Eiger

For other uses, see Eiger (disambiguation).
Eiger

The north face of the Eiger
Highest point
Elevation 3,970 m (13,020 ft)
Prominence 356 m (1,168 ft) [1]
Isolation 2.0 km (1.2 mi) [2]
Parent peak Mönch
Listing Great north faces of the Alps
Alpine mountains above 3000 m
Coordinates 46°34′39″N 8°0′19″E / 46.57750°N 8.00528°E / 46.57750; 8.00528Coordinates: 46°34′39″N 8°0′19″E / 46.57750°N 8.00528°E / 46.57750; 8.00528
Naming
Translation Ogre
Geography
Eiger

Location in Switzerland

Location Canton of Bern, Switzerland
Parent range Bernese Alps
Topo map Swisstopo 1229 Grindelwald
Geology
Mountain type Limestone
Climbing
First ascent 11 August 1858
Easiest route basic rock/snow/ice climb (AD)

The Eiger is a 3,970-metre (13,020 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eigerwand or Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps.[3] This huge face towers the resort of Kleine Scheidegg at its base, on the homonymous pass connecting the two valleys.

The first ascent of the Eiger was made by Swiss guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren and Irishman Charles Barrington, who climbed the west flank on August 11, 1858. The north face, considered amongst the most challenging and dangerous ascents, was first climbed in 1938 by an Austrian-German expedition.[4] The Eiger has been highly-publicized for the many tragedies involving climbing expeditions. Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname Mordwand, literally "murder(ous) wall"—a pun on its correct title of Nordwand (North Wall).[5]

Although the summit of the Eiger can be reached by experienced climbers only, a railway tunnel runs inside the mountain, and two internal stations provide easy access to viewing-windows carved into the rock face. They are both part of the Jungfrau Railway line, running from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch, between the Mönch and the Jungfrau, at the highest railway station in Europe. The two stations within the Eiger are Eigerwand (behind the north face) and Eismeer (behind the south face), at around 3,000 metres.

The Eiger is mentioned in records dating back to the 13th century, but there is no clear indication of how exactly the peak gained its name. The three mountains of the ridge are commonly referred to as the Virgin (German: Jungfrau – translates to "virgin" or "maiden"), the Monk (Mönch), and the Ogre (Eiger; the standard German word for ogre is Oger). The name has been linked to the Latin term acer, meaning "sharp" or "pointed", but more commonly to the German eigen, meaning "own".

Geographic setting and description

The Eiger and Mönch from near Kleine Scheidegg

The Eiger is located within the Bernese Oberland region of the canton of Bern, between the valleys and municipalities of Lauterbrunnen (west) and Grindelwald (east). It is located 2.2 km northeast of the Mönch and 5.6 km northeast of the Jungfrau, in the northeastern part of the Bernese Alps. The nearest settlements are Grindelwald (5 km), Lauterbrunnen and Wengen (both 7 km). The Eiger has three faces, north(west), west and southeast. The east ridge from the summit to the Ostegg (2,709 m), named Mittellegi, is the longest on the Eiger. The north face overlooks the pass and resort of Kleine Scheidegg (3 km), or more precisely the region east of it, the north face lying entirely in the municipality of Grindelwald. The latter mountain pass lies between the valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald and connects the lower Männlichen-Tschuggen range to the Eiger. All the aforementioned localities are connected to Interlaken via mountain railways.

The Eiger on the Siegfried Map

The Eiger does not properly form part of the main chain of the Bernese Alps, which borders the canton of Valais and forms the watershed between the Rhine and the Rhone, but constitutes a huge limestone buttress, projecting from the granitic mass of the Mönch across the Eigerjoch. Consequently, all sides of the mountain feed the same river, the Lütschine, through the Weisse Lütschine on the west side (west face of the Eiger) and through the Schwarze Lütschine on the east side (north and east faces of the Eiger). Therefore all the water running down the Eiger converges at the foot of the Männlichen in Zweilütschinen, 10 km northwest of the summit, where the Lütschine proper begins its course to Lake Brienz and the Aare. Although the north face of the Eiger is almost free of ice, significant glaciers lie at the other sides of the mountain. The Eiger Glacier flows on the west side of the Eiger, from the crest connecting it to the Mönch down to 2,400 m, south of Eigergletscher railway station, and feeds the Weisse Lütschine, through the Trümmelbach. On the east side, the Eismeer (well visible from the windows of Eismeer railway station) flows from the Mönch down to 1,300 m through the Lower Grindelwald Glacier system, which feeds the Schwarze Lütschine.

The massive wall of the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger itself constitutes an emblematic sight of the Swiss Alps and is well visible from many places on the Swiss Plateau and the Jura Mountains. The higher Finsteraarhorn (4,270 m) and Aletschhorn (4,190 m), which are located about 10 km to the south, are generally less visible and situated in the middle of glaciers in less accessible areas. As opposed to the north side, the south and east sides of the range consist of large valley glaciers extending for about 20 km, the largest (beyond the Eiger drainage basin) being those of Aletsch, Fiesch and Aare, and is thus uninhabited. The whole area, the Jungfrau-Aletsch, comprising the highest summits and largest glaciers of the Bernese Alps, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.

In July 2006, a piece of the Eiger amounting to approximately 700,000 cubic metres of rock fell from the east face. As it had been noticeably cleaving for several weeks and fell into an uninhabited area, there were no injuries and no buildings were hit.[6]

North face

North face
"Nordwand" redirects here. For the related movie, see North Face (film).
"Eigerwand" redirects here. For the train station, see Eigerwand railway station.

The Nordwand, German for "north wall" or "north face," is the spectacular north (or, more precisely, northwest by north) face of the Eiger (also known as the Eigernordwand: "Eiger north wall" or Eigerwand). It is one of the three great north faces of the Alps, along with the north faces of the Matterhorn and the Grandes Jorasses (known as 'the Trilogy'). It is about 1,800 m (5,900 ft) tall and overlooks Kleine Scheidegg and Grindelwald. At 2,866 metres inside the mountain lies the Eigerwand railway station. The station is connected to the north face by a tunnel opening at the face, which has sometimes been used to rescue climbers. The Eiger Trail, at the base of the north face, runs from Eigergletscher to Alpiglen railway stations.

It was first climbed on July 24, 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek, a German–Austrian group. The group had originally consisted of two independent teams; Harrer and Kasparek were joined on the face by Heckmair and Vörg, who had started their ascent a day later and had been helped by the fixed rope that the lead group had left across the Hinterstoisser Traverse. The two groups, led by the experienced Heckmair, cooperated on the more difficult later pitches, and finished the climb roped together as a single group of four.

Close view of the north face from the west ridge

A portion of the upper face is called "The White Spider", as snow-filled cracks radiating from an ice-field resemble the legs of a spider. Harrer used this name for the title of his book about his successful climb, Die Weisse Spinne (translated into English as The White Spider: The Classic Account of the Ascent of the Eiger). During the first successful ascent, the four men were caught in an avalanche as they climbed the Spider, but all had enough strength to resist being swept off the face.

Since then, the north face has been climbed many times. Today it is regarded as a formidable challenge more because of the increased rockfall and diminishing ice-fields than because of its technical difficulties, exceeded by the 8,000 m peaks in the Himalaya and Karakoram. Climbers are increasingly electing to challenge the Eiger in winter, when the crumbling face is strengthened by ice.

Since 1935, at least sixty-four climbers have died attempting the north face, earning it the German nickname, Mordwand, or "murderous wall", a play on the face's German name Nordwand.[5]

Climbing history

View from the railway station of Kleine Scheidegg

While the summit was reached without much difficulty in 1858 by a complex route on the west flank, the battle to climb the north face has captivated the interest of climbers and non-climbers alike. Before it was successfully climbed, most of the attempts on the face ended tragically and the Bernese authorities even banned climbing it and threatened to fine any party that should attempt it again. But the enthusiasm which animated the young talented climbers from Austria and Germany finally vanquished its reputation of unclimbability when a party of four climbers successfully reached the summit in 1938 by what is known as the "1938" or "Heckmair" route.

The climbers that attempted the north face could be easily watched through the telescopes from the Kleine Scheidegg, a pass between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, connected by rail. The contrast between the comfort and civilization of the railway station and the agonies of the young men slowly dying a short yet uncrossable distance away led to intensive coverage by the international media.

After World War II, the north face was climbed twice in 1947, first by a party of two French guides, Louis Lachenal and Lionel Terray, then by a Swiss party consisting of H. Germann, with Hans and Karl Schlunegger.[7]

First ascent

The Eiger from the east side (and Mönch behind)

The first ascent was made by the western flank on August 11, 1858 by Charles Barrington with guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. They started at 3:00 a.m. from Wengen. Barrington describes the route much as it is followed today, staying close to the edge of the north face much of the way. They reached the summit at about noon, stayed for some 10 minutes and descended in about four hours. Barrington describes the reaching of the top, saying, "the two guides kindly gave me the place of first man up." Their ascent was confirmed by observation of a flag left on the summit. According to Harrer's The White Spider, Barrington was originally planning to make the first ascent of the Matterhorn, but his finances did not allow him to travel there as he was already staying in the Eiger region.[8]

Attempts on the north face

1935

In 1935 two young German climbers from Bavaria, Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer, arrived at Grindelwald to attempt to climb the face. They waited a long time for good weather and when the clouds finally cleared they started. The two climbers reached the height of the Eigerwand station and made their first bivouac. On the following day, because of the greater difficulties, they gained little height. On the third day they made hardly any vertical ground. That night a storm broke and the mountain was hidden in fog, and then it began to snow. Avalanches of snow began to sweep the face and the clouds closed over it. Two days later, there was a short moment when the clouds cleared and the mountain was visible for a while. The two men were glimpsed, now a little higher and about to bivouac for the fifth time. Then the fog came down again and hid the climbers. A few days later the weather finally cleared, revealing a completely white north face. The two climbers were found later frozen to death at 3,300 m, at a place now known as "Death Bivouac".[7][9]

1936

On the Hinterstoisser traverse

The next year ten young climbers from Austria and Germany came to Grindelwald and camped at the foot of the mountain. Before their attempts started, one of them was killed during a training climb, and the weather was so bad during that summer that after waiting for a change and seeing none on the way, several members of the party gave up. Of the four that remained, two were Bavarians, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, the youngest of the party, and two were Austrians, Willy Angerer and Edi Rainer. When the weather improved they made a preliminary exploration of the lowest part of the face. Hinterstoisser fell 37 metres (121 ft) but was not injured. A few days later the four men finally began the ascent of the face. They climbed quickly, but on the next day, after their first bivouac, the weather changed; clouds came down and hid the group to the observers. They did not resume the climb until the following day, when, during a break, the party was seen descending, but the climbers could be seen only intermittently from the ground. The group had no choice but to retreat, since Angerer had suffered serious injuries from falling rock. The party became stuck on the face when they could not recross the difficult Hinterstoisser Traverse, from which they had taken the rope they had first used to climb it. The weather then deteriorated for two days. They were ultimately swept away by an avalanche, which only Kurz survived, hanging on a rope. Three guides started on an extremely perilous rescue. They failed to reach him but came within shouting distance and learned what had happened. Kurz explained the fate of his companions: one had fallen down the face, another was frozen above him, and the third had fractured his skull in falling and was hanging dead on the rope.[7]

In the morning the three guides came back, traversing the face from a hole near the Eigerwand station and risking their lives under incessant avalanches. Toni Kurz was still alive but almost helpless, with one hand and one arm completely frozen. Kurz hauled himself off the cliff after cutting loose the rope that bound him to his dead teammate below and climbed back onto the face. The guides were not able to pass an unclimbable overhang that separated them from Kurz. They managed to give him a rope long enough to reach them by tying two ropes together. While descending, Kurz could not get the knot to pass through his carabiner. He tried for hours to reach his rescuers who were only a few metres below him. Then he began to lose consciousness. One of the guides, climbing on another's shoulders, was able to touch the tip of Kurz's crampons with his ice-axe but could not reach higher. Kurz was unable to descend further and, completely exhausted, died slowly.[7]

1937

An attempt was made in 1937 by Mathias Rebitsch and Ludwig Vörg. Although the attempt was unsuccessful, they were nonetheless the first climbers who returned alive from a serious attempt on the face. They started the climb on 11 August and reached a high point of a few rope lengths above Death Bivouac. A storm then broke and after three days on the wall they had to retreat. This was the first successful withdrawal from a significant height on the wall.[10]

First ascent of the north face

The Heckmair route

The north face was first climbed on July 24, 1938 by Anderl Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg, Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek in a German–Austrian party. The party had originally consisted of two independent teams: Harrer (who did not have a pair of crampons on the climb) and Kasparek were joined on the face by Heckmair and Vörg, who had started their ascent a day later and had been helped by the fixed rope that the lead team had left across the Hinterstoisser Traverse. The two groups, led by the experienced Heckmair, decided to join their forces and roped together as a single group of four. Heckmair later wrote: "We, the sons of the older Reich, united with our companions from the Eastern Border to march together to victory."[7]

The expedition was constantly threatened by snow avalanches and climbed as quickly as possible between the falls. On the third day a storm broke and the cold was intense. The four men were caught in an avalanche as they climbed "the Spider," the snow-filled cracks radiating from an ice-field on the upper face, but all possessed sufficient strength to resist being swept off the face. The members successfully reached the summit at four o'clock in the afternoon. They were so exhausted that they only just had the strength to descend by the normal route through a raging blizzard.[7]

Other routes

Painting of the Eiger by Maximilien de Meuron, early 19th century
The north face on a clear summer day
Rockfall onto the Lower Grindelwald Glacier valley

Climbs and attempts on the north face

1930s and 1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Panorama

View from Männlichen: From left to right, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Books and films

See also

References

  1. ↑ Retrieved from the Swisstopo topographic maps. The key col is the Nördliches Eigerjoch (3,614 m).
  2. ↑ Retrieved from Google Earth. The nearest point of higher elevation is northeast of the Mönch.
  3. ↑ Veneblas, Stephen (2014). First Ascent. London: Hachette UK. ISBN 1554074037. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
  4. ↑ Reinhold Messner, The Big Walls: From the North Face of the Eiger to the South Face of Dhaulagiri, p. 41
  5. 1 2 Venables, Stephen (2006-08-27). "The Eiger is my kind of therapy". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  6. ↑ The Associated Press (2008-07-14). "Massive chunk falls from Swiss mountain". MSNBC. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Claire Eliane Engel, A History of Mountaineering in the Alps, 1950
  8. ↑ First ascent of the Eiger summitpost.org. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
  9. ↑ The north face of the Eiger mountainzone.com. Retrieved on 2010-03-04
  10. ↑ Alptraum der Alpen einestages.spiegel.de. Retrieved on 2010-03-04
  11. 1 2 3 Daniel Anker and Rainer Rettner, Chronology of the Eiger from 1252 to 2013
  12. ↑ Acro-base.com video
  13. ↑ "Ski-Gliding the Eiger". YouTube.
  14. ↑ Michael Hopkin. "Eiger loses face in massive rockfall". BioEd Online.
  15. ↑ From Strutt's Presidential Valedictory Address, 1938, in Alpine Journal, Vol. L, reprinted in Peaks, Passes and Glaciers, ed. Walt Unsworth, London: Allen Lane, 1981, p. 210
  16. 1 2 The White Spider
  17. ↑ "Strange and Dangerous Dreams: the Fine Line between Adventure and Madness", Geoff Powter, 2006, p. 165.
  18. ↑ Skoczylas, Adam (1962). Stefano, we shall come tomorrow. London: Poets' and Painters' Press. p. 35. [the story about the 1957 rescue action]
  19. ↑ Claudio Corti (1928-2010): A Life in the Shadow of the Eiger, article by Luca Signorelli. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  20. 1 2 wspinanie.pl, Eiger part 3, Polish ascents (→1961 Droga Klasyczna) (in Polish). Retrieved 2010-03-16; earlier reference, see: "Taternik" No 3-4/1966 (in Polish)
  21. ↑ wspinanie.pl, Eiger part 2, routes, N Pillar/ridge (in Polish). Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  22. ↑ wspinanie.pl, Eiger part 3, Polish ascents (→1968) N Pillar (in Polish). Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  23. ↑ Scott, Doug; Alex MacIntyre (2000) [1984]. Shisha Pangma: The Alpine Style First Ascent of the South-West Face. Seattle, WA, USA: The Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-723-1.
  24. ↑ wspinanie.pl Eiger part 2, routes (Pochylý solo) (in Polish). Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  25. ↑ Christophe Profit Ten Times the Eiger North Face.
  26. ↑ destivelle.com, Catherine Destivelle solo ascents, Eiger Retrieved 2010-03-16. Available also in French
  27. ↑ "Ueli Steck speed record on Eiger Heckmair route". planetmountain.com.
  28. ↑ "Eiger Team Record Bested Again". alpinist.com.
  29. ↑ Ueli Steck scales new heights with 2008 Eiger award
  30. 1 2 "Eiger Speed Record - Dani Arnold", ukclimbing.com, 25 April 2011.
  31. ↑ "adidas Outdoor Athletes Sasha DiGiulian And Carlo Traversi Free Climb Magic Mushroom... - LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/". Prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
  32. ↑ "Ueli Steck on www.movescount.com"
  33. ↑ Roth, Arthur (1982) "Eiger, wall of death". Norton. ISBN 0-393-01496-7 and (2000) Adventure Library. ISBN 1-885283-19-9.

Works cited

External links

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