A Swiss climber and mountain guide has smashed the record for the legendary Alpine 18-peak Haute Route of Monte Rosa, aka the Spaghetti Tour, by more than an hour and a half.
Andy Steindl, 35, completed the feat in a staggering 7 hours, 45 minutes and 44 seconds, crushing the previous record of 9 hours and 18 minutes set by French mountaineer Benjamin Védrines in 2021.
Just to put his achievement into perspective, most experienced climbers take between three and fives days to complete the Spaghetti Tour, which incorporates 18 4,000m-plus peaks over a 30km route in the Swiss and Italian Alps.
Steindl, set off in ideal conditions at 2:45am on July 19 from the Monte Rosa Hut and reached the final destination, the Klein Matterhorn (3,817 m) above Zermatt, at 10:31am.
Following the epic climb, Steindl said, “Today everything just went perfectly. I was in great shape and the conditions were perfect. My head was completely focused, the tactics were right and I was really in the flow for the first few hours. When I looked at the clock, I could hardly believe that I had really been that fast.
"Towards the end I had to really fight and persevere. The tour demanded everything from me physically and mentally. I am exhausted, but overjoyed. Simply an indescribable day for me.”
Steindl first summited the Matterhorn at the age of 14 and had since become addicted to breaking mountain climbing speed records. He set the speed record on Mont Blanc in 2019 with Italian François Cazzanelli, heading up via the Peutérey Integral ridge and returning in just under 16 hours. Steindl also set a record on the Matterhorn in 2018, climbing the mountain then coming back down in 3 hours and 59 minutes.
Here are the 4,000m+ peaks he climbed in his latest record-breaking achievement:
- Nordend (4,608m)
- Dufourspitze (4,634m)
- Zumsteinspitze (4,563m)
- Signalkuppe (4,554m)
- Parrotspitze (4,432m)
- Ludwigshöhe (4,341m)
- Corno Nero (4,322m)
- Vincentpyramide (4,215m)
- Punta Giordani (4,046m)
- Liskamm East Summit (4,527m)
- Liskamm West Summit (4,479m)
- Castor (4,228m)
- Pollux (4,092m)
- Roccia Nera (4,073m)
- Breithorn Zwilling Ost (4,139m)
- Breithorn Zwilling West (4,160m)
- Breithorn Mittelgipfel (4,159m)
- Breithorn Hauptgipfel (4,164m)
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