The Gathering Storm

Here, Steck is seen on the southwest ridge of Cholatse — Freddie Wilkinson

On April 17, 2011, Swiss climber Ueli Steck soloed the south face of Tibet's 8,027-meter Shisha Pangma, the 14th highest mountain in the world, in a jaw-dropping ten-and-a-half hours. The news may have taken the adventure world by storm, but Shisha Pangma is, in fact, only one stage of a multi-mountain, six-month odyssey Steck has dubbed “Project: Himalaya.”

In late February, Steck traveled to Kathmandu to begin this mega-expedition. I joined him for phase one: a month of acclimatization and warm-up climbs in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal. The following photos document his final preparations for Shisha Pangma—and for more ascents that are still to come.

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