Ueli Steck Nearly On-Sights El Capitan

In May the speedy Swiss climber Ueli Steck free-climbed Golden Gate (5.13b), a 41-pitch route up the west wall of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

Ueli on-sighted or climbed the route for the first time and fell on only one pitch. Steck, 32 years old, did the route in four days on his honeymoon. His wife Nicole belayed him. Steck onsighted without falls three 5.13 pitches and five 5.12 pitches, but fell on a relatively easy 5.11 crack above El Cap Spire when he slipped on wet rock.

This impressive feat was done in impeccable style. Steck climbed from the ground up, didn’t rehearse any of the hard pitches or check out the sequences before climbing them. He also hauled a heavy pack after every pitch while Nicole ascended the rope.

Ueli Steck, while relatively unknown in the United States, is a very strong European rock climber and alpinist. He’s free-climbed routes as hard as 5.14a and free-solos, that is climbs without a rope, routes as difficult as 5.13b. He’s also an amazing alpinists who has set solo speed records in the Alps, including on the legendary North Faces of The Eiger, Grandes Jorasses, and Matterhorn. He climbed the Grandes Jorasses in 2 hours and 20 minutes; the Eigerwand in 2 hours and 47 minutes; and the Matterhorn in 1 hour and 56 minutes. Simply unbelievable times.

Photographs above: Ueli Steck on El Cap’s summit after his ascent. Photograph courtesy Nicole Steck/www.uelisteck.ch