After watching the movie "North Face," based on an actual mountain climb that took place in 1936, I wanted to learn more about the history of climbers challenging the "Eiger Wall of Death." The movie features an incredible look into early mountain climbers. It also includes an interesting view of post WWII politics between Germany/Austria.
My mountain climbing curiosity led to discovery of a man who revolutionized climbing and earned him the nickname "The Swiss Machine." His name is Ueli Steck and his drive, courage and talent for conquering mountains is a tribute to men of sport and exploration.
Ueli put mind, body and spirit into a climb, and revisited mountains in order to outdo past world record climbs of his. Watching footage of Ueli climb freestyle up the face of a mountain, as if its just a Sunday afternoon walk in the park, is simply fascinating.
In 2007, he nearly died climbing the Annapurna south face in Nepal after loose rock knocked him from the wall. He fell nearly 1,000 feet, reported the Alpinist. But Steck returned in 2013 and achieved the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face, receiving the “Piolet d’Or” — the Oscar of mountaineering — for his feat, reported the AP.
Tragically, Ueli fell 3,300 ft. to his death in 2017, during an acclimatizing (adaption to a new climate) climb in preparation for climbing the West Ridge of Mt. Everest.
Ueli Steck was a Raider, pillaging just for fun. And I'm sure that upon reaching whatever mountain summit taken on, he'd laugh as he'd conquered and won!
No comments:
Post a Comment