Think Your Fast? Try Climbing 18 4000m Peaks In The Alps in a Day

There’s fast. And then there’s Swiss speed climber fast. Back in 2015, the late Ueli Steck and his partner Andreas Steindl completed a new record of the “Spaghetti Tour” – linking all 18 of the 4000-meter peaks in the Monte Rosa massif. It took them 14 hours and 35 minutes. Last summer, the next generation of climbers put their endurance and climbing skills to the test, beating the standing record by nearly an hour, with a time of 13:39. Nicolas Hojac and Adrian Zurbrügg started the traverse just before midnight, hoping to beat warming temperatures. The duo summited the first ten peaks before dawn, before getting a rope stuck on a descent. They were forced to cut the rope with a pocketknife and continued the rest of the 18-mile and nearly 15,000 vertical foot route. At 1230, they arrived at the top station of the Klein Matterhorn tram station just in time for a much-needed lunch. No wonder it’s called the Spaghetti Tour.