Nicolas Hojac, Adrian Zurbrügg race across Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau skyline in 13 hours

Two years after their swift traverse of the Monte Rosa massif, Nicolas Hojac and Adrian Zurbrügg have teamed up once again and completed the classic Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau skyline trio in an astounding 13 hours, 8 minutes and 49 seconds.

Hojac and Zurbrügg set off at 1:00 am from Grindelwald and summited the Eiger at 6:04 am. At 7:47 they reached the summit of Mönch, while at 11:20 they summited Jungfrau having negotiated the entire Jungfrau East Ridge, before descending rapidly down to Stechelberg which they reached at 14:08. Behind them lay 30.46 kilometers up in the high mountains and 4780 altitude gain.

It goes without saying that Hojac and Zurbrügg travelled light, taking with them crampons, an ice axe and a climbing harness each, as well as 1 Microtraxion, 4 quickdraws, 2 cams, 2 ice screws, 1 sling, 1 screwgate carabiner and one 30m x 6mm rope. They soloed most of route and roped up twice, on the Hick section of the Mittellegigrat (2x30m) as well as the entire East Ridge of the Jungfrau.

The ascent came about after weeks of careful planning; originally scheduled for late summer, due to the lack of snowfall in winter and the extreme heat at the start of summer the duo realised that conditions were already ideal in mid-July.

The route is similar, though by no means identical, to the line taken by the late Ueli Steck who in 2016 combined the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in just 16 hours and 10 minutes, opting against the first section of Jungfrau ridge as if often the case. As such the two times cannot and should not be compared.