“Summit, alone, South Face,” was the text that sent from base camp at 10:00 p.m. on October 9. He was referring to his solo ascent—the first ever—of the south face of Nepal’s 26,545-foot Annapurna.
The Swiss alpinist was joined by Canadian for acclimatization trips up the mountain, and they climbed together to at least 20,000 feet (6,100 meters). According to , British climber Jon Griffith confirmed the ascent after contacting Steck’s base camp.
Steck had attempted the south face route twice before. His 2007 attempt ended when he was hit by a rockfall and fell about 1,000 feet; in 2008 he and partner Simon Anthamatten abandoned their climb to rescue Spanish climber Iñaki Ochoa de Olza.
Steck explained his persistence in his on September 15:
ϳԹs stand out because you can never calculate in advance what all could happen … nothing is for sure. To walk through life in a comfortable way is still not my goal. This is why I want to try to climb Annapurna a third time. I would like to implement my dreams and visions into reality. Annapurna is one of them.