His spectacular solo of this route in addition to his nomination of the “Piolet d’Or 2005” are proof alone that Ueli Steck, born in 1976, is one of the best allround alpinists today.

“The Young Spider”; over 1800 meters of extreme difficulty, grades averaging 7a/A2 on the rock and WI 6 and M7 on the ice and mixed parts, has been defined by Ueli Steck as a very “typical, modern, difficult and very complete route in steep rock and ice.”

During the first ascent of the route in 2001, Ueli and Stephan were not able to climb the route in one go. They used fixed ropes to descend back down before being able to open another bit of the 30 rope length route.

Many alpinists tried to tell Ueli that climbing the route in one go was hardly possible; this just drove him to prove them wrong.

In addition, during the four years between the first ascent and Uelis’ Solo, noone was able to repeat “The Young Spider” and this despite Ueli having given the topo to many others interested. Apparantly, noone felt courageous enough to try. Uelis’ Solo Climb was the end of a still open chapter on the Eiger.

Conditions on the Eiger were almost perfect for a climb on “The Young Spider”. According to Ueli, there was still more than enough snow but the rock was pretty dry, the temperatures were extremely cold (around –25 celsius) which made the ice passages better and the whole route relatively safe.

Ueli only ran into trouble on the last rope lengths, there was too much snow on the slabby rock, it seemed to dangerous, therefore he climbed to the top by way of the cracks on the classic Heckmair route.

“There are always compromises to be made on this route, if the ice is good then it is probably brutally cold, making the rock climbing extremely difficult”.

The lined climbing shoes Ueli brought with him were never put into action. “I couldn’t stand on the thin ledges, the soles of the shoe were frozen and hard, it was easier in my climbing boots”. Having to improvise and using creavitiy was one of the most interesting things on this route”, says Ueli.

The difficulty on this solo climb was having to accept moving forward slowly. “The whole thing was actually just a question of willpower”. He did, in the beginning, doubt using the right tactics, being used to – especially on the Heckmair Route – moving fast. On the solo, he was forced to change his way of thinking and climb up inch by inch.

Due to the difficulty of the climb, Ueli repeatedly had to belay himself and couldn’t climb with a backpack. He pulled a 50 kg haul bag holding 15kg of climbing gear, two ropes, food, one sleeping bag and his portaledge behind him.

A comparison; It took Ueli 11 hours to finish the climb on the Heckmair Route in wintery conditions, but it took him 5 days to climb “The Young Spider”.

On the trickier parts, he managed to do 3 – 4 rope lengths per day.

“In the beginning my motivation was extremely high. However, I had to be careful not to push myself too much. If you think of the project on a whole it almost drives you crazy because the end seems so far away. Finally, I tried to only concentrate on the next meter, the next move ahead. Without this focus, its enough to drive one to despair! After all, due to the belaying, one has to constantly climb up and back down, and maybe once or twice even unblock the haulbag caught on something below. There is no room for mistakes. These rules are also valid for the bivouac, on the one hand, finding a good spot is important, on the other hand it is crucial to stay warm and dry and get into your sleeping bag as fast as possible. Then, all you have to do is look out for your equipment. My worst nightmare was losing my shoes, especially in the morning when they were frozen stiff and I could hardly put them on”.

Ueli climbed the whole route in a pair of SCARPA Phantom 6000 and claims that in spite of the freezing temperatures and quite tight fit of the shoe his feet stayed warm.

His food was carefully divided into rations of Powerbars and freeze-dried menus. He also drank around 3 liters per day.

Even with his hard discipline in all of these factors, he was completely drained at the end of the climb, also due to the cold. He lost 5 kilos and was physically weak for two weeks after.

As Ueli says he learned quite a bit from this solo. After having climbed “Khumbu Express” last year in Nepal, a part of this being the North Face of the Cholatse in two days solo, he found himself on the Eiger for 5 days straight, all alone and in difficulty.

The improvement is obvious, even if he had a bit of a psychological boost on the Eiger route. He knew that if he ran into trouble, he could get off the face in one day or in an emergency even call for help, something absolutely impossible in the Himalaya. This is also one of the main reasons why Ueli felt much less mental pressure on the Eiger than on the Cholatse.

And yet, the solo on “The Young Spider” has brought Ueli further on his path. He now knows that even on tricky parts of the climb, he need not depend on anybody to belay, he can make it on his own.

“It was a cool trip”, says Ueli, the moment you reach the sun-touched peak is unforgettable. “You can feel the rays of sun on your face, a bit of wamth, after having spent the last five days in the shade and out in the cold and longingly gazing over to the snow fields in the sun”.

One more thing: “The hardest parts on “The Young Spider” are just after the exit window of the “Stollenloch” and putting up the 5 rope lengths on the “Spinne”. One of these is a 45 meter long, large and difficult icicle. On trying to overcome this obstacle, Ueli fell ten meters after the ice cracked beneath him….A vein on his knee burst but fortunately thanks to the cold temperature, it more or less healed by itself.

Back home in the comfortable warmth, the vein caused him extreme pain and Ueli went to see his doctor whose diagnosis Ueli gladly accepted; “You have to move as much as possible”. A good excuse for Ueli to prepare for his next adventures….