Grindelwald. The Eiger

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The Eiger

Grindelwald

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[email protected], www.jungfrauregion.ch 1

1 The Myth

"If the wall can be done, we will do it - or stay there ". This assertion by Edi Rainer and Willy Angerer about the Eiger proved true for the two in 1936 - they remained there. The most well-known drama of the Eiger North Face was from the first attempt to climb it in the summer of 1936. Together with Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz of Germany, the two Austrians perished in the wall, notorious for rock falls and stormy weather. The photo of Toni Kurz hanging onto his rope went around the world.

Two years later Anderlecht Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg , Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek managed the first ascent of the approx. 1,650 meters high Eiger North Face. 70 years later, the local professional mountaineer Ueli Steck on a speed record, climbed the wall in two hours and 47 minutes.

Many dramas and successes have occurred since the first ascent of the Eiger in 1858 by the Irishman Charles Barrington and fascination still surrounds the mountain – for climbers or non - climbers.

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2 The Mountain

The Eiger is 3,970 meters high and is located in the Bernese Alps. Together with the Mönch and Jungfrau they form the famous and incomparable trio of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

Various routes lead to the summit of the Eiger. The most important:

Route Difficulty Duration

(hr) Starting point

Mittellegigrat

(Northeast ridge) D (difficult), III 4–5 (from hut) Mittellegi hut (3,355m) South ridge QD (quite difficult), III 5–6 Mönchsjoch hut

(3,657m) Southwest ridge QD 6–8 Station Eiger

gletscher (2,320m) Southeast wall VD (very difficult) 10–12 Station Eismeer

(3,159m) West ridge ED (extremely difficult), VI 9–11 Station

Eigergletscher West edge (normal) QD, to III, widely II 9–12 Station

Eigergletscher North Face normal

route (total, but at least 33 routes)

ED (extremely difficult) from VI

Alpiglen / Kleine Scheidegg

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3 The Chronicle

1858 On August 11 Irishman Charles Barrington, along with the Grindelwald mountain guides, Christian Almer and Peter Bohren, succeed on the first ascent of the Eiger on the western flank.

1864 The first woman on the summit of the Eiger is the Englishwoman Lucy Walker.

1896 The ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Jungfrau Railway. The lines pass along a tunnel right through the Eiger and Mönch. This results in the coming years in a total of seven holes in the four- kilometer track in the Eiger, the now famous alpinists’ tunnel hole and the two stations Eigerwand and Eismeer.

1898 Opening of the Eigergletscher station of the Jungfrau Railway (2320m) and a year

later, opening of the station Rotstock, the first station on the Eiger wall.

1903 Opening of the Eiger station (2865m).

1905 Opening of the Eismeer station (3159m).

1921 First ascent of Mittelegigrates on September 10 by the Japanese climber Yuko

Maki, the first professional mountaineer of Japan. The mountain guides Fritz Amatter, Fritz Steuri and Samuel Brawand accompanied him.

1932 The Swiss Hans Lauper and Alfred Zürcher with the mountain guides Alexander Graven and Joseph Knubel open the 1700 meters high, "Lauper route", via the north-east wall.

1935 First serious attempt to ascend the Eiger North Face. Max Sedlmayr and Karl Mehringer from Munich begin ascent on August 21, in the 1,800 high North Face and freeze to death on August 25, after several days of bad weather in a wall location at 3,300 meters, since named Death Bivouac.

1936 The Germans Andreas Hinterstoisser and Toni Kurz, and the Austrians Willi Angerer and Edi Rainer ascend separately on July 18, into the North Face, finally they rope together. They were not able to retreat because of bad weather, three climbers died on July 21. The following day, Toni dies shortly afterwards,

unreachable in the rope hanging before the eyes of the rescuers who want to save him from Stollenloch.

1938 First ascent of the Eiger North Face by the Germans Anderl Heckmair and Vörg

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1963 First solo ascent of the Eiger North Face (Heckmair route) on 2/3 August by the Valais mountain guide Michel Darbellay.

2008 Speed record by extreme mountain athlete Ueli Steck. He rises through the Eiger North Face by the Erstbesteiger route in two hours and 47 minutes, thus breaking his own record from the previous year on the same route. In the same year he receives the first ever in Grindelwald awarded "Eiger Award".

2011 Daniel Arnold improves the speed record on the Eiger: On 20 April 2011 the Uri mountain guide and professional climber races up the Eiger in 2 hours and 28 minutes and undercuts the time of Ueli Steck by 20 minutes.

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4 The First Ascent of the North Face

Western Flank of the Eiger Glacier: 11 August 1858

Christian Almer, Peter Bohren - Switzerland Charles Barrington – Ireland

Mittellegigrat Ascent: 10 September 1921

Yuko Maki – Japan

Fritz Amatter , Samuel Brawand , Fritz Steuri – Switzerland

Lauper Route: 20 August 1932

Hans Lauper, Alfred Zürcher, Joseph Knubel , Alexander Graven – Switzerland

North Face - Normal Route Summer 21 – 24 July 1938

Fritz Kasparek, Heinrich Harrer – Austria Andreas Heckmair, Ludwig Vörg – Germany

North Face – Normal Route Winter 6 – 12 March 1961

Toni Kinshofer , Toni Hiebeler , Anderlecht Manhard – Germany Walter Almberger – Austria

North Face - Normal Route Alone: 2 - 3 August 1963

Michel Darbellay – Switzerland

North Face Descent: 27 – 31 December 1963

Paul Etter, Ueli Gantenbein , Sepp Henkel – Switzerland

North Face - First Woman Ascent: 1-4 September 1964

Daisy Voog with Armin Bittner – Germany

John Harlin North Face Route: 23 February - 25 March 1966

Dougal Haston – Scotland

Siegfried Hupfauer , Jörg Lehne, Günther Strobel, Roland Votteler – Germany

Japanese Direct Route: July 15 - August 15, 1969

Michiko Imai, Takio Kato, Yasuo Kato, Saturo Neghisi , Susumo Kubo, Hirofumi Amano – Japan

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Winter Direct Route: 20 – 25 January 1970

Peter Jungen , Hans Müller, Otto von Allmen, Max Dörfliger , Hans -Peter Trachsel – Switzerland

Czechs Direct Route: 4 - 29 August 1976

Jiri Smid , Sylvia Kysilkowa , Petr Plachecky , Josef Rybička – Czechoslovakia

North Face in winter, normal route alone: 3 - 9 March 1978

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