Three years ago, Switzerland's most famous mountaineer, Ueli Steck, died in an accident in the Himalayas at the age of 40 (LACRUX reported). The journalist Jacqueline Schwerzmann has accompanied Ueli Steck throughout his career and in the biographical film "Auf narrow Ridge" focuses on the people behind the well-known mountain climber.
He climbed the highest north faces of the Alps at record speed and without a rope. What drove him to push himself to the limit?
In the new “DOK” film, his family tells how they experienced his risky passion as the retarded. Because Ueli Steck knew as a teenager that climbing was his sport. Unlike his brothers, ice hockey was not for him as a team sport.
His parents and two brothers describe how he dealt with being known and the pressure of the public. And with your own fear of taking it too far.
I know who sees me thinks the plug that spins.
Ueli Steck
Back then, Ueli Steck's parents had to travel from the Emmental to Nepal to bury their dead son. In the Everest area, where Ueli Steck crashed on the Nuptse in 2017, only 40 years old, the paths of three close friends cross after his death. In the documentary, Jacqueline Schwerzmann not only speaks to Ueli Steck's parents, but also to his friends.
In the film, on the one hand, the photographer Robert Bösch has his say, who has accompanied Ueli Steck on tours several times and would have wanted to meet Ueli on his last expedition. He arrived the day his friend crashed.
In mountaineering there is only a fine line between life and death.
Robert Bösch
The other two people featured in the film are helicopter pilot Maurizio Folini, who had to recover his friend's body after the crash, and David Göttler, who continues to seek his challenges in the mountains even though he has lost many friends.
Documentary Ueli Steck - On a fine line
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Credits: Cover picture Ludovic Peron (CC BY-SA 3.0), text SRF