O/T Eiger documentary

[left4dead]

Purely by chance I stumbled across a documentary on BBC4 last night about the history of climbing the Eiger's North Face. Although the Eiger had been conquered before using its West Flank (in the 1800s) no one had ever attempted the North Face, in fact, all the newspapers at the time said you had to be an ‘imbecile’ to even think of attempting it. Anyway, in 1935 European teams (not UK) started trying. All failed and most died en route. The town below the North Face (Grimblewald?) had an influx of tourists and reporters who would sit on their hotel balconies - using telescopes that the hotels had installed for them - to watch the grisly life & death struggles acted out before them.

In 1938 a team, including a man named Heckmair, finally found a route to the summit. It took them three days.

Now this is the REALLY amazing part…. in 2008 a Swiss ‘alpinist’ by the name of Ueli Steck climbed the Heckmair route to the summit, solo, without ropes, in…. wait for it….. 2 hours and 47 minutes!!! This was achieved during the official winter period (as summer ascents are impossible due to rock fall).

TWO HOURS FORTY SEVEN MINUTES.

This record has since been broken by 20 minutes by another Swiss guy although he used some ropes left by a team ahead of him to transverse a tricky section so his record is not quite as impressive as Ueli's.

I hope you’ve a head for heights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxqB9T3T004

[Gary71]

I also stumbled into this, great viewing!

When I went up the Eiger I took the train...

[Nick Moss]

Fantastic programme, great input from Chris Bonington and others. Watch it if you get the chance, although some is a bit gory.

Just to put the 2:47 into perspective, the first 3 day climb used the easy route, the first "straight up" climb took more than a month and cost at least one life.

[left4dead]

Gary? A train ride worth taking, I imagine?

I think they could have made a documentary on the train itself! What a feat of engineering. It took them sixteen years to build between 1896 & 1912 with the loss of six workers due to an explosion. 9.3 km long with most being though the rock of Eiger & Monch with two observation windows and at the top, the highest station in Europe (Jungfraujoch at 11,332 ft).

The windows have been used for rescue attempts over the years with one very sad story of a young mountaineer who was left hanging from a rope after the rest of his party fell to their death. The rescue party managed to get a knife to him to cut his rope (he was five meters above them) but his fingers were frozen and he couldn't use it. They retreated back through the window knowing that he would be dead by morning...

[squirdan]

Clint Eastwood in "The Eiger Sanction" is q good

[Tosh]

I saw this programme a while back - prob on Beeb2. Fscinating.

I'm also in that neck of the woods in the summer so may make a train ride with the wee lad

[left4dead]

Clint Eastwood in "The Eiger Sanction" is q good

Are you sure, Dan? I haven't seen it since I was a kid.

Apparently you can stay in the hotel where he did during filming (it features quite heavily in the film itself). Can you tell I was up late last night looking into this stuff?

Ordered this today (the story of the guy left hanging by his rope mentioned before as told by the guy left hanging from his rope in Touching the Void)):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... 00_s00_i01

And this for good measure:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002 ... 00_s00_i03

[Gary71]

The train is expensive, but once you are up there all thoughts of the cost evaporate. Truly wonderful place.

The view looking out the other side of the Eiger:

Jungfraujoch Station by Suggs, on Flickr

..and the open wire mesh flooring with a vertical drop that made my wife sick and retreat inside!


Don't look down by Suggs, on Flickr

[left4dead]

That walkway looks amazing (anyone been to the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon?) - I've vertigo just looking at those pics - thanks for posting, Gary.

I just have to go see this for myself....

Roadtrip!

Just over 600 miles and 11 hours from Tunbridge Wells according to Google Maps.

[Gary71]

You need to pick your day carefully as you might get to the top and see nothing but a bank of cloud!

[Nick Moss]

We could go on the way back from CLM.

[sjm]

Steve - a few years ago I did a road trip in my first Porsche, a 1988 Carrera 3.2, Grand Prix White... I went with my brother-in-law and the destination was the Austrian GP. On the way back we stopped in Grindelwald (which I believe is the correct spelling) and stayed in a little quaint Swiss hotel. Grindelwald is (correct me if I'm wrong anyone) the deepest natural valley in Europe - 1km deep, and has something like 75+ waterfalls. It is breath-takingly beautiful. Anyway, we had a night there, few beers, and got the little train up the valley that night to go in to the main town. This is a very small place, lots of bars/ hotels catering to the skiers, but very nice. I knew one day I'd go back.

Fast forward about 4 years and my wife and I decided to go on a camping holiday with our two boys (I think about 2yrs and 8yrs at the time). It was a good chance for a road-trip in the Range Rover I had at the time, and we ended up camping in Grindelwald on the valley floor. Absolutely stunning at night - pitch black, a million bright stars and the sound of waterfalls. Incredible. However, in the time between us booking the holiday and getting there my wife fell pregnant, so camping when she was 5 months pregnant was not as much fun as we'd hoped . Plus we ended up with mice running through our tent - didn't bother me, but was a big problem to my wife! So the next morning I drove back up to the town looking for a hotel. The only one with room was a very nice 5* hotel, so I booked a family suite, raced back down to the camp site and gave her the good news! We stuffed the Range Rover with all our clothes and fled to the bliss of the hotel. The best part though was when we got in to our suite - we were directly behind the Eiger!! The weather was great, so we spent the rest of the week sitting on the balcony in the evenings and taking in this incredible view - just stunning. It gave me a real desire to climb "something big" - and finally this year I achieved it with a couple of mates when we trekked to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Nothing like the Eiger I'll be the first to agree, but still an incredible journey.

I've rambled on a bit here, but reading your comments above had brought it all back to me . I have a long-kept promise to myself that, God willing, one day when my 356 is all properly sorted I'm going back to Grindelwald as part of my journey back to Germany/ Austria.

Go Steve - you will love it I'm sure

[left4dead]

Go Steve - you will love it I'm sure

Great story, Si, thanks for posting. And congrats on your Kilimanjaro achievement. maybe the Eiger will inspire me similarly.

I'm so there already - road trip being organised as I type.... Now what car to take!

[sjm]

The 911. No other

[left4dead]

I have it on good authority that the Furka Pass is close by:

http://www.ultimatedrives.net/routes/be ... routes.php

See how this thread has come around to the driving?