Last week we received the amazing news on Ueli Steck’s solo speed climb of Shisha Pangma in 10.5 hours. Since then, we’ve had a variety of reports on the climb, but we haven’t heard from Ueli himself. That is, until today, when he posted details of the climb on his Himalayan Speed website.
Steck says that when he set off from camp he didn’t have any intentions of climbing the mountain, but that he was going to climb up to about 7200 meters (23,622 ft) to have a look around and see how he felt. But the conditions were so good and he felt in great shape, that he decided to just keep going up.
Ueli says that he climbed along the British Route, then traversed over the Wieliki Route because of bad rockfall in the night. Eventually though, he ended by exiting on the Spanish Route, although he was more or less just feeling his own way as he went. He did report a lot of snow near the summit, which made things a bit dicy, but still he managed to complete the climb in a very quick fashion.
Check out the video below for more on Ueli’s Shisha speed climb. And before anyone asks, no, there still aren’t any summit photos released.
Ueli Steck Climbing Shisha Pangma (8027m) from Mountain Hardwear on Vimeo.
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Thanks for the great article here at your blog. I know it will help me and many others.
I'm assuming Base camp is not precisely at the bottom of the climb. The approach hike would make up the extra time that you are looking at 'guest'
On his website, and in the abundant media
http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?keyid=38082
he reported starting from ABC (Advance Base Camp).
and his website
http://www.himalayaspeed.com/2011/04/ueli-reports-on-shisha-pangma-ascent/
Quote:
10:25 PM (16. April): I left ABC
1:10 AM (17 April): I just crossed the Bergschrund
11:40 AM: I reached summit.
6.30 PM: Returned to ABC
This would make his total time to the summit 13h:15m (Advance Base Camp to the Summit). Bottom to top.
Not "10.5 hours" as Ueli and the media report
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web11s/newswire-steck-shishapangma
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/steck_solos_shishapangma_in_105_hours/
The time Ueli claims is from the Bergshrund to the Summit, not from the bottom to the Summit.
A complete ascent is from the bottom to the summit. ABC to Summit.
For the record, I'm not deleting any negative comments.
And:
No summit photo.
No summit witnesses.
Adventure Junkie:
Any opinion on this timing problem? For example, why did he time from only the Bergschrund? That is not the start of the climb. Climbs start from Advance Base Camp on Shishapangma.
Adventure Blog:
Could you write to Explorers Web about this timing issue? team@explorersweb.com, newsdesk@explorersweb.com. tt@explorersweb.com
It seems very obvious that Ueli's claimed 10.5 hour time is not for a climb from ABC to Summit. Rather, it's from the Bergschrund to Summit. As Ueli states himself on his website. His total time is 13 hours 15 minutes, from ABC to Summit.
Something is wrong here. It seems.
http://www.himalayaspeed.com/2011/05/full-episode-part-2-climbing-cholatse/
Video of a current planned climb by Ueli and his climbing partner at the base area. At about 1:30 Ueli's climbing partner states about Chotalse mountain "gonna give her hell" then at about 2:00 they both talk about respect for the mountain and take part in a buddist ritual, Ueli states "it kind of shows respect."
"gonna give her hell" is disrespectful and at odds with the Himalaya peoples reverence for the mountains.
Bizzzzzzare.