Dani Arnold has been rising up as a speed climbing star following Ueli Steck’s path and over the last couple of years he has accumulated a number of record achievements.
After Ueli’s accident and death on Everest’s west peak, Nuptse, in May of 2017 it was another Swiss taking over the speed climbing world.
Just like Ueli, he has now climbed all three big north faces in the Alps in this unique style.
Dani Arnold was born in 1984 (8 years later than Ueli Steck) and is a Swiss mountain guide.
Grandes Jorasses – July 27, 2018
While the news and video broke to public only recently, it has been almost a month since Dani Arnold climbed Grandes Jorasses in 2 hours 4 minutes via the famous Cassin route (also know as Walker Spur).
The 1200m route is a rock climb starting at 3000m. Its difficulty is rated at around 5.9 (UIAA VI). Apparently, he climbed it without wearing a harness or bringing a single carabiner.
Matterhorn – April 22, 2015
Dani Arnold’s second speed record in the north face trilogy came in 2015 when he successfully climbed the Matterhorn’s north face in a new record time of 1 hour 46 minutes.
His time was 10 minutes faster than Ueli Steck’s in 2009. Dani climbed the Schmid route, same as Ueli, but with a different variation higher up the mountain.
Eiger North Face – April 20, 2011
After Ueli Steck’s unimaginable speed record on Eiger’s north face in 2008 via the classic Heckmair route – he climbed in 2 hours 47 minutes – it was Dani Arnold’s time to try in 2011. Choosing a period with more traffic on the route than during Steck’s attempt, Dani climbed it in 2 hours 28 minutes.
In 2015, Ueli Steck “The Swiss Machine” came back and took more of Dani’s approach and reclaimed the record by about 5min, which is standing to this day at 2 hours 22 minutes.