As I plan and train for my next alpine climb, I reflect on the recent sad passing of one of the mountaineering greats of this – or any – generation, Ueli Steck. Known as the “Swiss Machine,” Ueli became famous to the public with his record-setting solo climbs of the Eiger Nordwand. When he fell to his death on April 30th, Ueli was acclimatizing to climb Everest by the West Ridge, followed by traversing to summit Lhotse, something that has never been accomplished. All solo and without oxygen, of course. Ueli’s passion, dedication, fantastic physical condition, and technical excellence on different terrain put him head and shoulders above most other mountaineers. But beyond his mountaineering accomplishments (recently he summited all 82 4,000 m Alpine peaks in one season, for example), he embodied the humility of how one should approach the mountains.
Although me going on a guided climb up Pik Lenin in the Pamir Mountains of Kyrgyzstan cannot be compared to any of Ueli’s elite mountaineering accomplishments, he recently said:
“There are many peaks in this world and everyone can find their own mountain – depending on what they are looking for. Eventually everyone will find their own Everest.”
Pik Lenin will be a first for me in more ways than one. In the Pamir Mountains between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Pik Lenin is one of five 7,000 meter mountains in the former Soviet Union, the summitting of all of which completes the Snow Leopard Challenge. Although not technical, it is a long, physically challenging alpine climb, with three or four camps established above base camp. At 7,134 meters, it will be far higher than any mountains I have climbed in the Andes. To successfully acclimatize will require more than two weeks on the mountain, a true expedition peak. Bad weather at some point is inevitable. So much so, in fact, that few have summitted the past two years.
That said, I am going with the British company Adventure Peaks (https://www.adventurepeaks.com), who in the past have had good team success reaching the summit, partly because of an option for an extra camp (at 6,400 meters) to help shorten the very long summit day. This year they have added two more contingency days for weather, giving the team many as six days to reach the top. I’ll be leaving for Osh on August 11, returning from Kyrgyzstan on or before September 5th. I have updated my Calendar in this blog to reflect this trip. (I also changed the width of the content, removing the side bar, to better allow viewing the photos).
Until then, my blog posts will diminish both in length and frequency as my focus will be on training. While there are many reasons that I might not be able to reach the summit, I certainly don’t want lack of conditioning to be among them. In the mean time, here’s a photo of me last September on the lower summit of Huayna Potosi (6,087m) in Bolivia:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow” – Ueli Steck, 1976-2017
Happy trails, wherever they may take you,
The Vagabond Hiker
That is SO exciting! What an epic adventure that will be. Looking forward to hearing more about how training and preparations are going. Wish you well!
Thanks for your well-wishes. It’s the first time I’ve done any focused training rather than simply exercise. I started doing some running also – hopefully the knees won’t complain too much!
It is so great to hear about all your travels and conquering achievements. I love this picture! It looks like a knife edge, similar to Moab peak (without the elevation) but with snow, yikes! We just got back from a wonderful trip hiking the Annapurna circuit in Nepal where we went to 5416m, I cannot imagine the heights you are going to. I look forward to hearing about your Pik Lenin trek! Happy Trails my friend . . .