Steck’s record (Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau) beaten

Nicolas Hojac towards the Eiger summit.Image: John Thornton / Red Bull Content Pool

The Bernese Nicolas Hojac and the Austrian Philipp Brugger set a new speed record on the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau. Their time is dizzying.

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In 2004, Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist had produced the famous “North Face Trilogy” in 25 hours. A feat for the time, but 21 years later, their speed record was swept by Nicolas Hojac and Philipp Brugger: The Swiss and the Austrian suddenly climbed the northern faces of the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau in 15 hours and 30 minutes. They therefore put 9:30 less than the fastest duo so far.

The story is beautiful for the Bernese Nicolas Hojac, who was a friend and a rope partner of Ueli Steck. As the Day indicator, Hojac still has a rope that belonged to Steck, whom he received as a gift from his wife after the Emmentalois died in an accident in the Himalayas in 2017. It was Ueli Steck who inspired Hojac, showing his youngest at what speed he could go to the mountains.

It was on April 5, at 1 a.m. that Hojac (32) and his teammate Philipp Brugger (33) set off to attack the northern faces of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Hojac a brugger.Image: John Thornton / Red Bull Content Pool

Helped by their front lamp in the almost total darkness, “they find, from the start, a very good flow and reach the top of the Eiger by the Heckmair route after only 5 hours and 43 minutes”, informs us a press release, specifying that in comparison, “amateur mountaineers generally need one to two days to come to the same north face”.

The duo on the back of the Eiger.Image: John Thornton / Red Bull Content Pool

After attending the sunrise and took a 5 -minute break, they continue to the foot of the Mönch, where they attack the Lauper way and then, once at the top, then descend to the Jungfraujoch.

They then eat a few fries (!), Take a 25 -minute break and then attack their last ascent of the day. “We had drawn a track three days earlier, which allowed us to achieve enormous progress,” said Philipp Brugger, adding that at 4.30 p.m., the duo had reached the top of the Jungfrau, as happy as it is incredible. Hojac is on the verge of tears.

The two men after their record.Image: John Thornton / Red Bull Content Pool

Ueli Steck also planned to finish the trilogy in less than 24 hours. By succeeding in a canon time of 15 hours and 30 minutes, Nicolas Hojac somehow carried out the project of his deceased friend.

The feat of the two men obviously holds in their alpine experience, their technique, their physique, their mind and their endurance, but also in the complicity which united them during the three ascents.

“Nico is a much better climber, readily admits Philipp Brugger. He therefore took the head of the rope in difficult passages. I was responsible for the layout. We work very well together, by completing optimally. ”