I was thinking just the other day, that humankind had ground to a halt. We, as a species, seem to have ceased our struggles to attain new heights. To boldly go...
I am not alone, as is evidenced by this paragraph from the article below...
"[Chris] Bonington, 79, who has met Steck, was effusive in his praise. "He is a fantastic climber as well as a very nice guy," he said. "It is a really spectacular undertaking and a sign that Himalayan climbing is very much alive, despite all the media attention on the queues on Everest each year."..."
It is refreshing to see that man's conquering spirit lives on...
Swiss climber's 'greatest' Himalayan ascent
Ueli Steck, in the headlines after a row with Sherpas on Everest earlier this year, has made the first ever solo climb of Annapurna's feared south face, a feat that has amazed his fellow mountaineers
"This spring the Swiss climber Ueli Steck, one of the world's most accomplished and fastest mountaineers, was thrust into the glare of the media spotlight after he was attacked with two companions by a group of angry Sherpas on Everest.
Now Steck, 37, is being talked about for a different reason - a ropeless and lightning-fast solo ascent of Annapurna's gigantic south face - which is already being hailed as one of the greatest in modern Himalayan mountaineering.
Although the details remain sketchy, it appears that Steck - nicknamed the "Swiss machine" - made the 2,500-metre face's first ever solo ascent, without oxygen and in a single push from his base camp to the 8,091-metre summit and back.
Steck recorded his achievement with a short text message on his return to base camp: "Summit, alone, south face."
The British climber Jon Griffith - who is a friend of Steck and was with him during the altercation on Everest earlier this year, when they were attacked by a large group of Sherpas, some armed with rocks - confirmed the ascent and described his friend as "shattered".
"He has just gone and soloed it," he told the Observer from his home in Chamonix in the French Alps on Friday. "When Ueli releases all the details it will be recognised for what it is - truly phenomenal - a mind-blowing effort."..."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/13/ueli-steck-annapurna-greatest-himalayan-ascent
Some context...
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ANNAPURNA RECORD-BREAKERS
1950 First ascent
The world's 10th-highest mountain, at 8,091 metres, Annapurna is regarded as the most dangerous, with a fatality to successful ascent ratio of almost 40%. It was the first of the world's 14 8,000-metre peaks to be climbed - by the Frenchmen Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal - three years before Everest was first conquered. Herzog subsequently lost all of his toes and most of his fingers to the frostbite he suffered.
1970 First ascent of the south face
The second ascent, by a British army expedition, was overshadowed by the first ascent of the towering south face by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston, part of an expedition led by Chris Bonington and described in his book, Annapurna South Face. A member of the party, Ian Clough, was killed by falling ice.
1987 First winter ascent
Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer climbed the mountain in 16 days.
2007 First solo ascent of south face to eastern summit
The Slovenian alpinist Tomaz Humar, who would die two years later on Langtang Lirung, climbed an already established route that finished on the mountain's subsidiary and slightly lower eastern peak, rather than on the main summit.
2013 First complete solo ascent of south face to the main summit
According to a report in the Swiss media, Ueli Steck's new climb follows hard terrain first attempted unsuccessfully by Pierre Béghin and Jean-Christophe Lafaille in 1992, when Béghin died. It follows snow slopes to a prominent rock buttress on the left of the face before joining the British route at the summit ridge.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.