Eiger – swissrockguides

Eiger 3970 M

June- July- August

The Eiger is my favorite guiding mountain. It has retained its mystique from the early 1930s of being the last big problem in the Alps. When you climb the ridge you look down to your left and see majestic glaciers and on the right you see the green meadows of Grindelwald. On the descent we get to look into the famous Eiger North Face.

The Eiger is similar to the Matterhorn. It is a rock climb, but it has more exposure and is less commonly traveled.

The climb is rated D with sections of Class V rock or S

We will need crampons and ice axes. The climb starts from the Eismeer train station at 3,159 meters on a glacier approach. The trail is very exposed to rock and icefall. The highest objective danger of the entire climb is here traversing under the Eigerjocher to the Mittellegi Hut at 3,355 meters. Once past the Eigerjocher, the climb is up class V rock ledges to easy traversing to the hut. From there, the climb proceeds along a knife edge ridge with rock climbing up to V with fixed ropes to hang on to if needed. Fixed ropes are located on the more difficult sections so we can belay and pull up on them. The summit ridge will have snow and ice towards the summit.

We will down climb to the train station, Eigergletscher, (West face) PD+ or traverse to the Jungfraujoch via Eigerjocher D with rock up to V depending on the current conditions. Because of the nature of the climb, once we have started, we do not have the option of turning around, and we are therefore committed to climbing over the top.

The climb takes about 4-5 hrs. to climb to the top and the same amount of time to down climb.

Conditions can change rapidly and there is always the possibility of rock fall and ice on the rock as we climb.

The downhill climbing will be climbing and not rappelling, so you have to be able to down climb grade 3-4.

We traditionally short rope our clients for safety and speed.

Eiger 4 Day Option

We offer a 4-day option with preparation or a 2 day option only for very experienced climbers with a very strong resume of climbs.

Day 1

Meet in Interlaken and drive to Griesalp in the Kiental and hike to the Gspaltenhorn hut. Option two is meet in Grindelwald and hike to the Glecksteinhut.

Day 2

Climb the Gspaltenhorn and return to Interlaken. Another option is to climb the Wetterhorn and return to the Glecksteinhut.

Day 3

We will take the train to the station Eismeer to climb to the Mittellegi hut.

Day 4

Climb the Eiger over the Mittellegi Ridge and return to Grindelwald.