Watch: Facing Time with Hojac and ZurbrĂĽgg
03/2023
03/2023
@Carlos Blanchard
Carlos Blanchard
Julia Rau
After summiting the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau at record speed, Nico Hojac and Adrian Zurbrügg talk about time and their limits in mountaineering.
What can we learn about time from two speed specialists? Anyone who pursues speed records across glacier fields, narrow rock ridges and steep faces may appear to think that time is primarily all about performance. Yet for Swiss alpinists Nico Hojac and Adrian ZurbrĂĽgg, time has a much deeper meaning.
In July 2022 the two professional mountaineers set a record time along the Swiss Skyline; a classic alpine route traversing the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. In taking on the trio of four thousanders, the main focus was on speed. While some take up to five days to cover the 4780m+ route, Hojac and Zurbrügg completed the traverse in 13 hours and 8 minutes.
The route is similar – though not identical – to the line pursued by Ueli Steck in 2017, when he traversed the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in 16 hours and 10 minutes.
Anyone who repeatedly pushes the limits of what is possible must be aware of the edge. With a high-risk sport like speed mountaineering, the consequences of a mistake are obvious. This is precisely why Hojac and ZurbrĂĽgg know better than most the importance of constantly asking themselves: where is the limit? And how much am I willing to put on the line to find it?
“If you’re scared, you’ve already gone one step too far.”
Nico Hojac
Playing with that limit also teaches us to see how important time is: how important it is to pursue our plans and goals and to live consciously, even if this sometimes involves risk. Because in the end, time is all we have. Check out the new film now.
"I want to meet my son or daughter in December."
Adrian ZurbrĂĽgg
