UKC

NEWS: NEWSFLASH: Steck Solos Annapurna South Face

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 UKC News 10 Oct 2013
Ueli Steck on the South Face of Annapurna, 4 kb

In a brief report on Planet Mountain the news has broken that Ueli Steck has soloed the huge South Face of Annapurna (8091m), Nepal.

UKC spoke to Jon Griffith, close friend of Ueli who said:

"I haven't been able to speak to Ueli yet, but I did speak to his wife, and she has confirmed that Ueli has done the route."



Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68404
In reply to UKC News:

Monumental (,,, or should that read 'mental'?!)
 Cameron94 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: Wow inspiring stuff!
 Juicefree 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: Holy Cow, that IS impressive.
In reply to UKC News:

Jeepers. I have very little idea what this involves, but it isn't the sort of news you hear every day, that's for sure.

jcm
In reply to UKC News: Wow! Looking forward to hearing more about this!
In reply to UKC News:

Breathtaking news.... the potential of this guy is limitless.
 Puppythedog 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: I have a strong feeling I cannot begin to comprehend how impressive this is.
 rusty8850 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: Chris Bonnington's book about the first ascent is well worth a read. Cutting edge climbing for the day and no easy prospect today l'm sure! Impressive stuff.
 JamButty 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: gulp.....
 jonnylowes 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

Anyone know how many ascents the south face has seen?
 maresia 10 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

That has literally made me spill my pint!
In reply to jonnylowes:

I've just been reading Wikipedia and it reports that Tomaz Humar soloed the South Face in 2007. I don't remember hearing about that before.
atrichornis 11 Oct 2013
In reply to Dispater:
From climbing.com's news article: "Slovenian climber Tomaz Humar soloed a route up Roc Noir and continued up the east ridge to Annapurna East (8,047m). But until now no one had soloed a route on the main south face."
In reply to atrichornis:

That's not very clearly written at all.
atrichornis 11 Oct 2013
In reply to Dispater:
It makes sense to anyone who knows the area (I don't either, but I took 2 mins to look up a topo of the mountain and it's clear that Roc Noir is off the main south face).
atrichornis 11 Oct 2013
In reply to atrichornis:
> (In reply to Dispater)
> I took 2 mins to look up a topo of the mountain

Well give yourself a sherbet dip, and a pat on the head.
In reply to atrichornis:
> (In reply to atrichornis)
> South Face routes: http://www.russianclimb.com/annapurna/2008/anna2008.jpg

This sentence is still very badly written: "But until now no one had soloed a route on the main south face." And would be even if you posted a link to a Vermeer.
 Denni 11 Oct 2013
In reply to Dispater:

Here is a wee bit more about the ascent from Alpinist magazine, albeit a small paragraph and more history on the place:

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web13f/newswire-ueli-steck-south-face-annapurna
 kwoods 11 Oct 2013
In reply to Denni:
> (In reply to Dispater)
>
> Here is a wee bit more about the ascent from Alpinist magazine, albeit a small paragraph and more history on the place:
>
> http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web13f/newswire-ueli-steck-south-face-annapurna

"a failed anchor sent Beghin's 7100 meters to his death, forcing Lafaille to down climb with no protection."

Must be a big wall.
In reply to kwoods:
> (In reply to Denni)
> [...]
>
> "a failed anchor sent Beghin's 7100 meters to his death, forcing Lafaille to down climb with no protection."
>
> Must be a big wall.

I remember that; Beghin abseiled off a single friend, which popped.
 AndyC 12 Oct 2013
In reply to kwoods:
> (In reply to Denni)
> [...]
>
> Must be a big wall.

Must be an error!

 Denni 12 Oct 2013
In reply to AndyC:

According to the Alpinist, the south face is 2300 m so just over 7500 feet.
 Oceanic 12 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

Photo here.

http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/panorama/ueli-steck-durchklettert-annapurna-suedw...

Can anybody work out where Steck's line is in relation to the other routes on the face? Did he climb the Jean Christophe Lafille line?
 Oceanic 12 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

Good photo of Jean Christophe Lafaille line here.

http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,99,0,1,mountains.html

Steck's line in the link above looks similar?
 James B 13 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News:

Is there any more detail yet?

I remember visiting Annapurna base camp in 1998 and meeting an American team who were retreating from a failed attempt on Bonnington's south face route. I had a chat with the expedition leader over a beer. He said the team had been spooked by avalanches and too many of them had simply lost the will to continue.

He was deeply impressed by Bonnington and team's pioneering 1970 expedition.

Hearing the cracks and the booms of rockfall and icefall resounding from all around the massive Annapurna amphitheatre, I think I would have wanted to run away too. It was the most intimidating place I have ever been in.

If he did climb the main south face, Steck's ascent will go down as one of the most outstanding Himalayan ascents ever done.
 henwardian 13 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: Three is the charm as they say
 Puppythedog 13 Oct 2013
In reply to UKC News: There is a new thread with more details.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=565994
New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...