Eiger – Deep Blue Sea

written by Chris

I don’t dig too deep in multipitching.

Why is it? I don’t really know. 

Although a day out in the mountains does promise satisfying and memorable experiences on interesting rock spiced with fantastic views, I’d rather take a session on a fantastic single pitch crag if I’d have the choice. It springs to my mind that I’am a real project climber instead of being an onsight climber. And onsighting seems to be a fundamental basic for long, big routes.

But sometimes I get this feeling of adventure.

This can be blamed on one mountain with five letters: E-i-g-e-r…

Geneva pillar from the side, left Eiger North-Pillar and First Pillar North-Face and left again Wetterhorn

Being a climber on little crags by heart it’s funny enough that I began climbing 34 years ago at the tender age of 14 years because of reading books about the Eiger and its infamous north face. Still on I feel connected to this face and the stories about. It also looks appealing in its entity. You can see it from atop the Jura Mountains hosting my home crags. It’s always there – the magical triangle.

This led to the adventures by doing Spit Verdonesque édenté with Oli in 1990 in an epic thunderstorm behind our backs (that fortunately didn’t hit us!), the 800 meters high pillar of Chant de Cygne with Max in 2001 and the museum visit by cruising the ultraclassic Heckmair with Roger in 2005.

It came to a hot August 2015, just a week after the successful completion of my lifetime goal – the Enfant de Bohéme, a sport climb on Chuenisberg at 8c. It felt like being torned from a dream. I was thinking about all my dreams when I was young – also about the Eiger. And suddenly the next plan occurred: on the right side of the north face hosts the Geneva Pillar a well recommended climb called Deep Blue Sea. 

Her beauty was praised all over the country – even in newspapers after the first ascent by Reto Ruhstaller and Bernd Rathmayer in 2001. Then it got into the Medias again after the so-called “Free-BASE”-solo-trip of the routes upper part (where you can traverse in along a fixed rope) carried out by Dean Potter in 2008. 

On the ledge at the start of the climb

And something else made me feel going for a try – what you read now, sounds completely incomprehensive: 1990 when I abseiled down in Verdon-style for the aptly named Spit Verdonesque onto the traverse-in-ledge I immediately recognized the grey streak of the now-Deep-Blue-Sea. 

I was thinking about bolting this line, but - imagine the following from a nowadays point of view! – thought, it could provoke anger in mountaineering circles to establish  a second “little” route on this pillar, just on the side of the giant-classic-untouchable-heritage-protected north face… I can bite myself in the a..!

Writing blogs for myself and in doing so I can’t complain about, I read several blogs and articles in the internet about how challenging and demanding the route is. This scared me so much, that I almost forgot, that its grade is within the reach of my level! 

Okay, if your level is only that of the obligatory grade (in Switzerland a common habit of giving a grade for the expected difficulties in-between the bolts with also using the bolts as aid) of 7a+, than it will feel a bit scary. If you are above – I can assure you, with careful and prudent climbing you’ll master the run-outs perfectly.

It's all about the fun...

I – together with A. - had two visits on the route. The first turned out to be more dramatic than I wished. I encountered such a severe dehydration that I had terrible cramps in my forearms. Something I had never experienced before. So I didn’t understood the warnings of my body beforehand. I got a victim of my own foolishness and stress in my work. 

The idea of trying the route was so spontaneous that I had to finish all musts in my office on a superhot and humid day – while forgetting to drink. Uhh, bad 1…Then racing on the motorway to get the last rack-rail up to Eigergletscher – without drinking. Uhh, bad 2… We slept there and it was such a cool temperature in the evening that I didn’t got the feeling of being thirsty. Uhh, bad 3… Next moring only coffee. Uhh, bad 4… I forgot to pack the extra water to drink before starting the climb. Uhh, bad 5… 

Pitch 4 - 7b+ - at the beginning of the difficulties

The first two pitches are at 6b+. The first is a nice slab over grey solid rock with a long 5c-runout where you can put a BD C4 0.75 and an OP Purple Link 0.5 (apart of two Rocks 4 and 5 the entire trad rack we used) next to each other in a horizontal hole. The second pitch is superugly. On a sportscrag I would never do it again. It’s brittle and the traverse on sloping holes is not fun. 

Pitch 3 (7a, fully bolted) offers a funny start over a roof on jugs, where a heel hook helps a lot, and continuous with easier terrain and a little dihydral to a finish with tricky moves on edges. Here I already began to feel not so well anymore… First strange cramps appeared. 

By trying to ignore this feeling and in a rare moment of glory I’ve onsighted pitch 4 (7b+, BD C4 0.75 in the final crack), on the first half powerful on sidepulls and edges. 

In pitch 5 (7a+, long runout in the middle feels comfortable with OP Purple Link 0.5) my onsight-ambitions came to an abrupt halt at the last bolt. The plan to be the first team of the day is usually a good one. So we slept close to the route, got up early and arrived at the base of the route before the other teams coming up with the first rack-rail from Grindelwald. But we took insufficient account of the running water from the little cave you reach in the end of that pitch. So the crux move at the last bolt was completely wet and unfortunately I had to use a sling for stepping in avoid the crux slopers and get the first better hold. Grr…! Later the day - at noon - this part dries out.

Then, the amazing and left hand diagonal pitch 6 (7a+, fully bolted) on edges went down onsight but in sheer despair because the cramps in my forearms have had become so severe, that we rappelled down to the belay in the cave of pitch 5 and from there another 15 meters to grab the fixed rope that allow an emergency exit (or being the entrance for “Free-BASE”-Soloists). Thank you for installing, Reto and Bernd! This was a good idea, because my partner wouldn’t have had the skills to lead the final three pitches.

 

Pitch 5 - 7a+ - the shade of the Geneva Pillar is obvious 

Sure, we had to come back! 

So we did. Only two weeks later we had the opportunity to finish the climb. Better prepared and with no thirst. But unfortunately I failed on pitch 4 with one hang. On the other hand pitch 5 was bone dry and I could do it easily. Pitch 7 (7a, tough! BD C4 0.75) is brilliant but after the initial right hand traverse it requires mental strength for the tricky moves with need of good footwork on diagonal or even vertical features. The upper half eases off. 

Pitch 8 (7b+, BD C4 0.75 in the obvious crack) hosts the second crux, more kind of a boulder problem over three spits. I had to work on this moves but got under pressure when I realized that the following team (oh yes, the climb is à la mode and can get busy), was reaching our belay. So instead of pulling the rope for a redpoint go, I left it in the first two bolts and came down to a no-hand-rests immediately above the belay and gave it a go in best out-of-fashion-since-the-eighties-of-last-century-american-yo-yo-style! The crack and the final wall on edges are no big deal, in the worst case around 6c. 

The last pitch goes at 5c in the first few meters and eases off the higher you get, but has no pro except a bolt in the choss on the very last meters. If you want to protect this pitch you have to bring bigger cams (wich you have to carry up the entire route first).

Pitch 6 - 7a+ - it can get busy in this climb...

A good route for the type of climber like me. Not too long, climbing, moves and rock of interest, but in the most stunning alpine environment you can imagine. Great impressions guaranteed.

What remains is on one day – if I feel the need of Eiger and adventure again – I can return. Indeed I lead all individual pitches on redpoint and one I’ve yo-yoed, but in two separate visits. It would be cool to climb it in a single push with every pitch redpoint on first try. 

So the dream is alive… will I get it? Maybe as a little present on my 50^th birthday? Let’s see!