Mountaineers: how hard is the Eiger – not the north face, the other routes?

Thinking about a trip/achievement this summer to cheer me up after I lost my job.
I’ve done about 25 Munroes in winter incl Anoach Eagach, Liathach and a couple of others in Torridon + Tower Ridge in September so not a newbie but not climbing highly technical stuff either…
Anyone got any insight/good sources of info?
Cheers

no idea but this was a great programme about N face http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tlwj3 shame its no longer available to watch

Considered Mont Blanc? I’m doing it in August through Martin Moran’s outfit, but he also does harder stuff if you’re up for it.

Some years back, I did the Matterhorn with this company

http://www.alpin-ism.com/courses/summermountaineering/matterhornascent.cfm

My technical skill prior was a bit of scrambling at grade 1, one at grade 3, and a tiny bit of diff level climbing, which was enough to get me to the top and back in good time.

I see they also do an eiger summit trip http://www.alpin-ism.com/Courses/SummerMountaineering/eigerascent.cfm which they rate as more technical, but less physically demanding.

Anyway, it might be worth contacting them for an opinion, but it sounds from the description that you’d need reasonable climbing experience for the route they are suggesting. I’d have thought the Matterhorn might match you skills more closely though.

Either is a big lottery on what the weather is like though as to what your chances of success are.

I suspect its rather hard to do the eiger. Plenty of alpine peaks you can climb without guides or technical climbing but with plenty of fear.

roc d’enfer is the scariest I have done

http://www.summitpost.org/eiger/150228 is a pretty reasonable summary. I was over there last summer and like the look of the Mittelegi Ridge, but it’s long and really exposed.

Thing about alpine stuff is that it’s a different game to Scottish mountaineering. You need to be able to move fast over exposed stuff, know how to cope with glacier travel etc.

It might make sense to do an alpine course over there culminating in a biggish peak or talk to an English-speaking guide and see what he’d suggest given your level of experience.

Are you thinking of hiring a guide or going with mates? If the latter, the Eiger might be a bit of a big ask for a first alpine peak. But what do I know.

Mittelegi Ridge:

From this article:

http://adriannelhams.blogspot.com/2010/10/eiger.html

Not done it myself but always fancied it…

We tried to do the south ridge from The Monchjoch hut, but turned back after realising it was much longer than we anticipated. I think the guidebook time is 7-9 hours to the summit, so a massive day out even from such a high point. We were just too slow and gave up after 9 hours, still a fair bit short of the summit. It’s technically fairly straightforward, you just need to be very fit. There were some absails required on the descent, but it was all fairly obvious having climbed those sections earlier in the day.
Monch and Jungfrau were still worth doing tho, but the Eiger south ridge was a bit too long for us.

I know a Scottish mountain guide who did the Eiger North Face. Quite happy soloing grade 5-6 ice climbs and he’s done the Eiger North Face once too. He said ‘never again’. The problem apparently is not so much the difficult and committing climbing, but the constant rock falls and variable conditions. Bloody dangerous was his opinion. The other way up the Eiger is a walk in the park and pretty dull by comparison. Why not try a guided trip up the Matterhorn instead – much easier and no less spectacular.

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We went up on the train to the jungfraujoch observatory years ago and walked up to the monch hut. Was absolutely stunning even just that walk and having lunch on the terrace of the hut. Did t have the skills for a climb tho 🙂

Spent a couple of weeks in Grindelwald last summer – did a bit of alpine stuff and did a bit on the Eiger. Not particularly hard but a long day.
Have you seen the footage of that crazy guy who did the north face in a few hours solo free climbing – insane.

Have you climbed in the Alps before?

Are you using a guide?

If yes and yes, the simpler routes should be within your capability. I’ve see guides drag complete numptees up some interesting stuff so if you have background, you should be fine (usual caveats apply).

HOWEVER. Why not go somewhere else and get yourself up a few easy 4000m peaks? Park your self at Saas, Cham or Zermatt and get some mileage in.

I’ve done the Mittelegi Ridge and it’s not the finest. Get to Saas and the world is your lobster for Alps beginner peaks:-)

I’ve got just over 40 4000m peaks ‘under my belt’ including Matterhorn etc. My first trips were to Zinal, then Saas, Arolla etc. Pick on some classic snow and mixed routes on some of the bigger bumps to start with. Get in the groove and then you’ll enjoy something like the Matterhorn/Eiger more. I prefer guideless climbing, YMMV if you choose to go guided.

How about the Biancograt on the Piz Bernina (Pontresina nr St Moritz). Stunning-looking snow arete:

Altitude is cool. The sky goes dark…

awesome video of the north face here…

http://www.muchbetteradventures.com/news/view/254/north-face-of-the-eiger-speed-record