Ueli Steck Completes 82 Summits Challenge

The Swiss Machine has completed the 82 summits challenge in only 62 days, which is not fast enough to beat the existing record. Climbing all 82 peaks over 4,000 metres in Western Europe in only 62 days is no small feat. Add to that, Steck used only his muscle power to travel between the mountains.

Spread across Switzerland, Italy and France, Steck traveled 1,000 kilometres and climbed 100,000 metres of vertical terrain. His final summit was Barre des Écrins 4,102 metres, which he summited after getting lost for nearly four hours in the wrong approach valley.

Steck started the challenge with fellow climber Michael Wohlleben, who had to quit the trip after an injury. Then on July 22, tragedy struck when Martijn Seuren, who was climbing with Steck, fell to his death from a ridge on the Mont Blanc massif.

The record for the 82 summits still belongs to Italian alpinists Diego Giovannini and Franco Nicolini. The pair climbed all 82 peaks in just 60 days in 2008 using only muscle power for transportation.

In 2006, Slovenian Miha Valic climbed them in 102 days in full winter conditions using a van to move around. In 1993, Martin Moran and Simon Jenkins comleted 74 peaks in only 52 day before the list of 82 summits was produced by the UIAA.  See here for more.