North Face Trilogy: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

At the summit of the Eiger, Photo: John Thornton

Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac and Austrian Philipp Brugger broke the 21-year-old speed record held by Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist. On April 5, 2025, they climbed the north faces of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau in 15 hours and 30 minutes, beating the previous record by almost 10 hours.

It was still dark when Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac (32) and Austrian Philipp Brugger (33) began their ascent of the Eiger North Face at 1:00 a.m. on April 5, 2025. The two alpinists had one goal: to climb the north faces of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau in less than 24 hours, thus breaking the 21-year-old speed record held by Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist. Despite climbing the Eiger North Face in complete darkness, they quickly found their rhythm and reached the summit of the Eiger via the Heckmair Route in just 5 hours and 43 minutes. Swiss mountaineer Adrian Zurbrügg, with whom Nicolas Hojac had traversed the Bernese Panorama in one go in 2024, was waiting for them there with provisions. Amateur climbers typically need one to two days for this north face.

After a five-minute break, they continued to the foot of the Mönch, where they took the Lauper Route. However, the rope loop was missing at the shoulder stand. The route's name comes from the fact that climbers used to have to stand on each other's shoulders to overcome this section. "Only with a creative technique and thanks to teamwork were we able to successfully master this passage," says Nicolas Hojac. Two of the three walls were conquered. Next came the descent to the Jungfraujoch. There, Daniela Bissig and Erich Furrer, the caretakers of the high-alpine research station, welcomed the two with the long-awaited French fries. Refreshed and after a 25-minute break, the final ascent awaited them, to the 4,158-meter-high Jungfrau. "We had laid a track there three days earlier and made excellent progress," says Brugger. At 4:30 p.m., Nicolas Hojac and Philipp Brugger stood on the summit of the Jungfrau. The two alpinists needed a total of 15 hours and 30 minutes for the trilogy, setting a new speed record. "That moment was very emotional for me," says Brugger. "We wanted to do this project together a year ago, but then I had a bowel perforation. I never would have thought that a year later I'd be standing on the Jungfrau with Nico."

The story of the famous Bernese north faces

The trio of peaks—Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau—in the Bernese Alps is among the most magical sights the Swiss mountains have to offer. The 1,800-meter-high north face of the Eiger is considered one of the most difficult climbs in alpinism. In 1938, a team of four achieved the first ascent. Among them was the German Anderl Heckmair, after whom the normal route is named. The north faces of the Mönch and the Jungfrau are considered easier to climb. In 2004, the Swiss climbers Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist ascended the three north faces in 25 hours. No one has been faster since. "Ueli and Stephan were pioneers back then. The first ones always have it the hardest, and above all, it was their idea." Nicolas Hojac knew Ueli Steck well until his death in 2017 and often climbed with him. And Hojac knows that Steck believed it was possible to ascend the three north faces in less than a day. 21 years after Steck and Siegrist, Nicolas Hojac and Philipp Brugger have achieved exactly that.

Hojac says: “This record feels completely surreal to me. We would have been very happy with 19 to 21 hours. The fact that we ended up going even faster shows that you're often capable of more than you think.” And Brugger adds: “Nico is the much better climber and therefore took the lead on the difficult sections. I was responsible for breaking trail. We simply worked together brilliantly as a team and complemented each other perfectly.” For a project like this, you need to be technically skilled, physically fit, and mentally strong. It requires many years of alpine experience and, above all, excellent endurance. The two agree on this point.

«The Fast Line» on Red Bull TV: https://www.redbull.com/ch-de/films/the-fast-line