Famous climber Ueli Steck killed
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DayTrip
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Saw this earlier. One of my climbing idols. His light style, speed and stamina were amazing. It's too bad so many of these people's lives end in tragedy but I guess it is the nature of mountaineering. Part of the thrill of the accomplishments is the knowledge that complete disaster is one step away at all times.
sierra
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I read an interesting exchange, that this guy was possibly going to best Rienhold Messner as the best Alpinist ever. Alas, not now.
What's sad is for the general populace, he's more well-known now than ever before. I know I don't follow the climbing community as I once did, so I now know more of him than previously.
sierra
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Same here, since I gave up technical climbing, I'm out of the loop as well. I have heard of some of his climbs, he was definitely a cutting edge climber. Unfortunately, that style ( and the general populace doesn't see this) the margin for error is thin. Reminds me of Alex Lowe, when he died, it actually surprised people, he was that good.
DayTrip
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I watched a lot of YouTube videos the other night about Steck. His skills were truly crazy. Whatever that project was where he climbed all 60+ 8000m peaks in the Alps they show him basically running down a 60 deg slope in crampons with as much skill and control as I would saunter down my front walk in sneakers. He seemed amazingly humble and grounded too which I always liked about him in interviews.
One thing I have noticed is he is being memorialized from climbers with different backgrounds/specialities. From pure big wall climbers to mountaineers, all seemed to have climbed with him and respected him.
I'm probably wrong...I'm wrong a lot. But I think there are only fourteen 8,000 meter peaks, and none of them is in the Alps.
DayTrip meant to write 4000m peaks of the Alps, of which there are 82.
I saw Steck talk twice in the Boston area in the last few years. He was funny and very humble, even though he was pushing boundaries way beyond what anyone thought possible. His solo of the south face of Annapurna might be the greatest single mountaineering accomplishment ever. Sadly, it's not surprising that he died given how small a margin of error exists in the type of mixed (rock/ice) solo climbing he excelled. Steck's death also reminds me of how insane Messner’s accomplishments really are. He climbed all 14 8000m peaks without supplemental oxygen by age 42, some solo and many by new routes. He put up new routes on other monster mountains all over the world, crossed Antarctica and Greenland on skis and the Gobi Desert solo on foot and somehow is still alive in his 70s.
jfb
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DayTrip
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Yes I botched the meter reference in my comments. Used to referring to the 8000m list that big boy mountaineers aspire to complete. I'm sure most of the members here know what project I am referring to and can recite all the pertinent facts ad nauseum. He did the 82 4000m peaks in 62 days. It wasn't 62 peaks and they aren't 8000m. Was just making a point, not writing a term paper. Dude was awesome. 
But just to be safe, this is what I was referring to: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15x/newswire-ueli-steck-climbing-alps-82-4000-meter-peaks
But just to be safe, this is what I was referring to: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15x/newswire-ueli-steck-climbing-alps-82-4000-meter-peaks
DougPaul
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A little more info and a video describing his project. https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/swiss-machine-ueli-steck-killed-in-mt-everest-accident/
Doug
Doug
