AssetID: 54674439
Headline: RAW VIDEO: Mountaineers Set Spectacular New Speed Record By Climbing 3 Famous Swiss Peaks In 15 Hours
Caption: Two mountaineers have set a new speed record in the Swiss Alps, climbing the formidable north face of the Eiger, the Mönch and Jungfrau in just 15 hours and 30 minutes. Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac and his Austrian partner Philipp Brugger summited all three peaks on 5 April 2025, smashing the long-standing 2004 record of 25 hours held by Swiss alpinists Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist. Known collectively as the “Bernese trilogy”, the peaks rise above Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland and are considered among the most demanding in the Alps due to their steep rock, snow and ice terrain. Hojac and Brugger set off in darkness at 01:00 local time, ascending the Eiger’s notorious 1,800-metre north face via the Heckmair Route in just 5 hours and 43 minutes — a climb that often takes amateur mountaineers up to two days. After a brief rest, they descended and tackled the Mönch via the historic Lauper Route. A missing sling at the Schulterstand section — a critical anchoring point — forced the pair to improvise. “It was only with creative techniques and teamwork that we were able to successfully complete this section,” Hojac said. At the Jungfraujoch station, workers at the High Altitude Research Stations surprised the climbers with French fries before their final ascent. Despite mounting exhaustion, they reached the 4,158-metre summit of the Jungfrau at 16:30. “This record feels completely surreal to me,” Hojac said. “We would have been very satisfied with 19 to 21 hours. The fact that we managed it in even less time shows that we’re all often capable of more than we think.” For Brugger, the achievement was deeply personal, having recovered from a life-threatening health scare just a year earlier. “It was a really emotional moment for me,” he said. “We’ve been wanting to take on this project together for a year now, but then I experienced a perforated bowel. I never would have thought that I would be standing on the Jungfrau with Nico one year later.” The moment also carried special meaning for Hojac, who paid tribute to his late mentor Ueli Steck, known as the ‘Swiss Machine’, who died during an expedition in 2017. “Ueli and Stephan were pioneers back then. It’s always most difficult for the people who do it first, and most importantly, it was their idea,” he said.
Keywords: feature,video,photo,mountaineering,sport,switzerland
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