NEW YORK (AP) — Does it feel like forever since we lost the style, splendor and scandals of "Downton Abbey?"

Well, dust off your jewels and put up the kettle because the twists and turns at...</s>Famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed on Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organisers said.

Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks said Steck was killed at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse. His body has been recovered from the site and been taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

It was not clear how Steck died but he was planning to climb 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.</s>Famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organizers said. Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks said Steck was killed at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Japan Times.</s>KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Expedition organizers say famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal.

Mingma Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks says Steck was killed at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse on Sunday. His body has been recovered from the site and been taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

It was not clear how Steck died but he was planning to climb 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

The 40-year-old Steck was one of the most-renowned mountaineers of his generation.</s>The high-profile Swiss climber Ueli Steck has been killed in a climbing accident near Mount Everest.

Steck, 40, who was known as the “Swiss Machine” died in an accident while acclimatising for an attempt on the mountain, without oxygen, by a new route.

Expedition organiser Mingma Sherpa, of Seven Summit Treks, said Steck was killed at Camp One of Mount Nuptse.

His body has been recovered from the site and taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

It was not clear how Steck died but he was planning to climb 8,850 metre (29,035ft) Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

He was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May.

Hundreds of foreign climbers are on the mountains to attempt scale Himalayan peaks in May when there are a few windows of favourable weather.

Steck was one of the most renowned mountaineers of his generation.

He was best known for his speed-climbing, including setting several records for ascending the north face of the Eiger, a classic mountaineering peak in the Bernese Alps that he climbed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

In 2013 he achieved the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face in Nepal after almost losing his life in a fall there in 2007.

For that he received the Piolet d'Or, considered the Oscar of mountaineering, the following year.

In 2015 Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 4,000 metres (13,100ft) travelling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only.

He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation as the "Swiss Machine".

Steck said in an interview last month with Swiss Tages-Anzeiger newspaper that he considered himself an "outsider" in the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

Asked about his forthcoming Everest-Lhotse expedition, involving a quick climb from one peak to the other including an overnight in the "death zone", Steck said: "When I'm on Everest I can stop at any point.

"The risk is therefore quite small.

"For me it's primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don't have the strength for the whole traversal."

Asked what he would consider to be success on his expedition, Steck told Tages-Anzeiger: "Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse. But that's a very high goal. Failure for me would be to die and not come home."</s>KATHMANDU, Nepal — A Swiss climber acclaimed for his rapid ascents — including scaling dozens of peaks in the Alps in a little more than two months — died Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organizers and officials said.

Ueli Steck died at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks said. Steck’s body was taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

Steck’s family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear.

“The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect and consideration for Ueli,” his family said on Steck’s website.

Nepalese mountaineering officials said Monday that Steck’s death was accidental and would not require any special investigation.

“It was an unfortunate mountaineering accident and we are not planning any specific investigation,” Durga Dutta Dhakal of the Tourism Department said, adding that a police report was being prepared and an autopsy would be done.

Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association said Steck was climbing alone when he died because his accompanying Sherpa had frostbite.

Steck was planning to climb 29,035-foot Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

He was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May. Hundreds of foreign climbers are in the Himalayan region to attempt to climb peaks in May when weather is most favorable.

The 40-year-old Steck was one of the most-renowned mountaineers of his generation. He was best known for his speed-climbing, including setting several records for ascending the north face of Eiger, a classic peak in the Bernese Alps that he climbed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

In 2013, he achieved the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face in Nepal after almost losing his life in a fall there in 2007. For that he received the “Piolet d’Or” — considered the Oscar of mountaineering — the following year.

In 2015, Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 13,100 feet traveling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only. He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation as the “Swiss Machine.”

Steck once said he considered himself an “outsider” in the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

In a recent post on his website, Steck mused about the transience of success in mountaineering and the inevitable decline that comes with age.

“A record is broken again and again, and the world keeps on turning,” he wrote. “You are getting older and there comes a time when you have to adjust your projects to your age.”

Steck suffered a setback during his last trip to Everest, in 2013, when he became involved in a violent altercation with a group of local guides. On his return this year, he aimed to perform a quick climb of Everest and Lhotse, including an overnight stop at more than 8,000 meters, an altitude that’s known as the “death zone” because the dangerously thin air reduces the human body’s performance to 20 percent of its normal rate.

Asked about the upcoming expedition, Steck told Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger in an interview last month: “When I’m on Everest I can stop at any point. The risk is therefore quite small. For me it’s primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don’t have the strength for the whole traversal.”

“Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse,” Steck told the paper when asked about his measure of success. “But that’s a very high goal. Failure for me would be to die and not come home.”</s>Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who has died in an accident near Mount Everest, was the David Beckham of the mountaineering world and will “go down as one of the greatest ever”, according to one of Britain’s most honoured mountaineers.

Steck, 40, died at Camp One of Mount Nuptse, in the Himalayas, and it appears the 40-year-old had been planning to climb Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

Alan Hinkes - the first and only Briton to have climbed all 14 of the world’s mountains over 8,000m - said: “Even the armchair mountaineers in Britain will be gutted.

“Everybody knows of him. He was the man of the moment. He was on everybody’s lips. He was the Wayne Rooney or David Bekcham of the mountaineering world.

“He’ll be greatly missed, there’s no doubt about it. He’ll go down as one of the greatest ever.”

Mr Hinke said Steck - known as the Swiss Machine - was famous for doing technically difficult climbs very fast and solo - including classic Alpine routes like the north face of the Eiger, which he completed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

He said: “He was pushing the envelope, but he was at the top of his game.

“He was only 40. Some younger people might think that that’s old but, for a mountaineer, he was right at the peak of his performance.

“He would certainly have gone on to even greater things.”

Mr Hinkes said he believed Steck was planning something “mega” on Everest.

But he said he knew what he was doing was extremely dangerous.

Mr Hinkes said: “He was pushing the envelope risk-wise but he knew it. He was very, very experienced and technically proficient, but unfortunately something’s happened.

“He was aware of the risk. He’d been on camera saying he knew this could happen to him.

“There but for the grace of God.”

Mr Hinkes said he bumped into Steck many times around the world.

“He was a great bloke,” he said. “He wasn’t bombastic. He was unassuming, really

“He was wiry, like a coiled spring. But he always had a glint in his eye. You could see he had a sense of humour and he had a wry smile. He always seemed happy and he seemed chilled.”

Expeditions organisers said Steck’s body has been recovered from the site and taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

He was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May.

Hundreds of foreign climbers are on the mountains to attempt to scale Himalayan peaks in May when there are a few windows of favourable weather.

In 2013, Steck completed the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face in Nepal after almost losing his life in a fall there in 2007, earning him the Piolet d’Or - considered the Oscar of mountaineering.

In 2015, Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 4,000 metres (13,100ft) - travelling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only.

He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation as the “Swiss Machine”.

Steck said in an interview last month with Swiss Tages-Anzeiger newspaper that he considered himself an “outsider” in the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

Asked about his forthcoming Everest-Lhotse expedition, involving a quick climb from one peak to the other including an overnight in the “death zone”, Steck said: “When I’m on Everest I can stop at any point.

“The risk is therefore quite small.

“For me it’s primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don’t have the strength for the whole traversal.”

Asked what he would consider to be success on his expedition, Steck told Tages-Anzeiger: “Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse. But that’s a very high goal.

“Failure for me would be to die and not come home.”</s>Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed Sunday in an accident near Mount Everest, Nepal's tourism department said.

The 40-year-old died when he slipped from a slope and fell into a crevasse at around 6,600 meters on Mount Nuptse, expedition organizers told CNN.

His body has been recovered and airlifted to Lukla, where the nearest airport to Mount Everest is located, Dinesh Bhattarai, of the Nepal Tourism Department said.

The "Swiss Machine" was acclimatizing himself as he planned to ascend 8,850-meter Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse next month, Mingma Sherpa, an official with expedition organizer Seven Summit Treks said.

"Quick Day from Basecamp up to 7,000m and back. I love it is such a great place here. I still believe in active aclimatisation. This is way more effective then spending nights up in the altitude," Steck wrote on Facebook last Wednesday.

Steck was known for his speed and versatility. He set several records, including ascending the north face of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps in less than three hours.

He won the Piolet D'or, mountaineering's highest honor in 2009 and 2014.

"My deep condolences to all of Ueli's family, friends and admirers around the world. This is a truly tragic day in mountaineering," famed climber Alan Arnette wrote on his website.

His death is the first casualty of this year's spring mountaineering season in Nepal, which is expected to involve 365 registered climbers from 39 teams, officials said.

Last year, six climbers died on Mount Everest.

In 2016 Steck and fellow mountaineer David Goettler discovered the frozen remains of world renowned climber Alex Lowe, and cameraman David Bridges, on the Tibetan mountain of Shishapangma. The men were presumed dead after an avalanche struck them in 1999.

In 2013, Steck and two other climbers attempted to climb the Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse but a fight broke out between the climbers and a group of Sherpa guides.</s>The last time Ueli Steck traversed the route near Mount Everest that would eventually kill him, the famed Swiss climber was forced to flee from a brawl with angry Sherpas.

That was in 2012, and the incident made Steck, considered the most accomplished mountaineer of his time, question whether he’d ever again return to Everest.

But this month, he gave the world’s highest peak another shot, plotting out a route in Nepal that had been completed only once before. It connects the summits of Everest and Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain, a course Steck, 40, told a Swiss newspaper was more about the physical challenge than the adventure checklist.

“Failure for me,” he said, “would be to die and not come home.”

So it came as a shock to the climbing world Sunday when Nepalese officials announced that Steck, a man nicknamed the “Swiss Machine” for his unparalleled athletic abilities, had died.

His was the first casualty of the Everest climbing season.

“I can’t express what a loss this is to the mountaineering community,” renowned climber Alan Arnette, of Colorado, told the Himalayan Times. “Ueli loved Nepal, Everest and the Himalaya.”

Steck died at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks told the Associated Press. He reportedly fell 3,280 feet down the mountain, which he had climbed to acclimate to the altitude before tackling Everest and Lhotse in May. Steck was alone because his trekking partner, Tenji Sherpa, had stayed behind at Everest Base Camp with a frostbitten hand, reported the New York Times.

Steck’s body was recovered from the site and flown by helicopter to Lukla, the only town near Everest with an airport. An autopsy will be performed at the Maharajganj-Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, reported the Himalayan Times.

In a statement posted to his website, Steck’s family said they were “infinitely sad” and that the exact circumstances of his death are still unknown. They asked for reporters and followers to avoid speculation.

Last year, Steck and his German climbing partner, David Gottler, found the bodies of climbers Alex Lowe and David Bridges — who had died in an avalanche on Mount Shishapangma in Tibet in 1999. Like Steck today, Lowe, an American, was considered the greatest mountaineer of his time, wrote New Yorker reporter Nick Paumgarten. Lowe, he wrote, was also 40 when he died.

“Steck and Lowe are now forever linked, in the alpinists’ circle of death,” Paumgarten wrote. “Steck’s demise is a reminder, as though another one were ever necessary, that mountain climbing is an extremely perilous endeavor, and that even its strongest and most talented practitioners, experts by necessity in the art of risk assessment, need a great deal of luck to make it to old age.”

Steck was best known for his speed-climbing technique, a feat of endurance that emphasized the thrill of the athletic challenge over the adventure. In 2012, he summited Everest without oxygen, the AP reported. He set numerous records throughout his career, including climbing all 82 peaks in the Swiss Alps higher than 13,100 feet in 62 days.

In 2007, he nearly died climbing the Annapurna south face in Nepal after loose rock knocked him from the wall. He fell nearly 1,000 feet, reported the Alpinist. But Steck returned in 2013 and achieved the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face, receiving the “Piolet d’Or” — the Oscar of mountaineering — for his feat, reported the AP.

In a profile in Outside magazine in 2012, Steck recounted how he had promised his wife, Nicole, that he would limit his solo climbs, but only continued to venture alone.

In 2011, he and Don Bowie planned to climb Shishapangma in Tibet, Steck said, but Bowie bowed out when he didn’t feel sufficiently acclimated. “This is not really a solo,” he later wrote on his blog, according to the profile. “I will let know that I summited with a bunch of flowers.”

On Sunday, Bowie posted a photo of him with Steck. “Totally gutted right now …” he captioned it, “beyond sadness.”

Steck’s last attempt at Everest earned him widespread attention nearly four years ago when he and professional climbers Simone Moro and Jonathan Griffith got in a confrontation with Sherpas at Camp 2.

Steck considered it a near death experience, recounting the brawl in a Q-and-A with Outside magazine. He explained the Sherpas were working to repair rope lines on the mountain but that he and his fellow climbers didn’t intend to use them. They wanted to climb to Camp 3, where they already had tents, and sleep.

The Sherpas became upset that Steck’s group was bypassing their request to keep climbers away while they repaired the ropes.

The narrative gets fuzzy after that. The climbers and the Sherpas offer differing accounts, but Steck told Outside that Moro swore at the Sherpas in Nepali during a heated moment, further escalating tensions.

Eventually they rapeled back down to Camp 3 to talk things out, Steck said, but were met by a seething crowd of 100 Sherpas with covered faces.

“When I saw they had their faces covered, I knew this was going to be really bad,” he said.

Punches and rocks were thrown, Steck said, claiming the Sherpas tried to kill them.

“They said we had one hour to pack up and leave, and that we should not come back to the West Face, West Ridge, or Lhotse,” Steck told Outside. “They said that if we weren’t gone in an hour, they were going to kill all three of us. That was the worst thing.”

Both sides later signed a peace treaty and left the mountain.

“I’m not saying I’m never coming back, but give me time,” Steck told Outside. “I need to figure it out. There are many other mountains I can climb. Everest is Everest, and Everest lost a lot, but it’s still the highest mountain in the world.”</s>Famed Swiss climber Ueli Steck was killed Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organizers said.

Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks said Steck was killed at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse. His body has been recovered from the site and been taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.

Steck's family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear.

"The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect and consideration for Ueli," it said in a statement on Steck's website. "As soon as reliable information about Ueli Steck's death becomes available, the media will be informed."

Steck was planning to climb 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month.

He was the first casualty in the spring mountaineering season in Nepal that began in March and will end in May. Hundreds of foreign climbers are on the mountains to attempt scale Himalayan peaks in May when there are a few windows of favorable weather.

The 40-year-old Steck was one of the most-renowned mountaineers of his generation. He was best known for his speed-climbing, including setting several records for ascending the north face of the Eiger, a classic mountaineering peak in the Bernese Alps that he climbed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.

In 2013 he achieved the first solo climb of the Annapurna south face in Nepal after almost losing his life in a fall there in 2007. For that he received the "Piolet d'Or" — considered the Oscar of mountaineering — the following year.

In 2015, Steck decided to climb all 82 peaks in the Alps higher than 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) traveling between mountains by foot, bike and paraglider only. He completed the feat in 62 days, helping cement his reputation as the "Swiss Machine."

Steck once said he considered himself an "outsider" in the mountaineering scene because athletic achievement was more important to him than adventure.

In a recent post on his website, Steck mused about the transience of success in mountaineering and the inevitable decline that comes with age.

"A record is broken again and again, and the world keeps on turning," he wrote. "You are getting older and there comes a time when you have to adjust your projects to your age."

Steck suffered a setback during his last trip to Everest, in 2013, when he became involved in a violent altercation with a group of local guides. On his return this year, he aimed to perform a quick climb of Everest and Lhotse, including an overnight stop at more than 8,000 meters, an altitude that's known as the "death zone" because the human body's performance is reduced to 20 percent of its normal rate.

Asked about the upcoming expedition, Steck told Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger in an interview last month: "When I'm on Everest I can stop at any point. The risk is therefore quite small. For me it's primarily a physical project. Either I get through, or I don't have the strength for the whole traversal."

"Of course I want to climb Everest and Lhotse," Steck told the paper when asked about his measure of success. "But that's a very high goal. Failure for me would be to die and not come home."
Swiss mountain climber Ueli Steck dies in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest.