Eiger traverse (03.08.2015)

After spending a night at the Cosmiques hut, Rocio and I discussed a few of our options in Chamonix. Rocio was keen to get some AD/D graded ridge climbs done and first on the list of possibilities was the Eiger since the heat wave in Europe this summer had now made the Mittellegi ridge in reasonable condition. I had of course done minimal research on the Eiger beforehand but I came here really to just do some decent climbing so if Rocio thought it was worth doing then I was more than happy to go along with it! It looked like Monday was going to be a decent weather day for summiting any peak so ideally we needed to be doing the walk in to a hut the next day. Unfortunately it seemed there were no beds available at the Mittellegi hut on Sunday night. So we needed a new plan. The south ridge on the Dent Blanche was a route we both wanted to do but after giving the Cabane de la Dent Blanche a call we found out there were no spaces there either. Maybe the east ridge of the Weisshorn then? Success. There were spare beds there for Sunday night. So the new plan was to head to Randa today, sleep there for the night and start the walk up to the Weisshorn hut the following day. A quick search on booking.com found us a room at a reasonably-priced hotel in Randa and after doing some speedy food shopping at Carrefour we started to drive towards Switzerland.

Anyway, shortly before arriving at the France-Switzerland border Rocio got a call from Miriam at the Mittellegi hut. Apparently there had been a cancellation there and she had two spare beds at the Mittellegi hut on Sunday night after all. Did we want to take them? This was excellent news – and immediately we said yes and ditched the plan to go up the Weisshorn. The Eiger, being over 500m lower than the Weisshorn was a more reasonable objective not just because I wasn’t yet fully acclimatised but also because of the previous night’s snowfall. Now we just needed to find somewhere to stay near Grindelwald instead…. Apparently not the best day for finding last-minute accommodation in Switzerland since August 1st coincided with the Swiss national day celebrations. Something to remember for next time. So after crossing the border we drove towards the Goppenstein-Kandersteg train and were soon trundling through the western Bernese Oberland northwards towards Interlaken. It took a few hours to drive but by around 5pm we were in Grindelwald and had sorted ourselves out with a night at the Grindelwald Mountain Hostel, which was rather conveniently situated beside the Jungfraujoch railway. I can’t say I had the best night’s sleep there since people were going in and out of the dormitory long after Rocio and I had decided to go to bed, but at least the free breakfast was good and it was a nice and sunny morning after all the rainy weather we had driven in the previous day.

We took a relaxed start to the day and sorted out gear in the car park. Since the plan was to climb the Eiger from the Mittellegi ridge and descend via the south ridge to the Jungfraujoch it meant that we wouldn’t be returning to the Mittellegi hut after the climb and needed to have everything with us in our rucksacks i.e. It was a good idea to take the absolute minimum to save weight. I was pretty astonished to be able to cram everything into my lightweight 30l Norrøna Falketind rucksack which was ideal since the rucksack itself weighs only about 500g in comparison to my other 40l Lowe Alpine rucksack which offers more back support but weighs 1.8kg without anything in it. Anyway, with rucksacks packed we got onto the train departing at 11.25am from Grindelwald. The train took us first up to Kleine Scheidegg where we had to change to get the train heading for the Jungfraujoch. There were A LOT of tourists there who couldn’t get a seat on the next train but somehow we managed to negotiate with the train driver and explained we wanted to get off at Eismeer and he sneaked us into the front of the train. Lucky us ;) After skirting around the base of the Mønch the train headed into the mountain and stopped once for people to get out and have a look down the north face of the Eiger. Here there are fully-functioning toilet facilities as well so we made use of them. Then there was a few hundred metres more to go before we got dropped off at Eismeer along with a handful of others who appeared to be heading for the Mittellegi hut as well.

The first task was to find the right exit from the tunnel and out onto the Fiescher glacier. We got directions from one of the railway personnel who pointed us in the direction of the door we need to go through, and from here we had to walk down a tunnel via a staircase. We exited at the lowest point and were greeted by the blinding sight of sun and snow at the other side. Plus two austrians who were in the process of gearing up for the plod across the Fiescher glacier. There was a bit of moraine to descend before reaching the snow but we took crampons, harnesses and helmets on here since it was a convenient and safe place to do it. I’m not a fan of walking in crampons on rock but at least it was only maybe 50m of discomfort. Once on the glacier we had about 500-600m to walk before meeting the ridge where we would need to climb some two pitches. It was now nearly 1pm so there was a lot of slush snow, seracs to pass and rockfall risk because of the sun loosening things up on the mountainside. We didn’t hang around. There were a few crevasses to cross as well so it wasn’t terrain we wanted to spend the whole day negotiating. After hoofing it across the glacier we got to the start of the ridge and put away the crampons and ice axe here. A few other teams were still climbing so we had to wait until they’d finished the pitches. The first pitch was probably the most difficult part of the approach to the hut but it was overcomeable even with a relatively heavy rucksack and mountain boots on. Once past the first pitch there was a second pitch of easy climbing and from there it was more or less walking on an exposed mountainside up towards the hut which was perched at 3355m on the ridge. The two austrians appeared to be doing the walk up unroped but Rocio and I moved together on a short rope. It was good rock, even if it was a little bit loose in places. A fairly worn trail in the mountainside helped to keep us on the simplest route up to the hut. Good views across to the Schreckhorn all the way. Once we got closer to the hut we got an impressive view of the Mittellegi ridge and the Eiger itself. Seemed a bit daunting now!

We arrived at the hut around 2.30pm and had plenty of time to relax since we wouldn’t be getting dinner until 7pm. The hut has an ‘annex’ and one dorm in the main building. We got beds in the annex which had 8 beds. The afternoon went by pretty slowly. Rocio used the time to take a power nap while I spent some time in the hut and some time sunbathing on the ridge outside the hut. The hut was fully booked that night but a group of Polish (I think) climbers turned up with bivvy bags and set up camp outside the hut in the evening. I was already beginning to fear tripping up on them the next morning when we’d be setting off in the dark. Or maybe they’d already have left before us……. After a wholesome dinner of soup, rice and some sort of stew there was just enough time to admire a gorgeous sunset over the Mittellegi ridge before heading off to bed just after 9pm. Breakfast was going to be at 4.30am for us, some people were to going to get theirs a little earlier, some a little later since there was not enough room at the dining tables for everyone to eat at the same time. Sleeping conditions in the dormitory were almost perfect for a good night’s sleep. No snorers, a nice cool temperature and everyone sleeping at the same time. Nevertheless I don’t remember having ever fallen asleep that night. Maybe I was just a bit excited about the day ahead. This was after all going to be an ascent of the Eiger. A mountain which I associate with hardcore climbers. And I don’t really consider myself to be a climber, let alone a hardcore climber. Anyway, Rocio’s alarm rang at 4.15am so we got quickly changed, put on boots and left rucksacks and gear outside the hut before going inside to drink coffee and eat some bread and cereal. Its amazing how fast time goes by when people around you seem to be in a rush to get going. I could definitely have spent twice as long on digesting a hot drink and food at that time of the day but I could tell Rocio was keen to get started on the route earlier rather than later to avoid being stuck behind slower groups. I think we managed to leave just before 5am. I was still half asleep.

We ascended the ridge by its crest more or less all the way, which started pretty straightforward but just before dawn we’d arrived at the first proper bit of scrambling. There was some waiting time there but at least it wasn’t cold. The ridge continued with a mixture of walking and scrambling, then there was small bit of descent on fixed ropes followed by a steep pull back up on more fixed ropes. I found it quite strenuous to be pulling myself up solely with my arms (mainly because I don’t climb regularly….) so I tried to avoid relying completely on the fixed ropes and tried to climb parts of those sections where possible. It probably took just as much time but at least I didn’t emerge feeling exhausted. We were soon able to climb without the light of head torches since the sun rose at around 6am and hit us pretty early on the ridge. It was good to be climbing in the sunshine! At around 3600m we were around halfway up from the hut. We took an enforced break here since the next section involved a small descent and there was a bit of a queue there. Theres not a lot of space on the ridge! We could also see that parts of the ridge were now beginning to be covered in new snow, not great stuff for crampons but nevertheless not great stuff to walk on without crampons. So while waiting for people ahead to get a move on, we took the opportunity to eat and put on crampons there. The first crampon-on break of about two million over the course of the day……

After both of us had done the descent down to a notch in the ridge (good views of the upper section from there) we continued over to the start of the next series of fixed ropes. The conditions from here began to be quite mixed with loose snow and compacted new snow on the rock slabs and we were now getting a good taste of the upper section of the north face. It was a long and steep way down! Again there was some waiting in-between sections of the fixed ropes since there wasn’t enough room for everyone to be using the same fixed ropes and stanchions at the same time. It was temporarily chilly with a fair amount of spindrift blowing down the face from higher up so I was glad to get off that part of the ridge and onto non-snowcovered part of the ridge again higher up. Tiring on those fixed ropes though. I put it down to a combination of not having slept much and being up at nearly 4000m after only a few days, plus the stop-start nature of the climbing. Off with the crampons after the fixed ropes to climb the next section. We were finally getting closer to the summit, or at least it felt like that. We’d been going nearly 4 hours from the hut now. Crampons on again for a short section of snow on the ridge (we could have probably done it without but that was only something we realised in hindsight). Crampons off. The two austrians ahead of us were having rope issues which kept us waiting for some time. Somehow we managed to get past them – at last – then it was crampons on again to cross a rather delicate snow crest leading up towards the summit. I took a slightly lower trail than Rocio to counterbalance her in the event that one of us should slip. It definitely was a good time to not focus too much in the summit and just concentrate on every footstep :)

After nearly 5 slow hours we finally arrived at a somewhat boring summit of the Eiger. No cross, no cairn, nothing but a snow cornice and some rocks. And another team (can’t remember what nationality they were). A little bit disappointing to be quite honest, but the views were fantastic, as they had been all the way up. The austrians turned up not long after us and the six of us celebrated together. We found some rocks to sit on on the south side of the summit since there was a cold wind blowing from the north and we ate some food there while also preparing ourselves mentally for a long descent along the south ridge. It looked like there was going to be a good deal of climbing up and down on the descent before reaching the glacier under the Mönch. We more or less left the summit together with the other 4 guys and teamed up with them to share the rigging of the abseils to speed things up. Crampons off again just after leaving the summit. There were 5 or 6 abseils which followed which were made easier to identify with the stanchions that were strategically placed along the way. I was quite happy to abseil since it meant extra precious metres descended without having to use my knees too much ;) A final abseil got us down to a section of snow which had to be crossed, so the crampons were put on again there. Then more walking along the ridge with the crampons still on.

It was a bit intermittent with patches of snow here and there so it didn’t seem worth taking them off. Another pitch of climbing with crampons off followed, then crampons on again. There was a traverse on fairly steeply-angled icy snow which wouldn’t have been so nice to slide down. More climbing again, first we had to squeeze through a narrow passage between two walls of rock, then up a gully to the crest of the ridge again. I was starting to get really tired now. An awkward move over a gap and round a the corner of the next obstacle took us to along an easier traverse and up to the ridge again. By this point I was feeling overheated, my legs were starting to feel heavier than lead and I was both incredibly thirsty and rather unmotivated. We soon came to a point on the ridge where we could sit and take a 5-minute revival break. Rocio whipped out a Power gel which I was more or less instructed to take. I’ve never used these before but apparently they work wonders. And taste a little unique. I still had an apple sitting in my rucksack so I ate that in the hope that my thirst would be partly quenched since I had no drink left. The combination of ditching my fleece top, eating an apple and consuming a Power gel seemed to be enough to get me going again and after yet more descending, scrambling and hand-traversing along the ridge we finally came to the last traverse on snow leading across to the glacier. I’d had my eyes on this point the whole time! Now it would be more or less a hot walk-in-the-park across the glacier to the Mönchjoch hut. Yesss!! And plenty of snow to eat here too :)

It took us around half an hour from reaching the glacier to walk around to the hut and we took a decent break here. 4 hours from the summit to the hut. Cola zero was bought and drunk in record time while Rocio opted to try some of the hut food. ‘Cheese on bread’ turned out to be a piece of bread in what can only be best described as cheese soup. It was quite literally a bowl of melted cheese with minimal quantities of bread. Nevertheless anything probably tastes good after an ascent of the Eiger. After around an hour at the hut we left for the Jungfraujoch and joined the tourist path which was basically a load of super slushy snow. It was a long wait for the next train down to Grindelwald for some reason or another but at least we were given a small bar of Lindt chocolate as a consolation for having to wait so long :) Back in sauna-hot Grindelwald we celebrated our Eiger success with yet another salad at the railway restaurant PLUS an ice cream. Us girls do know how to treat ourselves after a taxing day…… Thanks for a terrific two days Rocio!