On the top of the Eiger

Eiger was an idea that moved our eyes to the sky, our thoughts to the mountain, and our heart rate up.

Climbing Eiger is a challenging and valuable mountaineering exploration one can take on its own. Since I followed mountaineering and alpinism, I have been reading stories about the north face of the Eiger, which is a symbol of true and extreme alpinism. I have read many stories about climbs that had historical effects on mountaineering and alpinism. The mountain itself is located in the Bernese Alps, right above Grindelwald in Switzerland with its 3970 masl.

Even before we decided to try on Eiger, in our subconscious, we were already sure that we would go. Me and my climbing partner Nikola and I have been learning this route for an entire year, reading scripts articles, watching videos and discussing with people who were there. The ridge that we wanted to climb is called Mittellegi, and it’s the most popular route to climb Eiger. It is a northeast ridge that offers you an incredible view of the north face of the Eiger.

The preparation for this climb was nothing out of the ordinary training we do. We have trained almost every day for years so far, climbing, running, mountaineering. We are all the time in the outdoors, making ourselves used to the mountain ambient. Our way of thinking is like that. Train all the time, read about the routes of the mountains and wait for the right moment to climb them. That is our philosophy when it comes to mountaineering.

Mittellegi ridge is graded AD+, meaning it is very exposed and contains technical climbing on almost vertical rocks. For the way down, climbers take the south ridge that brings you to the Eigerjoch from where you enter the glacier up to Monchhutte.

These are the base information that we knew on the first hand.

After we dived deep into the research, we discovered many other important details about the route. Let me explain.

First, the approach to the Mittellegihutte is not straightforward and requires climbing about 3 pitches that are graded 4+ and a glacier that you need to pass. After you climb the pitches, you start scrambling another 200 meters of almost loose rock up to the mountain hut.

The Mittellegi ridge is quite exposed, and there are no bolts between the anchors in many parts. On the way up, there is one absail that climbers need to make. On the hardest part of the route, there are fixed ropes that lead you to the summit. The summit ridge is very tight and exposed and sometimes contains less but sometimes more snow.

Climbing the Eiger is only half the journey! The descent from the summit is a bit complex and challenging as well. It takes around 5-8 abseils and another 200 meters of technical climbing, which is almost hard in some parts as you go up.

It was time for an exploration

The plan was to rest that day and tomorrow, the day after we arrived, to go to the Mittellegihutte.

The night was rainy, and I was a bit scared about the rock that we needed to climb if it was very wet. I didn’t sleep well. After the sun came out, we both looked to the summit, which was majestic when people saw it from Grindelwald. It gives meaning and inspiration to the people who live there.

Our gear was not heavy. We took 5 quickdraws, two 30 m ropes and some cams. The backpacks were enough and ready to go. The plan is to take the train that will leave us at the Eismeer station, which is located in the Eiger north face. It is literary in the rock. It's impressive how it was built, but that’s it; that is the way to start your exploration and climb to Eiger.

It was very foggy on the glacier. We were roped up. I had the GPS of the route, but we followed the frozen steps of people made some days ago. After 40 minutes, we reached the rock face, where the route continued. We were lucky to meet one party in front of us, and we followed them up to the hut. We consider that luck because route finding was very tricky in some parts. Anyway, after 2.30 hours, we probably reached the most beautiful mountain hut in the Alps. It was a small wooden but modern cabin, placed on the start of the MIttellegi ridge with a perfect view of all the Bernese Alps. The sunset was amazing, and we met lovely people there.

It’s 04:00 am. Alpine start, we are used to it. Our gear was ready, the same as our mind and body. We grab breakfast, put on the helmet and start climbing in the dark. Here, from the beginning, navigation-wise, everything was easy. We just follow the very narrow ridge up to the first vertical tower rock where the climbing starts. We were roped up from the hut, so there we were ready to proceed climbing without spending more time.

The climbing itself was perfect for us. We went very smoothly, and we didn’t use the belay device at all. After 2 hours of climbing, we reached the first abseil of the day. It was very windy, and there were several parties. It was a traffic jam here. However, we used the rope of one party, which allowed us to do that, so we didn’t add additional traffic. That was very friendly from their side. Along the climb, I was taking on and off my gloves because, in some parts, I needed to feel the rock in order to make the move.

We finally reached the fixed ropes. Here, the climb is the steepest. We followed the ropes until the summit ridge, where we put the crampons on. The ridge was extremely narrow and tight. But the views and the feeling were on top of everything at that moment. Such a lovely experience. We get to the summit still fresh and focused. After some impressions, we start our descent.

As we all know, the descent on every mountain can be very challenging as well. Mountaineers must be very focused when descending technical and exposed peaks. Absail after abseil, we took them around 8. Finally, we reach one place where we take our first rest after 6 hours of constant climbing. It’s interesting to mention that up to here, the first serious stop, we had only one bottle of water, and that was all from the drinks we had. It was our bad not taking enough water; it was obvious.

After 20 minutes of enjoying the views and analyzing the ridge that we needed to climb, we decided to move on. This part is what makes the descent of Egier challenging. We need to climb another 200 meters of technical ridge with some loose rocks. However, I was surprised that I found enough bolts to put protection. That was good. This ridge took us 2 hours to complete, and we finally reached the glacier that led us to Monchhutte, located at 3500 Masl. There, I stopped the watch, and our exploration and mountaineering on Eiger came to an end.

I felt very proud of myself, same as Nikola, but after some hours, I became aware that I needed to absorb all of this experience and make it a story that would give me the power to proceed with my explorations and mountaineering in the future.