Swiss speed climber Ueli Steck and alpinist Roger Schäli made impressively fast ascents of the Alps’ most challenging peaks last month, with Steck completing a traverse of Mont Blanc while Schali tackled the Jungfrau Marathon.
Ueli began the Peuterey Integral traverse in mid-August shortly after arriving in the Chamonix Valley. Said to be the hardest route of its kind in the Alps, the traverse involves more than 4,500m of ascent over many terrain types, leading climbers from the Aiguille Noire’s south ridge, over the Aiguille Blanche and Grand Pilier d’Angle to the summit of Mont Blanc.
After spending a night in the Val Veni valley, Steck left camp running at 4.00am, reaching the base of Aiguille Noire just an hour later before climbing it in less than three and a half hours and making 16 rappels down the north ridge. He reached the summit of Mont Blanc just before 3pm. Steck began his descent shortly after to Les Houches where he arrived 16 hours and 9 minutes after setting off from Val Veni.
Across the border, Roger Schäli returned from his recent ascent of the Eiger to attempt a one-day ascent of the Jungfrau Marathon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The route saw him cross steep rock pillars and battle loose ground after setting off from the valley floor at 3.30am. Following a demanding climb through rock and rubble, not to mention 3,000m of vertical ascent, Schäli along with teammate Hefto reached the summit of Jungfrau (4,158m) just 16 hours after setting off. Schäli believes this is “the limit in terms of length and difficulty of any route we can climb in one day”.
RELATED LINKS:
www.uelisteck.ch
www.rogerschaeli.ch