Mountaineer known as ‘Swiss Machine’ had been planning to ascend Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month

The renowned mountaineer Ueli Steck, known for his rapid ascents of the Alps which earned him the nickname the “Swiss Machine”, has died in an accident in Nepal near Mount Everest.



Steck, who was 40 and one of the most celebrated climbers of his generation, was killed on Sunday after falling to the foot of Mount Nuptse, a smaller peak in the area, according to Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks company that had organised the expedition.

Sherpa told Reuters that Steck’s body had been recovered and was being taken to Kathmandu.

Kamal Prasad Parajuli, an official with Nepal’s department of tourism, confirmed Steck had died while climbing Nuptse and that he had planned an ascent of Everest.

Parajuli said Steck, who climbed Everest in 2012, had slipped and fallen 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) in the Western Cwm along the normal route to Everest.

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In a statement, the climber’s family said the circumstances surrounding his death were still unclear. “The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect for Ueli,” they said. “As soon as reliable information becomes available, the media will be informed.”

His death prompted tributes from the climbing community. The Catalan mountaineer Ferran Latorre said he and two others had been climbing Everest when Steck died.

“Yesterday we were having lunch together”, he wrote on Twitter, adding: “We still have no words to explain what we feel. And I guess we will never”.

The mountaineer and blogger Alan Arnette said: “I can’t express what a loss this is to the mountaineering community. Ueli loved Nepal, Everest and the Himalayas.”

The British Mountaineering Council tweeted: “RIP Ueli Steck: legendary mountaineer and all-round great guy.”

The writer and climber Ed Douglas also said Steck’s nickname had failed to capture the essence of the man. “One thing Ueli Steck wasn’t and that’s a machine,” he tweeted. “Warm and at times surprisingly fragile. But not a machine.”

Steck was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May. Hundreds of foreign climbers are on the mountains to attempt to scale Himalayan peaks in May when there are a few windows of favourable weather.

He was best known for his speed-climbing, including setting several records for ascending the north face of the Eiger, a classic mountaineering peak in the Bernese Alps that he climbed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

In 2013, he achieved the first solo climb of the south face of Annapurna in Nepal after almost dying in a fall there in 2007. For that he received the Piolet d’Or, considered the Oscar of mountaineering, the following year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The last light of the day sets on Mount Everest as it rises behind Mount Nuptse as seen from Tengboche, in the Himalayas’ Khumbu region, Nepal. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP

In 2015, Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 4,000m, travelling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only. He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation.

Steck once said he considered himself an outsider on the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

In a recent post on his website, he reflected on the transience of success in mountaineering and the inevitable decline that comes with age. “A record is broken again and again, and the world keeps on turning,” he wrote. “You are getting older and there comes a time when you have to adjust your projects to your age.”

He suffered a setback during his last trip to Everest, in 2013, when he became involved in a violent altercation with a group of local guides. On his return this year, he aimed to perform a quick climb of Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse, including an overnight stop at more than 8,000m, an altitude known as the “death zone” because the human body’s performance is reduced to 20% of its normal rate.

Speaking to the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger last month about his expedition, he said: “When I’m on Everest I can stop at any point. The risk is therefore quite small. For me it’s primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don’t have the strength for the whole traversal.”



Asked about how he measured success, Steck told the paper: “Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse. But that’s a very high goal. Failure for me would be to die and not come home.”