UKC

Hi I'm afraid I haven't registered yet but will do in the near future.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the mountain climb above. My son (12) has been telling me lots about it and we are thinking about going and giving it a go in the school holidays in July.

We have both done a fair amount of climbing at our local climbing wall (about once a week) and we have also scaled Scafell Pike and Snowdon so we are both fairly confident in the mountains. I have also been to the ice factor and my friend said that the climbing is harder than anything on the Eiger.

We have read lots mountain climbing books but have a few questions.

Will we need ice picks or is it possibly in our rockshoes?
What size of rucksac is best?
Is the route well sign posted?
Are there got camping spots on the climb or will we have to sleep rough?
What training should we do? (We have planned to climb Ben Nevis and practise survival skills before we go)

Thanks for any advice. He's been nagging me for years to take him and I guess now is as good as ever. Father and son type of thing!

James

In reply to Anonymous:

Don't worry, you'll be alright... if you have practised "survival skills" well enough, that is. Just do it, as they say!

In reply to Anonymous:

Either this is another boring troll or you haven't been reading the right climbing books. If I was you, I would be more concerned about the size of the coffins that you will inevitably require rather than the rucksacks.

In reply to Anonymous:
Go for it, you sound more than ready

In reply to Chris Shorter:

Bloody hell, why do people Troll?

It's not big and it's not clever.In fact, it gets boring.It also leads to people looking silly when they answer a question by a troll, or when people get laughed at for being a troll despite them asking sensible questions.

grrrh, go away trolls!

PS:Nearly all my questions are genuine if sometimes a little silly

In reply to Anonymous: do you know about the weather you can encounter on that mountain!
p.s i don't think the route is sign posted at all!

In reply to Anonymous: have you done any previous alpine climbing or at altitude or some very bad weather winter climbing

In reply to Anonymous: Please tell me you are having a laugh!

In reply to Anonymous:

Tally ho! Be sure to take a some home made lemonade and marmalade sandwiches.

In reply to Anonymous:

You could make the first asscent by SUV! That would be one fo the history books.

One to think about...

In reply to Anonymous:

Rucksack size? Well, something about the size of a bodybag would be best, just leave it at the bottom of the North Face, and you'll soon be snug inside it, and getting carted back to the local morgue fairly quickly...

There's a picture with the route marked in the front cover of Joe Simpson's The Beckoning Silence. Don't bother reading the book, it's all full of boring history about the people who've been killed trying to climb the route, and it'll count as "beta", so you'll blow your onsight attempt.


||-)
At the moment doing it in rockshoes is as good as bet as any, just ignore any advice from the local guides who reckon that doing a summer attempt is suicidal because of the massive rockfalls, and you'll be fine.

Practice those dodging skills, and make sure you carry at least 20 spare helmets each, as dodging falling rocks will be the main worry. The climbing will be relatively easy, in comparison.

Don't bother with ropes, either. Rockfalls will only cut and damage them, and you might as well save the money to put towards your funeral expenses, once you've paid (well, the executor of your estate has paid) for the repatriation of the bits of your body.

Best of luck, anyway. I look forward to reading your obituary, probably titled something like:

Eiger Troll was actually serious. RT members shocked to find this idiot really meant to attempt the North Face of the Eiger, and posted advice in the - as it now seems - forlorn hope that he was taking the mickey.

Seventeen RT members are currently on bail, charged with aiding and abetting a suicide.

In reply to Dominion:

I am mindful of Patey's description of him and Whillians retreating and meeting two Japanese climbers going up:

"Where you going?" Enquired Don
"We go up!"
"Aye, and possibly a lot higher than you bloody imagine".

In reply to Horse:

Indeed.

Been reading the Bonington, Simpson, and the Harrer accounts, (as well as Jon Krakauer's in a collection: Eiger Dreams, is it ?)

I really want to go and look at the North Face.

But that is all I want to do.

I don't even want to go and stand at the bottom of the bloody thing, to be honest.

But I wouldn't mind having a look, from a distance.

Purely for the scenery, and to get a view of the scale of the thing. Photos are one thing, seeing it for real is another...

In reply to Dominion:

You should read the Patey article, different perspective. The article is called "A short walk with Whillans" in Mirrors in the cliffs, Ed J Perrin, Diadem. It was originally published in the SMC Journal 1963, not sure if they have an on line archive.

I went there once for a solo day out in February. Got the train up and then walked up the side to level with the red wall and back down. Imposing, moody place even in that days good weather.

In reply to Horse:

I'll have a look for that.

I've heard that Whillans quote before, though, possibly in the Simpson book - which I've taken out from the library at least 5 times...

In reply to Dominion: And have a look at bob's website (there's a link on his profile) - think there's some photos of him and lampard on it (when he was hairy and lithe, instead of bald and blobby).

In reply to andy:

Was looking at that the other day, having seen the link on the slightly more serious thread about the Eiger North Face...

In reply to Anonymous:

Having been on the North face before, I would recommend top roping it first a couple of times before trying to red point it.