Known as the swiss machine, stecks solo speedclimbing feats in the alps are the stuff of legend under three hours for the. It is the tenth highest mountain in switzerland, and one of 48 swiss peaks above 4000 m in height. The matterhorn is the most easily recognised peak in the world. When 22, lerjen now 26 set the speed record for a round trip ascent of the mountain with fellow zermatt resident simon anthamatten. He managed some miracles with the planning to make it possible for us to summit. Switzerlands ueli steck, a recordsetting solo climber, is one of the speediest alpine technicians on the planet. The easiest way to climb matterhorn is from the zermatt side via the hornli hut 3260m and the hornli ridge. At 4,478 metres, the majestic matterhorn certainly the most famous mountain in europe looms over the breathtaking alpine panorama. The route is very exposed, mainly consisting of lowergrade rock climbing, with and. But the matterhorn, on the swissitalian border, was supposed to be a little easier. Steck was considered by many to be one of the strongest climbers who ever lived the holder of six amazing speed climbing records the first and only englishlanguage book by this much loved alpinist a climber of incredible strength, ueli steck set climbing records for speed and endurance that no one had previously thought possible. Apr 30, 2015 dani arnold set a new speed record on the matterhorn on wednesday, climbing the north face in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Vince flynn, author of pursuit of honor matterhorn is one of the most powerful and moving novels about combat, the vietnam war, and war in general that i have ever read.
The ascent comes less than three weeks after steck soloed the north face of the grandes jorasses in 2 hours 21 minutes, via the coltonmacintyre route, and less than a year after he climbed the classic route on the north face of the eiger in 2 hours 47 minutes. Honour is among fellow soldiers is surely the greatest motivator of men in dire circumstances. Interview with ueli steck from switzerland after his january speed climb of the matterhorn in a record 1 hour 56 minutes via the schmidt. Daniel desloverzuma presscorbis out of all of the mountains that make up. Dani arnold hat beim speed solo aufs matterhorn ueli stecks bestzeit um zehn minuten unterboten. The organization, zermatt hotel, and earlier climbs riffelhorn, dri hornli, weissmies were great. Mar 09, 2016 the matterhorn is perhaps the most recognizable of the peaks that make up the alps, and has a height of 14,692 feet. Karl marlantes has written a riveting and harrowing portrait of young men at war. Standing in their way are not merely the north vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Nobody climbs faster than swiss superman ueli steck, whose rapid ascents of classic. Mountain climbing in the alps, climbing the matterhorn mountain located on the border of italy and switzerland, is a regular pyramid rock, closing the valley cervino, from switzerland, it looks like a freestanding mountain, but in fact it is the end of the mountain range, which stretches for many miles and south side surrounded by high and. Karl mariantes has hit the nail on the head about the feel and sense of any war.
This deeply personal and revealing memoir, ueli steck. The record was lowered by steck himself to 2 hours 47 minutes 33 seconds the following year. The swiss now holds the records for the fastest ascents of the north faces of the eiger, grandes jorasses and matterhorn, historically the three great north faces of the alps. Book your tickets online for the matterhorn, zermatt. Whats the story set in 1969, a young marine lieutenant and his comrades in bravo company are dropped into the mountain jungle of vietnam. Matterhorn is that rare modern novel destined to become a classic. Unguided climb of the matterhorn via hornli ridge duration. Watch dani arnold speed ascend the matterhorn red bull.
Jul 30, 2010 f or the men of bravo company, fifth marine division, boredom and fear are almost as daunting a prospect as the guns of the north vietnamese army nva. Jun 03, 2012 lilf takes on the matterhorn solo this time. Was it your main objective for this winter season or you just had it in mind and waited for good conditions. In 2010, bigwall climber alex honnold broke solo speedclimbing records on the. Zermatt and the matterhorn by meridian rare books issuu. The novel matterhorn opens at fire support base matterhorn, the fictional fortified hill in the middle of the jungle for which the novel is named, and begins shortly after the arrival of the protagonist, second lieutenant waino mellas. The matterhorn this is a wikipedia book, a collection of wikipedia articles that can be easily saved, imported by an external electronic rendering service, and ordered as a printed book. From the hornli hut we climb a rock ridge that is about 1200m long. A novel of the vietnam war launched onto the bestseller lists in 2010, when united states was entrenched in t first of all, you cant fall into hating the people you are killing.
You will stand on top of this icon of a mountain, looking at the village of zermatt 9000 ft. Ueli steck has set a new solo speed for the eiger north face. This summer i found myself in zermatt, at the base of the mountain on the swiss side, for four days, right in the middle of climbing season, and the weather was perfect. Steck set his first speed record on the north face of the eiger in 2007, climbing it in 3 hours and 54 minutes. Climbing the heckmair route, the pair improved on roger schaeli and simon gietls 2011 record of 4 hours 25 minutes with a time of 3 hours 46 minutes. Mont cervin or le cervin is ranked, by height, 12th mountain in the european alps. Februar 1984 im kanton uri ist ein schweizer extrembergsteiger. Kilian jornet sprints up and down the shortest ridge of the matterhorn in 2 hours and 52 minute, breaking brunods lion ridge run from breuil by 22 minutes 2015 edit april 22. A great read, whether you are preparing for a trip, reminiscing about a memorable stay, looking for entertainment or gathering knowledge. Seven surprising facts about the matterhorn travel. Troillets record was whittled away until 2009, when ueli steck put up a seemingly insurmountable time. First winter solo ascent via the hornli ridge by giusto gervasutti. The matterhorn is a technical alpine rock, snow, and ice. Ueli steck was born in 1976 and considered one of the worlds best extreme climbers, and the single most successful climber ever from switzerland.
Dec 09, 2014 ueli steck, 38, is perhaps todays most acclaimed alpinist. Climb matterhorn with a mountain guide guided matterhorn climbs. In 2006 racehorse ueli steck romped up the route, solo, in a mere 25 hours, a time on which, given steck s credentials, many felt would be almost impossible for roped parties to improve. Grandes jorasses north face speed solo ueli steck youtube. Some of the books are available from zermatt tourism, others from zermatts book shops.
With his recent ascent of the north face of the matterhorn, ueli steck has completed a classic trilogy of speed solos. A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirty. He shows due respect to the nva that were often demeaned in other books. The mountain is on the border between switzerland and italy, it towers over the swiss village of zermatt and the italian village breuilcervinia in the val tournanche. He broke swiss mountaineer ueli stecks record by 10 minutes. The route is very exposed, mainly consisting of lowergrade rock climbing, with and without crampons, and some sections on larger snow fields. Dani arnold breaks matterhorn speed record, climbing, 30 april 2015. When 22, lerjen now 26 set the speed record for a round trip ascent of the mountain. Ueli steck climbs the classic schmid route on the north face in 1 hour and 56 minutes. May 01, 2011 matterhorn should be a great book and is a great book.
A novel of the vietnam war is a novel by american author and decorated marine karl marlantes. Mar 31, 2016 43015 on wednesday, april 22 swiss climber dani arnold successfully climbed the matterhorn s north face in a new record time of one hour and 46 minutes. It is the timeless story of a young marine lieutenant, waino mellas, and his comrades in bravo company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. This switzerland landmark is at the border of the western swiss canton of valais between zermatt and the italian resort of breuilcervinia, and offers a paradise for. Intense, powerful, and compelling, matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of norman mailers the naked and the dead and james joness the thin red line. Ueli steck interview after matterhorn solo in less than 2 hours. Dani arnold smashes ueli stecks matterhorn speed record.
Isolated at the head of the zermatt valley, the perfectly shaped mountain needs little introduction and continues to top the must do list of thousands of climbers who aspire to climb it each year. Mit etwa 20 jahren begann er mit freesoloeisklettern, obwohl ihn seine eltern. Dont try this at home or in the mountains if you can avoid it. Breaking the speed record on the matterhorn youtube. There is a lot to know about zermatt and numerous facts, anecdotes and stories exist about the matterhorn. Matterhorn by karl marlantes a stark, brutal vietnam war epic karl marlantes debut novel, 30 years in the making, follows waino mellas, a young ivy league student sent to. Arnolds time knocked ten minutes off the previous record, set by ueli steck in 2009. Dec 05, 2010 solo attempt of the matterhorn samuel t. Arnold climbed free solo following the schmid route, same as steck, but with a different variation up top. Damit halt arnold nun neben dem matterhorn schmidroute auch am grandes. The german name matterhorn is named for mattertal and zermatt historically matt alpine meadow, the prefix zeris a preposition in the schalbetter map, printed by sebastian munster in 1545, the valley is labelled mattertal, but the mountain has the latin name mons silvius and the german name augstalberg, augstal being the german name of aosta valley from augusta praetoria salassorum.
At only age 17, he mastered the highest rating of difficulty in climbing 9th level in uiaa, while his most spectacular achievement was the ascent in record time of each of the three most difficult north faces of the alps. Ueli steck, 38, is perhaps todays most acclaimed alpinist. Known as the swiss machine for his solo missions based on speed and endurance, ueli also managed to claim the eiger north face team speed record with nicolas hojac on 11th november. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. The summit of the matterhorn will remain engraved in your memory for the rest of your life.
Swiss machine ueli steck reclaims eiger record swi swissinfo. Jul 10, 2010 karl marlantess 35year struggle to write a true novel of the vietnam war has finally paid off, says robert mccrum matterhorn is a bestseller. May 06, 2015 daniel dani arnold on april 22 broke the speed climbing record for the matterhorn, ascending the north face of the iconic 14,692foot peak in one hour and 46 minutes. But if this is the first time youve considered climbing the matterhorn, you. Mar 31, 2016 the swiss climber ueli steck has climbed the north face of the matterhorn by the schmid route in 1 hour 56 minutes. Known as the swiss machine, stecks solo speedclimbing feats in the alps are the. The matterhorn this is a wikipedia book, a collection of wikipedia articles that can be easily saved, imported by an external electronic rendering service, and ordered as.
However, arnold still holds the speed record for the matterhorn beating stecks. In 2006 racehorse ueli steck romped up the route, solo, in a mere 25 hours, a time on which, given stecks credentials, many felt would be almost impossible for roped parties to improve. He won the piolet dor, mountaineerings highest honor, in 2009 and 2014, and was known, among his many accomplishments, for his speed solos of the north face trilogy eiger. Meridian rare books po box 51650 london se8 4xw united kingdom. The 14,700foot mountain rose like a huge, jagged canine tooth into a pure blue sky. Dani arnold climbs the classic schmid route on the north face in a onehour and 46 minutes, 10 minutes faster than ueli steck in 2009. Matterhorn author karl marlantes, august 20, 2010 the times london. Matterhorn by karl marlantes overdrive rakuten overdrive. First of all i would like to congratulate you on your speed climb on eiger. Legend ueli steck has solod annapurna, matterhorn in record. Matterhorn simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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