Steck Solos Matterhorn North Face in 1: 56

Dougald MacDonald

19th January, 2009

This has been read 29,859 times

The Swiss climber Ueli Steck has climbed the north face of the Matterhorn by the Schmid Route in 1 hour 56 minutes. The ascent comes about three weeks after Steck soloed the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in 2 hours 21 minutes, via the Colton-MacIntyre Route, and less than a year after he climbed the classic route on the north face of the Eiger in 2 hours 47 minutes.

The Schmid Route (1,000 meters, ED1), originally climbed in 1931, was the first line on the north face of Switzerland's iconic mountain.

Read the full report by Dougald MacDonald at Climbing.com

A Swiss television report on the climb (in German), complete with remarkable helicopter footage, can be viewed below.

This post has been read 29,859 times

Return to Latest News

UKC Advertising

Comments

Lh88

19 Jan, 2009

That Guy is a machine! I wonder what time he will get on all six faces...

Only a hill

20 Jan, 2009

Whatever floats your boat, mate!! p.s. Incredible achievement--I can't even begin to imagine the level of skill and confidence required to climb such an incredible route in such a short space of time.

veteye

20 Jan, 2009

Astounding! I bet our Calves would be aching after only a quarter of the way up(he looked like he was front pointing all the way without rest), and that would have taken longer than he took to get to the top. Maybe he could do the Cassin route on Denali so quickly that he didnt get chance to get altitude sickness.

Bulls Crack

20 Jan, 2009

' Yes but all this concentration on 'the time' seems a bit of a dead-end...imo

Nicholas Livesey

20 Jan, 2009

Could Steck be the Dan Osman of mountaineering? ;-) An amazing achievment that puts hard bouldering 'sends' into perspective. Radical dude.

More Comments

Add Comment