The final adventure of the “summer” in the Alps – climbing the Eiger, 3967 m
The summit almost reached 4000 m. But this is one of the icons of the Alps, with the famous “north face” included in the TOP tasks of many climbers.
The mountain is located in the Grindelwald region, in the center of Switzerland. The landscapes and nature here are incredible, so thousands of people, not only climbers, come to see the beauty of the local region.
The start of the climb starts from the Mittellegihütte mountain hut, which is located at an altitude of 3355 m. This is a small mountain hut that can accommodate 30 people. Since the approach to this hut is a separate adventure, there are no crowds of tourists here, as at Hornli Hut. And in general, only the Swiss go to the Eiger.
The route to the shelter begins in a railway tunnel, at an altitude of 3000 m. The train goes from the village of Grindelwald up the mountain, to an altitude of 3600 m, the Jungfrau station. From the tunnel we rappelled 20 m along the rocks to the glacier, and then along the glacier we came out onto the rocks along which we climbed to the shelter.
The classic route goes along the ridge all the time. Most of the difficult sections were climbed on fixed ropes. But in general, it was not possible to relax along the route. We constantly have to climb… Due to heavy rainfall, the mountain in front of us was a little covered in snow, so it was not possible to move quickly 😟.
Having climbed to the top, it became clear that climbing the mountain is one story. But the descent is completely different. We descended for a long time :). About 7 hours to the Mönchsjoch Hut.
Although at first there was a plan to catch the last train to Grindelwald (most of the groups following us also planned this), and then there was just a plan to get to the shelter 😃
Usually the descent from Eiger goes along another ridge, and it is not really a descent, but a traverse at an altitude of 3600-3700 with deckles gendarmes: some can be bypassed, and some need to be expressed, sometimes in a very trivial way. On the way up, the descent is quite difficult, although it can be shorter.
We got away from the shelter around 12 o’clock. We were very tired. Especially my partner Misha, who had minimal acclimatization 😊.
We were also lucky because the next day a powerful cyclone arrived, covering the Alps with bad weather for a week.
Similar climbs with Extreme Guide
Switzerland
Dates:
July 4 – July 9
July 8 – July 13
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
Left: 8 places
Switzerland
Dates:
July 24 – July 26
August 17 – August 19
September 4 – September 6
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
Left: 2 places
Switzerland Dates:
June 21 – June 27
July 19 – July 25
August 9 – August 15
August 23 – August 29
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
Left: 3 places
Switzerland Dates:
June 27 – June 29
July 11 – July 13
July 25 – July 27
August 1 – August 3
August 8 – August 10
August 22 – August 24
September 5 – September 7
September 12 – September 14
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
5.0 (13)
Left: 1 place
Switzerland Dates:
July 4 – July 9
July 18 – July 23
July 25 – July 30
August 1 – August 6
August 15 – August 20
August 29 – September 3
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
5.0 (13)
Left: 2 places
France Dates:
July 11 – July 22
August 15 – August 26
Complexity:
Duration:
Height:
Left: 2 places