Ueli Steck

Born: 1976-10-04

Ueli Steck is a Swiss mountaineer, born October 4, 1976 in Langnau im Emmental (Switzerland) and died April 30, 2017 in Nepal. Nicknamed the "Swiss Machine", it is known for its solo ascents and speed records. As a child, Ueli Steck played ice hockey. At 12, he discovered rock climbing and joined the Swiss Alpine Club. At the age of 18, he climbed the north face of the Eiger and the Bonatti pillar in the Mont-Blanc massif. In 1998, he soloed the Haston Couloir on the Mönch in 3.5 hours, and in 1999 the Lauper route on the Eiger in 5 hours. In 2001, he made the first ascent of the west face of Mount Pumori with Ueli Bühler. From 2002, he made several ascents with Stephan Siegrist: "The Young Spider" (2002) and "La Vida es Silbar" (2003) on the north face of the Eiger, then they chained the 3 north faces of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in 25 hours (2004). In 2005, he made the first solo ascent of the north face of Cholatse (6,440 m) and the west face of Tawoche (6,505 m). Ueli Steck is regularly talked about thanks to his speed records. In 2007, he set a new Eiger north face record of 3:54, then in February of the following year he broke his own record with a time of 2:47:33. In May 2008, in full preparation for their excursion to the south face of Annapurna, Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten set off to rescue mountaineer Iñaki Ochoa de Olza. A rescue helicopter could not be used at such high altitudes, Ochoa died on May 23. Steck will stay by his side until the end. On January 13, 2009, Ueli Steck completed a record trilogy (Eiger, Grande Jorasse, Matterhorn) on the north face in 1 hour 56 minutes to reach the summit of the Matterhorn via the Schmid route. He received the Piolet d'Or 2009 in technical difficulty for the first ascent of the north face of Tengkampoche (6,500 m) with Simon Anthamatten. On July 9, he managed his first 8000, the Gasherbrum II (8035 m) solo. In 2011, on April 17, he climbed the south face of Shisha Pangma (8,013 m) in a record time of 10:30 a.m. and 18 days later, on May 5, he climbed Cho Oyu (8,201m) with Don Bowie. On November 18, 2011, he presented Ueli Steck: Speed, his film in Martigny, Switzerland. In August 2012, Ueli Steck created the Eiger-Mönch-Jungfrau triptych in less than 12 hours. On October 9, 2013, Ueli Steck added to his list of achievements a solo ascent of the south face of Annapurna. During the summer of 2015, Ueli Steck carried out with Michael Wohlleben the #82summits project of more than 4,000 m in the Alps without the use of motorized means, Ueli reached the end of the project in 62 days. On November 11, 2015, Ueli Steck and Nicolas Hojac climbed the north face of the Eiger via the Heckmair route in 3 hours 46 minutes, thus beating the roped ascent record. On November 16, 2015, 5 days later, Ueli set a new Eiger record of 2:22:50. On April 30, 2017, Ueli Steck is training for a combined ascent of Everest then Lhotse in less than 48 hours and without oxygen via the West Ridge route, never repeated. He was discovered dead by rescuers, after slipping on a patch of ice and falling 1,000 meters from one of the faces of Nuptse, during an acclimatization ascent.


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The Alpinist

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2021-02-07

Marc-André Leclerc, an exceptional climber, has made solo his religion and ice his homeland....

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Race to the Summit

as uncredited
Released: 2023-10-04

Fearless alpine climbers Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold enter into a death-defying rivalry to set...

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Pura Vida (The Ridge)

as Self
Released: 2012-10-04

On the south face of Annapurna, at 7,400 metres, Iñaki Ochoa de Olza is dying. His rope...

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Reel Rock 8

as Self
Released: 2013-09-19

The latest groundbreaking films from Big Up Productions and Sender Films. Featuring Yuji...

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High Tension

as Self
Released: 2013-09-19

Ueli Steck (Switzerland), Simone Moro (Italy) and Jon Griffith (GB) are not like 95% of the...

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The Swiss Machine

as Self
Released: 2010-09-01

Ueli Steck may be the greatest speed alpinist the world has ever seen. In this film he tells the...

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Explore Mont Blanc

as Self
Released: 2016-01-21

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Ueli Steck – Auf schmalem Grat

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2020-05-21

Deceased but not forgotten. In 2017, Switzerland's most famous mountaineer, "Swiss Machine" Ueli...

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Reel Rock 5

as Self
Released: 2010-09-01

From death-defying speed link-ups of the wildest faces in the Alps, to Olympian displays of...

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The Six Great North Faces of the Alps

as Self
Released: 2014-10-24

Six big north faces of the Alps. The film consists of six films: "Die Wand der Wände" (Eger by...

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Fly High

as Self
Released: 2008-08-29

Twelve talented young mountaineers, five geologists from the University of Lausanne and four...

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Ueli Steck - Speed, Der schnellste Mann am Berg

as Self
Released: 2011-08-26

He climbed solo, without a rope, the north face of the Eigers in 2h47. Below him the rock wall...

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Ueli Steck - Paraglides Between Mountains In The Swiss Alps

as uncredited
Released: 2013-01-01

Famous for his fast solos on the harshest north faces of the Alps, Ueli Steck decided to learn a...

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Nachtcafé

as Self
First aired: 1987-02-14

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Bergwelten

as Ueli Steck
First aired: 2012-01-26

People experience adventures on mountains all around the world. Personalities, fascinated by the...

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Reel Rock

as uncredited
First aired: 2010-01-01

Every fall the REEL ROCK Film Tour brings the year's most exciting new climbing films to live...

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Robinson Report

as Self
First aired: 2007-10-30

Informe Robinson is a monthly Spanish sports magazine programme broadcast on Canal+. It is...

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