82 and Done – Ueli Steck Completes Alps Mission in 61 Days

This guy never sits still. Ueli was aiming to climb the Eighty-two Summits in the Alps over 4,000m in 80 days. After just sixty-one days, Ueli Steck was done. Insane.

Ueli Steck and his old friend Res Aeschlimann on the summit of the Grand Paradiso, Steck’s third to last peak.

Here is more info on this latest feat:

Steck, the Swiss Machine, began the #82Summits project on June 10, alongside German mountaineer Michi Wohlleben. Their goal was to climb all 82 4,000 meter peaks in the Alps in 80 days, using human-power—hiking, biking, paragliding and skiing—to travel between and ascend each summit.

While descending from their fourth summit, however, Wohlleben took a hard landing with his paraglider, ending his #82Summits quest. Steck continued with the project, climbing with several partners, including his wife, Nicole Steck,and Dutch mountaineer Martijn Seuren, who was also attempting all 82 peaks.

While climbing the Grandes Jorasses (4,208 meters) with Steck on July 22, Seuren fell over 950 feet into a crevasse and was killed.

He would have been the first Dutchman to climb all 82 4,000-meter peaks in the Alps.

On August 10, Steck bagged his last two peaks, the Les Ecrins, 19 days ahead of schedule. He began his last day with a three and a half hour detour, running up the wrong valley. By 8 a.m. he was back in the parking lot, “with a really good warm-up,” to finish his last climb.

Steck celebrated with champagne and a trip to Céüse, to, as he puts is, “see if we can hold on to steep Limestone.” Beyond that, he has no set plans.

While Steck was not trying for a record, he came one day shy of the the Italians Franco Nicolini and Diego Giovannini's 2008 linkup of all 82 summits in 60 days. They too employed only human-power, hiking, skiing and biking up and between peaks.  

The 82 peaks in order from highest to lowest:

Mont Blanc, 15,781 feet (4,810 m)

Mont Blanc de Courmayeur, 15,577 feet (4,748 m)

Dufourspitze, 15,203 feet (4,634 m)

Nordend, 15,121 feet (4,609 m)

Zumsteinspitze, 14,970 feet (4,563 m)

Signalkuppe, 14,944 feet (4,555 m)

Dom, 14,941 feet (4,545 m)

Liskamm – east summit, 14,852 feet (4,527 m)

Weisshorn, 14,780 feet (4,505 m)

Täschhorn, 14,734 feet (4,491 m)

Liskamm – west summit, 14,695 feet (4,479 m)

Matterhorn, 14,692 feet (4,478 m)

Picco Luigi Amedeo, 14,662 feet (4,469 m)

Maudit, 14,649 feet (4,465 m)

Parrotspitze, 14541 feet (4,432 m)

Dent Blanche, 14,295 feet (4,357 m)

Ludwigshohe, 14,242 feet (4,341 m)

Nadelhorn, 14,196 feet (4,327 m)

Schwarzhorn, 14,180 feet (4,322 m)

Grand Combin – Grafeneire, 14,154 feet (4,314 m)

Dome du Gouter, 14,121 feet (4,304 m)

Lenzspitze, 14,088 feet (4,294 m)

Finsteraarhorn, 14,022 feet (4,274 m)

Mont Blanc du Tacul, 13,937 feet (4,248 m)

Grand Pillier d’Angle, 13,921 feet (4,243 m)

Stecknadelhorn, 13,914 feet (4,241 m)

Castor, 13,914 feet (4,241 m)

Zinalrothorn, 13,848 feet (4,221 m)

Hohberghorn, 13,842 feet (4,219 m)

Vincent Pyramid, 13,829 feet (4,215 m)

Grand Jorasses – Pointe Walker, 13,806 feet (4,208 m)

Alphubel, 13,799 feet (4,206 m)

Rimpfischhorn, 13,776 feet (4,199 m)

Aletschhorn, 13,757 feet (4,193 m)

Strahlhorn, 13,747 feet (4,190 m)

Grand Combin – Valsorey, 13,727 feet (4,184 m)

Grand Jorasses – Pointe Whymper, 13,727 feet (4, 184 m)

Dent d’Herens, 13,684 feet (4,171 m)

Breithorn - west summit, 13,661 feet (4,164 m)

Breithorn - central summit, 13,645 feet (4,159 m)

Jungfrau, 13,642 feet (4,158 m)

Bishorn, 13,625 feet (4,153 m)

Breithorn – Zwillinge West, 13,579 feet (4,139 m)

Grand Combin – Tsessette, 13,566 feet (4,135 m)

Aiguille Verte, 13,524 feet (4,122 m)

Aiguilles du Diable – L’Isolee, 13,497 feet (4,114 m)

Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey, 13,491 feet (4,112 m)

Grandes Jorasses – Pointe Croz, 13,484 feet (4,110 m)

Aiguilles de Diable – Pointe Carmen, 13,481 feet (4,109 m)

Mönch, 13,474 feet (4,107 m) - SUMMITED JUNE 18/19

Breithorn – Zwillinge East, 13,471 feet (4,106 m)

Grande Rocheuses, 13,458 feet (4,102 m)

Barre des Ecrins, 13,458 feet (4,102 m)

Aiguilles du Diable – Pointe Mediane, 13,442 feet (4,097 m)

Pollux, 13,425 feet (4,092 m)

Schreckhorn, 13,379 feet (4,078 m)

Breithorn – Roccia Nera, 13,369 feet (4,075 m)

Aiguilles du Diable – Pointe Chaubert, 13,366 feet (4,074 m)

Mont Brouillard, 13,350 feet (4,069 m)

Grand Jorasses – Point Marguerite, 13,337 feet (4,065 m)

Aiguilles du Diable – Corne du Diable, 13,333 feet (4,064 m)

Ober Gabelhorn, 13,330 feet (4,063 m)

Gran Paradiso, 13,323 feet (4,061 m)

Aiguille de Bionnassay, 13,294 feet (4,052 m)

Piz Bernina, 13,284 feet (4,049 m)

Gross Fiescherhorn, 13,284 feet (4,049 m)

Vincent Pyramid – Punta Giordani, 13,274 feet (4,046 m)

Grand Jorasses – Pointe Elena, 13,271 feet (4,045 m)

Grunhorn, 13,268 feet (4,044 m)

Lauteraarhorn, 13,261 feet (4,042 m)

Aiguille du Jardin, 13,238 feet (4,035 m)

Dürrenhorn, 13,238 feet (4,035 m)

Allalinhorn, 13,212 feet (4,027 m)

Hinter Fiescherhorn, 13,205 feet (4,025 m)

Weissmies, 13,179 feet (4,017 m)

Dome de Rochefort, 13,173 feet (4,015 m)

Barre des Ecrins – Dome de Neige, 13,173 feet (4,015 m)

Dent du Geant, 13,166 feet (4,013 m)

Punta Baretti, 13,166 feet (4,013 m)

Lagginhorn, 13,156 feet (4,010 m)

Aiguille de Rochefort, 13,127 feet (4,001 m)

Les Droitess, 13,123 feet (4,000 m)