Eiger

Different rope team, same goal

In 1938, after three gruelling days, four mountaineers from Germany and Austria successfully climbed the famous north face of the Eiger. The wall had claimed eight lives to date, and no alpinist had been allowed to climb it. Andreas Heckmair and Ludwig Vörg from Munich climbed the wall at the same time as Heinrich Harrer from Carinthia and Fritz Kasparek from Vienna on the morning of 22 July. The two rope teams had not co-ordinated, it was a coincidence that they wanted to attempt the wall at the same time. During their joint struggle, the four young men joined forces and made it to the summit together on 24 July 1938. Just a few metres beforehand, a sudden foggy spell threw the whole endeavour into disarray: they stood there disoriented, not knowing which way to go. Heckmair later wrote: "That would have been bad luck. To get through on the north side and fall down the south side because you missed the summit."

The north face of the Eiger today

There are now over 30 routes through the famous north face. These include both winter ascents (up to M7) and summer ascents in the tenth degree of difficulty (X). Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler achieved the first ascent in one day (ten hours) in 1974. In 2008, Swiss professional alpinist Ueli Steck managed a solo speed ascent of 2.48 hours, which was beaten by another 20 minutes three years later by his compatriot Dani Arnold. Even today, most rope teams need two to three days, despite using sophisticated equipment.

View from a safe distance

The view of the imposing wall with its dark aesthetics is still a special experience today. The most famous vantage point on the north face of the Eiger is Kleine Scheidegg, from where the first attempts to climb through were carefully observed with large binoculars. Numerous excellently maintained hiking and cycling trails lead along the foot of the famous Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau triumvirate and guarantee an extraordinary day with impressive views.