The Swiss Alps have just been the scene of an extraordinary performance. A climbing duo has set a new speed record on the famous heights of the Bernese Oberland: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
A 21 -year -old record finally broken by a duo of mountaineers
The duo exploded the previous 21 -year -old record. This was detained by the legendary mountaineers Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist since 2004. Nicolas Hojac and Philipp Brugger not only swelled the record, but they also crossed the North Faces at an exceptional speed.
Indeed, the legendary record held by Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist was 25 hours. The Swiss and the Austrian have just been 10 hours less. This ascent is known as the “North Face Trilogy”.
As its name suggests, it consists in climbing the northern faces of three peaks of the Swiss Alps. These faces are renowned worldwide for their difficulty.
Less than 24 hours to climb the 3 summits
To give you an idea, an amateur mountaineer generally takes between one and two days to only climb the northern face of the Eiger. This is a steep limestone wall of 1,800 meters covered with snow and ice.
Initially, the duo hoped to end the ascent in 19 to 9 p.m. The two mountaineers therefore did not come back from their performance. The experience was “completely surreal” for Nicolas Hojac. As he says himself, “we are often more capable than we think”.
The two Swiss and Austrian mountaineers began their challenge before sunrise by the ascent of the north face of the Eiger on April 5, 2025. Their goal was then to climb the northern faces of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in less than 24 hours to break the previous 25 hour record.
From the top of the Eiger to that of the Jungfrau with minimal equipment
They were equipped with frontal lamps, picks and crampons. Their main safety equipment was a 37 -meter rope as well as a first aid kit. Mountaineers protected themselves from the cold with several layers of clothes, headbands under their helmet, gloves and good mountain shoes.
They thus climbed the northern face of the Eiger in the most total darkness. After 5 hours and 43 minutes, the duo arrived at the top. He took a break of only 5 minutes before leaving for the north face of Mönch.
A missing strap then pushed them to show creativity to succeed in this section without missing equipment. After the Mönch, they paused about 25 minutes to savor hot fries before starting the third and last ascent.
“We wanted to undertake this project together for a year, but I had an intestinal perforation. I would never have imagined finding myself on the jungfrau with Nico a year later. »»
