Are Ueli and Luka's times on the Integral any less important because Boivin did it thirty years ago in a similar time, I dont think so. I think it's pretty cool and if someone did it in 10 hours again in thirty years time from now I'd still be very impressed- its a fricking huge route. And also a massive big up to Luka- that guy is a machine and doesnt have the years of experience that Ueli has behind him.

Jon

PS: none of that is having a go at you or anything, I'm just trying to point out that I think there is a huge difference in modern enchainments compared to the past and maybe this is why it seems like they are being glossed over when in fact it's just that we dont know enough to compare them like for like?

In reply to Jon Griffith:

I am not the one reporting these so called "record" times, so it should not be up to me to research where Boivin started, what support did he have or not have (for all we know he could have none at all), etc, same would go for Vimal. It is up to the person that makes the claims to do the research. The same can be said for when you climb a new route.

My point is quite simple really: it is a shame that these 1980s and 1990s ascents were not included in the original reporting. There was mention of much less important recent history, but nothing beyond that. To me that appeared like at attempt to "gloss over", most likely an innocent mistake for lack of knowing.

The church to church thing is completely arbitrary. Why if the record times on the N faces of Eiger, Jorasses and Matterhorn are bergschrund to top should the Integrale de Peuterey be any different? Anything is arbitrary of course, but we should not set new starting and finish lines as a tool to ignore previous fast times.

Again, my only point is that this story was originally reported ignoring past ascents and that to me is a shame.

In reply to Luca Signorelli:

the best performance on, or better ''close to'', this ridge was 15 day long
and still waiting for someone doing something similar...same walls...in winter...alone...with plastered rock...ciao Renato

In reply to monaco:

http://www.up-climbing.com/en/video/mountaineering/super---integrale-de-peu...

In reply to adnix:

Renato climbed ``super integrale'' for the first time (alone)...Ratti, Gervasutti & central spur

Benoits and friends exited via Frenesie Pascal...considered easier of the central spur in winter condition.

Labbre and friends exited via a new goulotte

so we are still waiting