Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten Climb the North Face of Tengkampoche

On April 24 at 7.15am Ueli Steck (31) and Simon Anthamatten (24), both from Switzerland, stood on the top of Tengkampoche (6500m) in Khubu Valley, Nepal. They reached the summit making the first ascent of the north face of the mountain. Their new route is called “Checkmate” and has difficulty: VI/ 85 degrees, ice M7+/ 6A0.

The party made the first attempt to climb Tengkampoche Northface on April 10, 2008 but because of heavy snowfall they had to turn back on the next day at the altitude of 6000 meters.
On April 21 they had another go. They climbed in alpine style, without using any bolts or fixed ropes and in the evening of April 23 the two alpinists reached the end of the wall at 6350m. There they spent a bivouac on the razor-edged summit crest before standing on the top of the mountain the next morning. After a long rappelling Ueli Steck and Simon Anthamatten reached their basecamp in the evening that day. Before their attempt there were already quite a few expeditions trying that route without success.