Ueli Steck, alpinist and paraglider pilot:
Thanks to high Achim, the weekend of 18/19 August 2012 was probably “THE” weekend of this summer. Hot and magnificent weather and in particular it was stable without any risk of thunderstorm. Together with Markus Zimmermann Itook the train up to the Schilthorn. From the famous Piz Gloria we glided to the other side of the valley, where we landed on an Alp. The distance was approx. 6 km. From our landing place we hiked up 1000 meter to the Rotal hut. A magnificent summer evening in the mountains expected us. The ridges and border of the mountains were so clear in the horizon at sunset. It has been quite a while I had seen such an brilliant sunset. The night was short. Already at 3 pm Markus and I stood in front of the hut. Our goal was the Jungfrau over the Rotal ridge. Early in the morning we reached the summit of the Jungfrau. At 8 pm our paragliders were ready for another flight. We had perfect north-west-wind, ideal conditions to start. My flight lasted 27 minutes. I landed on the glacier underneath the Mönch Northface. Markus flew to another direction towards Wilderwil.
So now I was on my way alone. I put my paraglider back into my backpack and I started to climb again. The Lauperroute at the Mönch was after exactly one hour and 55 minutes below me and I stood on the second summit of the famous „Oberländer Dreigestirns“. The wind was still very gentle. Another time I could enjoy the luxury of a flight. I flew from the Mönch over the “Eigerjöche” to “Eismeer”; a complete change of scenery . In the middle of crevasses I found a place to land. Again I packed my equipment into my backpack. It was already quite warm on this Saturday afternoon and the sun burned on the glacier. I wanted to leave this place as fast as possible. I had to hike back for about half an hour to reach the way to the Mitellegi hut. Once I reached the hut I enjoyed a decent meal: bread and mountain cheese. Simply great after all the sweet powerbars. I set off my afternoon tour at the "Mittellegigrat". Exactly at 15.13 hours I reached the summit of the Eiger: Once more in my life and again a very special moment to me.
Thanks to high Achim, the weekend of 18/19 August 2012 was probably “THE” weekend of this summer. Hot and magnificent weather and in particular it was stable without any risk of thunderstorm. Together with Markus Zimmermann Itook the train up to the Schilthorn. From the famous Piz Gloria we glided to the other side of the valley, where we landed on an Alp. The distance was approx. 6 km. From our landing place we hiked up 1000 meter to the Rotal hut. A magnificent summer evening in the mountains expected us. The ridges and border of the mountains were so clear in the horizon at sunset. It has been quite a while I had seen such an brilliant sunset. The night was short. Already at 3 pm Markus and I stood in front of the hut. Our goal was the Jungfrau over the Rotal ridge. Early in the morning we reached the summit of the Jungfrau. At 8 pm our paragliders were ready for another flight. We had perfect north-west-wind, ideal conditions to start. My flight lasted 27 minutes. I landed on the glacier underneath the Mönch Northface. Markus flew to another direction towards Wilderwil.
So now I was on my way alone. I put my paraglider back into my backpack and I started to climb again. The Lauperroute at the Mönch was after exactly one hour and 55 minutes below me and I stood on the second summit of the famous „Oberländer Dreigestirns“. The wind was still very gentle. Another time I could enjoy the luxury of a flight. I flew from the Mönch over the “Eigerjöche” to “Eismeer”; a complete change of scenery . In the middle of crevasses I found a place to land. Again I packed my equipment into my backpack. It was already quite warm on this Saturday afternoon and the sun burned on the glacier. I wanted to leave this place as fast as possible. I had to hike back for about half an hour to reach the way to the Mitellegi hut. Once I reached the hut I enjoyed a decent meal: bread and mountain cheese. Simply great after all the sweet powerbars. I set off my afternoon tour at the "Mittellegigrat". Exactly at 15.13 hours I reached the summit of the Eiger: Once more in my life and again a very special moment to me.
To fly means something completely new to me. You need a lot of pacience if you want to have good conditions to be able to fly and climb at the same time. I had this idea of flying and climbing for a long time. I am happy that it worked. My summit rest last only for a short moment. I descended over the west side until I was at the height of the “Genferpfeiler”. I was happy to still find good wind conditions. My legs started to be tired and the flight down do Stechelberg was definitively less exhausting than walking. At 17.00 hours a long day came to its end.
Link to Ueli Steck with all the pictures
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