Famed Swiss climber dies on Everest
KATHMANDU: Swiss climber Ueli Steck, one of the most feted mountaineers of his generation and famed for his speed ascents of iconic Alpine routes, has died on Everest, officials said.
“Today morning, he had an accident on the Nuptse wall and died. It seems he slipped,” Ang Tsering Sherpa, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said.
Steck, 40, was on Everest to acclimatise before attempting to summit the world’s tallest peak in May, using a never before climbed route. Everest and neighbouring peak Nuptse share a common ridge, which is where Steck apparently slipped and fell, according to a government official.
“He skidded off about 1,000 metres from (Mt Nuptse) camp two early morning on Sunday. Other climbers ascending Everest saw him and asked for his rescue,” said Dinesh Bhattarai, director general at the Department of Tourism.
The accomplished alpinist sought to pioneer new routes throughout his mountaineering career, earning the nickname “the Swiss Machine” for his solo record ascents in the Alps.
Steck made global headlines in 2013 when he and two other Western climbers traded blows with a group of furious Nepali guides over a climbing dispute on Mount Everest.
The brawl shocked the mountaineering community, causing a damaging rift between Western climbers and the often lowly-paid Nepali guides who are essential for commercial expeditions to the crowded summit.
But he was back in the Himalayas only months later, this time to scale Mount Annapurna, the world’s tenth highest peak, via its steep Southface wall.
After 28 hours of climbing — all without bottled oxygen — and a dangerous brush with an avalanche, Steck became the first mountaineer to complete a solo ascent of the 8,091-metre peak.
Controversially, he offered no photographic proof of his accomplishment, saying the avalanche knocked his camera out of his hand.
Nevertheless, he was awarded the Piolet d’Or, mountaineering’s top accolade, for the 2013 climb.
Born in the town of Langnau im Emmental, near the Swiss capital Bern in October 1976, Steck was a devoted climber by the age of 12.
As an 18-year-old, he climbed Mont Blanc’s Eiger massif, an achievement that attracted attention and later sponsors, setting him on a course to become a professional climber. — AFP