UKC

The Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck has speed soloed the Tibetan giant of Shisha Pangma (8027m) in 10.5 hours.

His recent ascent of Shisha Pangma is one of the fastest ascents of an 8000m peak ever, and Steck was climbing in alpine style, with no fixed equipment.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=61753

Holy ****

~First ascent:
Shishapangma was first climbed via the Northwest Face and Northeast Ridge and face (Northern Route) on May 2, 1964 by a Chinese expedition led by Xǔ Jìng.



~Notable ascents and attempts:
1980 Northern Route (2nd Ascent) by Michl Dacher, Wolfgang Schaffert, Gunter Sturm and Fritz Zintl (7 May); Sigi Hupfauer and Manfred Sturm (12 May); as part of a German expedition.

1980 Northern Route (3rd Ascent) by Ewald Putz and Egon Obojes (13 October), as part of an Austrian expedition.

1981 Northern Route (4th Ascent) by Junko Tabei, Rinzing Phinzo and Gyalbu Jiabu (30 April) as part of a Japanese Women's expedition.

1981 Northern Route (5th Ascent) by Reinhold Messner and Friedl Mutschlechner (28 May), as part of an Austrian expedition.

1982 British Route, Southwest Face (alpine style) FA by Doug Scott, Alex Macintyre and Roger Baxter-Jones (all UK), (28 May). Route follows the right-hand couloir on the southwest face.

1987 On July 18, Elsa Ávila and Carlos Carsolio became the first Mexicans to summit Shishapangma. For Ávila, her first eight-thousander and for Carsolio, his second. Via the northern face/ridge to the central summit, then along the arete to the main summit, with Wanda Rutkiewicz, Ramiro Navarrete, and Ryszard Warecki.

1987 West ridge, FA by Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer (18 September). Kukuczka skied from near the summit. This was Kukuczka's fourteenth 8000 metre peak.

1987 Central Couloir, north face, FA by Alan Hinkes and Steve Untch (19 September).

2004 Jean-Christophe Lafaille (France) roused controversy when he climbed the British Route on the Southwest face, solo, summiting on December 11, and claiming a winter ascent. Since this was not calendar winter, he changed his claim to an ascent "in winter conditions."

2005 (14 January) - first (calendar) winter ascent by Piotr Morawski (Poland) and Simone Moro (Italy).

2011 On April 17, Ueli Steck solos the south face in 10.5 hours.




Approximately 22 people have died climbing Shishapangma, including noted Americans Alex Lowe and Dave Bridges (1999), and veteran Portuguese climber Bruno Carvalho. Nevertheless, Shishapangma is one of the easiest eight-thousander to climb. The standard route ascends from the north side, and boasts relatively easy access, with vehicle travel possible to base camp at 5,000 m (16,400 ft). More technically demanding are routes on the steeper southwest face, which involve 2,200 metres (7,218 feet) of ascent on a 50-degree slope. These are ideal for a (difficult) alpine style ascent.

In reply to UKC News:

Once he knows the routes on all 14, is there any human chance if him going back and ticking all 14 in a year, weather condition dependant?!

In reply to ERU:

Really interesting stats. Do you have any information as to how long these other notable ascents took? I'd like to put Steck's time into perspective.

In reply to UKC News:

Fit lad.

In reply to UKC News:

Wow. I feel weak.

In reply to lewiz:

Copied word-for-word from Wikipedia with no acknowledgement of source!

In reply to UKC News: Outstanding achievement. This guy is an inspiration! Look forward to hearing more!

In reply to petestack: Yep I noticed this as soon as I went hunting for the stats I wanted myself. Ah well.

In reply to UKC News: When I grow up, I want to become fit like Ueli Steck.

In reply to UKC News: Amazing! Well done.

In reply to petestack:

Which typically omits two of the most relevant ascents - the 1990 Kurtyka/Loretan/Troillet ascent of the central couloir to the central peak (not the summit) and the later Destivelle/Decamp repeat of the same route. The former was done Bc2BC (not ABC) in less than 24hrs return by Loretan & Troillet (WK was slower) and the the D/D ascent was also I think up and down in less than 24hrs.

But Ueli was faster, and on a harder route (British?), and he went to the summit. And in April, whereas nearly all the others (except FA 1982) were done in Sept/Oct, considered more favourable, with monsoon snow covering the rocks.

Amazing climb.

In reply to UKC News:

At what point do you start the watch on a Himalayan ascent? And do you stop it at the summit, or when you've made it safely back down?

In reply to petestack:

So what?

In reply to UKC News:

Presuming this guy doesn't get himself killed, he'll have a pretty good claim to be the greatest alpinist of all time when he hangs up his axes.

In reply to simes303:

So quite-a-lot! It's plagiarism (stealing). And so obviously taken from somewhere that any of us could have looked up for ourselves that I Googled it straightaway to see where it came from. So fine if folk want to quote acknowledged sources or simply link to potentially relevant/interesting info, but presenting others' words as your own is at best careless (as I'd guess here) and at worst just downright wrong!

In reply to UKC News:

shit the bed, RESPECK TO THE STECK

In reply to UKC News:

Taking nothing away from Steck as I admire his style. But seems (including me) all have been either unaware or have ignored an earlier solo of the British route.

Chris Warner (USA) soloed the South Face of Shish in 2001 in 16:40 (from ABC to the Summit). "It was the 19th day from leaving home in Maryland, USA. The Scott route leads to within a few hundred easy feet of the summit. There is no quicker, and few more aesthetic, lines on an 8000 meter peak."

34 r/t after being lost in a white out.

Credit do and all.

More here:

http://www.sharedsummits.com/index.php/Shishapangma-2001.html

More of Chris' comments here:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/04/news-from-shisha-pangma-on-ueli-ste...

In reply to lewiz:


"Steck set off from ABC at 5800m at 22:30 on Saturday at 22:30, and climbed the SW Face in 10. 5 hours. 20 hours after departure he was already back in Base Camp."

As Damo noted...ABC to summit time which you can directly compare to Chris' ABC to summit time 10 years previous. Question is still out as to what Steck actually did climb.

"Ueli Steck is the sickest climber..."

And they mean it!

In reply to Dane1:

Yeh, I'm only surmising he climbed the British route. On Don's site it indicates that is what they were planning.

If by Chris you mean Warner, he had the huge advantage of the Koreans on the route in front of him, with their steps, snowholes and fixed ropes. I know he didn't use the ropes on the way up, but he did on the way down, which he was honest enough to admit freely. A good effort for sure, and well recounted, but for Ueli to rock up to an untracked and un-recced 8000er and climb it that quickly, totally alone, is phenomenal and, essentially, unprecedented.

In reply to UKC News:

I think both Ueli and Chris's ascents are amazing, lets just celebrate both of them as brilliant pieces of stylish climbing in what is probably the most dangerous climbing environment and be glad that they both successfully completed their ascents. I'm really looking forward to see what Ueli does next and lets hope that he has a safe and successful trip.

In reply to lewiz: most of them would have taken the best part of a season i'd imagine

In reply to UKC News: to my mind, ground breaking. surely got the credentials to become the best high altitude climber since the early departure of Jean-Christophe Lafaille?

personally, i find it difficult not to hero-worship this guy. i only hope he gets to finish what he has started.

In reply to petestack:

It's a web forum not a submission of college or university work, lighten up a little.

In reply to mattrm:


agree 100%

In reply to jwi: Don't worry Jonas, you'll never grow up.