Everest 2017: Ueli Steck Dies on Nuptse – Updated
Horribly tragic news is coming in that Swiss climber, Ueli Steck, 40, has died on Nuptse near Camp 1 Camp 2 off the Western Cwm. I have received 100% confirmation from multiple sources at Everest. I am told his wife has been notified. His body was recovered and is now in transport to Kathmandu. Durga Dutta Dhakal DoT Director confirmed the incident and saying his body was now at Lukla This original post was about 1:30 pm Nepal time. Today, 1 May, I have updated it with the most recent information. Update: A spokesperson for Ueli’s family posted on 30 April late in the day this official notice on his website: Ueli Steck was killed while trying to climb Mount Everest and the Lhotse. His family has learned of his death today. The exact circumstances are currently unknown. The family is infinitely sad and asks the media builders to refrain from speculation about the circumstances of his death due to respect for Ueli. As soon as there are reliable findings on the causes of Ueli Steck’s death, the media will be informed. The family asks the media for understanding that they will not provide any further information at the time. The Himalayan Times posted the news as well. I was first contacted by Larry Daugherty climbing with Adventure Ascents about noon, Everest time on 30 April: Body found at the base of West Nuptse, climber apparently fell alone and unprotected. Initially it was suspected to be Ueli based on clothing and apparently his acclimatization plan..then they confirmed with my team 10 minutes later it was in fact him. He was reported climbing alone. The details may never be known but often early report have some details incorrect. Two French climbers were also reported in the general area. Climbers at Camp 1 have reported they saw a person falling off Nuptse. Update: It has been reported that Ueli fell 3,280 feet. Summit Climb made this post on 30 April: Our team is ok, but just now we saw a climber falling down Nuptse wall. Oh My God Please Help Them! Update: The UK Gurka team made this post, 1 May about finding Ueli: As the Gurkha Everest Expedition team were approximately 45 minutes into their descent from Camp 2 on Everest yesterday morning, 30 April 2017, members of the team discovered the body of Ueli Steck in the Western Cwm. “Our sincere condolences to Ueli Steck’s family and friends, following yesterday’s tragic events,” said deputy expedition leader Major Andrew Todd, this morning. “Our team, who conducted his recovery and heli-extraction from the Western Cwm, are now back at Base Camp. “Ueli remains a huge inspiration to our team. As we push on, we will never forget yesterday or Ueli’s phenomenal climbing legacy.” Expedition chairman Brigadier Ian Rigden said: “The Gurkha Everest team is very sad to report the death of the legendary Swiss climber Ueli Steck on Mt Everest. His body was discovered by our team and they organised the repatriation off the mountain. Our thoughts are very much with his wife, Nicole, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to her and their families.” Ueli had been acclimatizing for an Everest Lhotse traverse. He had already climbed to Camp 2 and then soloed up to the West Ridge. He preferred to take day climbs from EBC to 7000 meter instead of spending nights at altitude to acclimatize. It can be safely assumed he was doing another acclimatizing run but this time on Nuptse. Update: He had recently posted this on Facebook: Quick Day from Basecamp up to 7000m and back. I love it its such a great place here. I still believe in active aclimatisation. This is way more effective then spending Nights up in the Altitude! Update: Jim Davidson, attempting Everest was at Camp 2 and saw Ueli heading towards the West Ridge on a reconnaissance climb: With heavy sadness, we say goodbye to one of the greatest climbers of our time, Ueli Steck. Ueli died today while solo climbing on Nuptse, just above Camp 1 on Everest. Like many, I looked up to Ueli as an incredible climber. I saw/met him briefly a few times, and he was a cordial and kind man. Last week we watched him solo at 22,000 feet up above Camp 2 on his way toward the difficult West Ridge of Everest. With only my GoPro handy, I took this wide photo of him climbing up. Ueli is circled in red. We watched him ascend for an hour until the clouds closed in. My condolences to his family, friends and many fans. I will always remember seeing Ueli climb up, up, up and into the clouds. In 2013 Russian alpinist Alexey Bolotov died while acclimatizing in the same general area. on Nuptse. His climbing partner Denis Urubko said Bolotov was rappelling when his rope was cut by sharp rocks and fell 300 meters down a rock filled ravine. This is a photo I took in 2008 of the general Camp 1 area with Nuptse on the right. This rock face is similar to the general area where the incident is assumed to have occurred based on eyewitness reports: My deep condolences to all of Ueli’s family, friends and admirers around the world. This is a truly tragic day in mountaineering. Update: And finally, I found some words to express my feelings: Today the heart of our climbing community has been taken. I met Ueli a few times and always enjoyed his talks. His humble style, matter of fact delivery on feats that in some case only he had achieved and no one ever repeated, captivated my spirit and feed my imagination. Ueli never sought publicity, or blogged while climbing, keeping his focus on the task at hand. Only after his achievement did he reveal the details, and the challenge. Thank you Ueli for showing us what could be done, to live bravely and give back unselfishly with your generous spirit. You will be missed. UPDATE 3 May 2017: New information is coming out that contradicts the original reports. Now it seems
Everest 2017: Ueli Steck’s Everest Lhotse Project
Climbers from all over the world are arriving at the base camps on both sides of Everest this week to attempt the standard routes but one Swiss Alpinist has a special plan in mind. Ueli Steck’s Everest Lhotse Project will be fun to watch. He and Tenji Sherpa will attempt to summit Everest by the never repeated West Ridge/Hornbein Couloir route, then descend to the South Col before taking the once climbed direct line just below the Lhotse Ridge to gain that summit. What is unique about Ueli and Tenji’s attempt is that no climbers have ever connected all these routes. They will be climbing with minimal supplies and will not use supplemental oxygen. The Route Ueli and Tenji will begin their climb from the traditional Everest Base Camp at 17,300′ and move to Camp 2, 21,000′, located at the base of the Lhotse Face in the Western Cwm. From C2 they will ascend the West Shoulder of Everest to gain the West Ridge. Following the ridge they will drop off the ridge proper and into the Hornbein Couloir where they plan to bivy for the night. They are only taking sleeping bags, not tents so an almost perfect weather forecast will be required before they leave EBC. After the short bivy, they will begin climbing the steep and sometimes very narrow sections of the Couloir to Everest’s summit. They will take the normal Southeast Ridge route to the South Col where they plan to rest for a few hours. The last leg of the traverse follows the North Ridge of Lhotse where, just below the summit, they plan to join the normal route in the narrow and rock fall prone summit gully. Once on the summit, they will return to EBC via the normal routes into the Western Cwm and Khumbu Icefall. History There are 19 named routes on Everest with 97% of the activity happening on the South Col (Southeast Ridge) or North Col (Northeast Ridge) routes. In recent years, there are 300 to 500 summits via those routes annually. 2017 will be very busy. The West Ridge of Everest is the highly visible ridge forming the north side of the Western Cwm and is also very prominent when viewed from the Tibet side. According this excellent article on ExWeb, there have been about 17 summits using either the West Ridge Direct (10), from the Western Cwm (5) or from Tibet (2). There have been 11 deaths, including five French climbers from an avalanche in 1974. It was last climbed in 1989 and attempted by 21 teams over the years. The last effort was in 2013 led by Conrad Anker For background on the West Ridge route, Croatian mountaineer, Stipe Boži?’s documented his 1979 climb on this link. It is a great story with some amazing photos. West Ridge The West Ridge Direct is a difficult and fatal route. According to historian Pete Poston, the route has more fatalities than summits. There have been ten summits but eleven fatalities, for a fatality rate of 110%. Many of these deaths were descending the Hornbein Couloir, or in the catastrophic avalanche that killed five climbers on the West Shoulder in 1974, including Frenchman Gérard Devouassoux. The West Ridge/Hornbein Couloir also has a fatality rate over 100%. Five climbers have summited, including Tom Hornbein and Willi Unsoeld who established the route in 1963, while nine have perished, for a fatality rate of 180%. Lhotse Ridge The Lhotse section has only been done once by Denis Urubko in 2010 who climbed from the South Col to Lhotse’s summit in five hours. The Himalayan Database has these route notes: On 16 May Urubko left C4 at 6:10 am to forge a new route on Lhotse. He moved from the Col to Lhotse’s North Ridge and along the ridge for 600m. He then traversed for 1.5 km below the ridge, avoiding the pinnacles on the crest of the ridge, to the couloir at 8300m on the West Face, which he gained at about 10:00 am, and finished his climb up the normal route through the couloir. He did this entire day’s climb without fixed ropes, making it difficult, and without oxygen, and reached the summit at 11:30 am. The weather was clear, the wind blowing at 40 km/hr. He descended to C2 by the normal Lhotse-Everest route at 4:00 pm and rejoined Moro in BC at 8:00 am on the 17th. Big Goals Ueli Steck is a carpenter by trade, but has made a nice living with sponsored climbs. His long time sponsor, Mountain Hardwear is no longer on his site and the financial company EFG has taken center stage. He is best known for his daring speed climbs on rock faces like the Eiger. He also has gained attention with solo summits of Shishapangma and Annapurna. He often sets records when he climbs including a speed record on the Matterhorn where he summited in a scant 1:56. So why this climb? He said in his blog: When I’m in the mountains, I’m where I want to be. That’s where I feel happy and content. I feel free and can do what I want. I set my own parametres. I have always enjoyed solo climbing. I love the interaction with myself and nature. There is nothing but you, the rock, the ice, the mountain. Even though I feel small and insignificant, in the mountains I can live life to the full and play like a child! This is where I feel most comfortable and do what I think needs to be done. Why do I have to attempt Everest and Lhotse? Yet again, the answer is simple: I get to stay longer in the mountains. I get to spend more time with myself, Tenji Sherpa and the Himalaya. And now I’ll just go; and only worry about the events that lie ahead of me. Day by day, one by one. It is the here and now that counts. What comes next is uncertain in any case. Learn from Yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. In an interview Ueil
Everest 2013: New Route Attempts by Three Different Teams – Updated
For the first time in recent memory, three separate teams will attempt new routes on Everest in the same season on both the Nepal and Tibet sides. While all these faces have been climbed, they are so expansive that new routes are always available. This 2004 article posted on ExplorersWeb provides an excellent overview of the various routes Information is still a bit vague on this year’s attempts but this is what has been made public this far: East Face: Glab Sokolov and Alexander Kirikov – Updated Updated from russianclimb.com that “20 March, 2013 Gleb Sokolov didn’t find enough money for his Everest project (new line on Kanchung Face in alpine style), so postponed it to next year” A report via the 7 Summits Club website is that they plan to climb a new route from Tibet on the East Face ( Kangshung Face) in alpine style without oxygen. They will acclimatize on Changtse Peak (7550m), via the northern normal route. Gleb Sokolov has extensive experience including climbing on the north face of Everest, on the west face of K2, and on the first ascent of Lhotse Middle. Plus he climbed also Makalu, Lhotse Shar, Lhotse Main, Cho Oyu and Manaslu. Southwest Face: Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov From the Nepal side, there appears to be two new efforts. The first is by Denis Urubko and Alexey Bolotov. Urubko reveals some interesting details in this interview with Spainish site desnivel.com They will climb the Southeast Face starting from the Western Cwm in alpine style with no support: Sherpas, oxygen or even satellite phones which Urubko feels is a “distraction”. He goes on to say they will go slowly enjoying the flowers as they trek in. Sponsored by The North Face and Commercial Bank ‘Financially-Capital Industry’, Urubko said this is about pure alpinism and they are “… just two friends who are ready to work hard and die if necessary.” Their plan is to climb in the area of the pillar on the left flank of the Southwest Face. They are drawn to the vertical line from the Cwm to the Summit. He saluted the previous efforts saying “all are incredible difficulty”. On the crowds and nonprofessional climbers on Everest, Urubko is generous saying ”I like. It means that there are many people who prefer not to stay in the chair in front of the television, but to act. Moreover, like mountaineering and can support the economy of Nepal. For me, it is important not to create problems in a normal way for that kind of climbers. Mountaineering is free for everyone, not only for expert alpinists.” Denis Urobko was born in 1973 in Russia and lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He has over 1,500 climbs with 5 climbs on 6,000m peaks, 10 on 7,000m peaks, all 14 8,000m peaks without supplemental oxygen. Alexey Bolotov, also Russian, was born in 1963 and was recognized on one of the world’s alpinist with the Piolet d’Or for his 1997 ascent of Makalu Ueli Steck and Simone Moro: South Face Another new route on the Southwest Face. Details are still a bit sketchy. But they have posted an extensive interview on the montagna site Simone Moro, from Italy, is a world class climber starting his career in the Dolomites. He has focused on winter expeditions with climbs on Aconcagua, Broad Peak, Shishapangma, Makalu, and Gasherbrum II. He has four summits of Everest. Ueli Steck, has an extensive resume including El Capitan free climbs to 8,000 meter peaks. He is probably known today as a speed climber. Born in Switzerland in 1976 his recent climb of the Eiger North Face received worldwide acclaim, climbing the 6,000 foot North Face in 2hr and 47 minutes. Best of luck to all these teams. Climb On!AlanMemories are Everything