Greetings from Namche! We’ve been here in the heart of the Khumbu for a few days, acclimatizing and enjoying the refreshingly slow pace of life… As usual, our stay here has been that much more relaxing thanks to the wonderful Sherpa hospitality – a special shout-out goes to Pemba at the Khumbu Lodge. Read More
Over the weekend, Swiss alpinist-extraordinaire Ueli Steck blazed up the South face of Shisha Pangma, the 14th highest mountain in the world, ascending more that 2000 vertical meters of terrain to reach the 8027 meter summit in a mere ten and a half hours. “Our latest weather forecast on the 16th indicated low pressures and high winds would arrive late on the 17th, and the next good weather window would likely not arrive until perhaps the 28th or 29th – if it ever came at all. In other words, the weather forecast was not looking good,” Read More
Ueli left basecamp at 5306m on Saturday April 16th at 10:30pm to solo-climb the southwest face and summit Shisha Pangma in just 10.5 hours. It is reported that just 20 hours after departure Ueli was back at basecamp recovering comfortably from the high alpine assault already thinking about what’s next up in the high mountains […] Read More
Our first attempt to escape Kathmandu was thwarted by rain showers and high-winds. After five hours of waiting in barely-contained chaos of the domestic terminal of the airport for our plane to Lukla, all flights were finally, definitively cancelled for the rest of the day. The next morning, however, dawned clear and calm. Rob, Jim, and I boarded our twin-engine Otter plane, and silently said a few prayers – the flight could well be the most dangerous part of our entire journey. Read More
The world first heard of Ueli Steck in the inaugural issue of Alpinist Magazine, back in 2002. Ueli, with Canadian badass Sean Easton, had pulled off an incredible ascent on East Face of Mount Dickey, a mixed horror show they dubbed “Blood From Stone”. In only three days, the pair merged big-wall climbing with cutting edge mixed-techniques – the equivalent of ascending a face half-again as big as El Cap with ice tools and crampons. Because the ascent was so startling, and occurred on a relatively low-altitude peak lacking big-name stature, it escaped attention for many mainstream adventure media outlets. Only the true alpine crazies recognized the achievement for what it was: a ground-breaking achievement that heralded the arrival of a world class talent. Read More
It’s a funny thing how much the human animal is a creature of habit. People tend to say the same things, watch the same movies, hangout with the same people, go to the same bars, set the same goals and make the same mistakes over and over, day after day and year after year, throughout the trajectory of experience that we call life. Climbers are no different, although I suspect the arch of the pendulum swings a degree wider for us than it does for most other folk, ranging from the extreme masochism to unchecked indulgence in equal time. Read More
Ueli Reports on Shisha Pangma Ascent
Shisha Pangma was just great. One of those days when everything works out. I just started to climb, but did not expect to go to the summit. I was just thinking that I am going out to check the conditions up to 7200 meters. But things went well. Perfect Full Moon. Perfect conditions like on Cholatse and I felt great! Read More »