FILE PHOTO: People walk in front of the North face of the Eiger mountain at the Kleine Scheidegg in Wengen, Switzerland, January 14, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
(Reuters) -Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac and his Austrian partner Philipp Brugger shattered a 21-year record by completing the North Faces of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau in only 15 hours and 30 minutes - shattering the previous record by almost 10 hours, it was announced on Tuesday.
The climb in the Bernese Alps, completed on April 5, saw the pair broke the previous record of 25 hours by Swiss alpinists Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist in 2004.
"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."
The duo began their ascent in the darkness at 01:00 local time and reached the Eiger in just under six hours — a distance that takes many amateur climbers one or two days. Seizing the time advantage, they never let it slip.
"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," Brugger added.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk and Suramaya Kaushik)
