UKC

Thomas Huber, Roger Schaeli and Stephan Siegrist have made the coveted second ascent of Jeff Lowe's legendary route Metanoia on the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland.

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In reply to UKC News:

Way cool.

In reply to Andy Moles:

Wow - the (very) long-awaited second ascent of a legendary route!

God only knows what Jeff Lowe went through on the FA. It's great that the second ascent team cared so much about what drove Lowe and drives him yet, the spirit which shines so brightly in him and, at least dimly, in all of us.

Mick

In reply to UKC News:

A proper repeat of a properly proper route. Proper news.

In reply to UKC News:

I would be very interested to hear Ueli Steck's perspective on this. IIRC, he tried and lead the bottom part to the Hinterstoisser traverse somewhen in 2014/2015. Most likely, the fixed rope that is mentioned in the report was his. For his next try (and thus similar as the team here), Steck decided to avoid the lower part, as he perceived it being too dangerous. I guess he stated that most of the pitons he placed fell out by themselves until he returned for the next try.

Steck then (together with Nicolas Hojac) tried to repeat the upper part of Metanoia in fall 2015. He did the slab pitch leading away from the Hinterstoisser on an ice smear and dismissed it as impossible in dry conditions. Further up the wall, the team encountered some problems in identifying the correct line of Metanoia. When they chose to follow what seemed the logical line, they often found themselves on or at least close to the Japanese route. But still, it was an ascent that led them to the summit.

Don't want to takes sides on whether what is reported here is a second or third ascent of Metanoia. But still, it would be very interesting to find out about the differences, and to hear the opinion of either party on what the other did.

In reply to Cellinski:



And yet here's what Steve Grossman said on Supertopo four days ago:

In reply to UKC News:

That's a really good and inspiring news article.

In reply to Robert Durran:

"On December 29th the wind calmed and Charly gave us the green light for the next days. We took a shortcut and climbed to the wall directly from the Stollenloch. We traversed the ice fields over to our fixed ropes. Two hours later were on our way as a rope team again. Our goal was to reach the central ledge and our bivvy at the Eagle's Nest."

Not to take anything away from their efforts (and great read) but is taking the train halfway accepted eiger style?

In reply to Morgan Woods:



It's certainly not without precedent; the first winter ascent of the 1938 route was done like that in March 1961.

In reply to Cellinski:

Interesting..

I wasn't aware of Stecks forays on the Metanoia. But I do agree of the point that perhaps this valiant effort should not get the "2nd ascent" tick.

In my opinion, a multiptich route should be climbed in a single push, not in parts... Just like the original ascent.

Takin' the short cut, is just that... a short cut, unfortunately it also means that the line isn't climbed...

I don't claim to have climbed a (single pitch) route if I've done it cleanly in overlappin' parts. No one does, and the same should hold true for longer climbs. It's all or nothin'.

In reply to HeMa:

Classic UKC

In reply to HeMa:


You are absolutely correct. I withdraw my post of 1453 on Tuesday. Undoubtedly a flawed ascent.

In reply to Robert Durran:


........ and they placed a bolt. All this just makes Lowe's effort seem all the more awesome.