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In an account first published in Mountain Magazine in 1991, Robert Durran and the late Brendan Murphy - one of the most gifted mountaineers of his generation - endure a gruelling ordeal on the Eiger's '38 route.

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Thanks for posting that, unfortunately I lost my collection of Mountain magazines (& many other books, etc) when I moved house several years ago. It was good to re-read what was one of my favourite articles.

Same here. Goodness knows where my Mountain mags have gone. Thank you Robert, a wonderful read and superb photographs.

Excellent article. And photos 

Respect!

Fantastic article! 

a few questions from my uninformed self though: what are lightweight pits? And what is '5 sup'?

Nice Robert.

That was an excellent read…

'Pit' = sleeping bag. A lightweight one would presumably be something like the ME Lightline, or similar.

'5 sup' = UIAA V+ (rock grade). Could also be F(French)V+/F5+/F5c - but until recently rock pitches on the Eiger have generally been graded using the UIAA system.

Still one of the best mountaineering articles I’ve read. It made a big impression on me at the time and contributed much to my fear of big committing alpine routes. I remember Andy Fanshawe telling me about your epic, before the article came out I think, even he sounded unsettled over it. I think he did it not long after in perfect conditions.

I had it in my mind that the bullshitting contest was between you and Effing George but I’ve got that wrong.

That's right... the photo of The Traverse of The Gods is proper frightening... how exposed, how serious, is that?!

This was a fabulous read, thank you. The two different voices of Robert and Brendan each giving their account of the climbing and each other's personality, often light hearted but capturing the seriousness of the climb.

And the photos and text reveal the commitment and fear but also the sense of pleasure in the climbing and the privilege of being in such an incredible place. And always the question at the back of my mind; how would I cope with being on that face in such weather? Not well I think.

Brilliant 

A good read Robert. That last photo says it all!

I remember reading that in Mountain all those years ago. One of the best accounts of the Eigerwand I've read. 

I remember two of Andy Fanshawe's comments about his experience on the 1938 route:

1. He felt like he was carrying two rucksacks: the first, full of his gear; the second, full of history.

2. Conditions for him were so good, that he didn't see a single falling rock for the entire trip.

I’m sure he did an article in Mountain too with compare and contrast photos of the Traverse of the Gods, one with his appealing looking conditions and the other the Durran-Murphy worse-than-Scotland hellscape. He and Ulrich Jessop also did the Croz Spur at a similar time, also on a long weekend hit.

If it was an article in Mountain, then I have probably got it  - and, indeed, perhaps, that's what I am remembering.

I will take a look, and will report back if I find anything.

Great article. I had the pleasure of climbing with them on AMA Dablam in 1990.

This must be the best account of an Eigerwand ascent I´ve ever read. I´d gleaned bits of information about your 5 day holiday from the legendary Eiger thread, so it´s great to read the full story; many thanks!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/expedition+alpine/eiger_north_face-608172?

Thanks all for the positive comments about the article. It was based on an article Brendan wrote for a student club magazine which we then adapted adding my segments, so he should probably take most of the credit. Also thanks to Tom Ripley for suggesting in a thread on here last year that I offer the article to UKC for republication.

I don't remember another article, but when Mountain published this article they included  contrasting photos of myself and Ulric Jessop in almost the same spot reaching the Spider at the end of the Traverse of the Gods.

Thanks. Although we obviously played up the pre and post climb banter a bit for effect in the article, I think we were both brutally honest about the experience and our feelings during the actual climb and descent.

The legendary thread in which the mythical Goucho is prominent!

Ah yes -  Goucho! His story still remains a mystery - but someone obviously knows the truth.

I have just read that mind boggling thread. Has to be the best thread ever on UKC. I had a look at Goucho's profile and it says he did the Eiger NF after all. It also says RIP after his name which is a bit shocking after reading so many of the fascinating things he had to say. Do you know anything more about both things? It would be great to have a dedicated Goucho thread. 

I don't want to further derail this thread, but the issue has been discussed here before. See e.g. https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/whatever_happened_to_goucho-713...

Ah thanks. Much appreciated. Will read. Sorry for the thread diversion 

That's probably what I'm thinking of. I suspect I've imagined the other article.

This is the best thing I've read on here in a very long time. 

I felt a bit sick reading this. An epic survival tale. Captures the era perfectly 

The caption on the photo which Robert mentions is likely the source of one of the comments I mention above. It reads:

"Durran approaches the Spider in worsening conditions. Compare with photo by Andy Fanshawe which shows Ulric Jessop at the same point in uncharacteristically good conditions shortly after dawn on Jan 15 1990. This pair commented that they did not witness a single stone or ice fragment in flight on the entire route!" (My italics)

Yep. I had it my head that Andy wrote an article about it (and the Croz) as well but maybe I imagined it. I remember him doing a talk in the Clachaig and I’m sure that featured, not all that long before he died.

Respect, Robert … great writing as well!

I had an epic on the Eiger in the late 80's but it was more to do with getting off than getting up it.  Bad weather and broken bones added to the excitment of a 2 day descent.

What was the story?

Incidentally, the rucksack in that photo, a 1988 Karrimor Alpiniste prototype, is still going strong 37 years later as my Ratho bag. Rather battered but probably standing the test of time better than I am (I backed off a VS at Sheigra on Friday...... ).

I have admired that Karrimor rucsac every time I've seen you get it out... a vestige of a more formidable time.. 

John C

Just superb. Sweaty palms reading this. Having read Andy Cave’s book where Brendan dies , it’s nice to read another article about him. 
 

Yeah, me too. They really knocked it out of the park with that one. My version here from a few years later came with the less attractive grey straps and green detailing, and now I think back to that time I remember being a bit narked it wasn't the earlier model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karrimor#/media/File:Karrimor_alpiniste_65l.j...

Hi Rob.

I've a specific query relating to your photo captioned 'Brendan trusting an old rope to pass the Corti Bivouac'. You may well recall an earlier thread here wherein there was some discussion about the exact location of this somewhat iconic ledge. Opinion was divided as to whether it was located at the top end of the fixed rope or just to the left of the final exit gully at the lower end. Do you have a view on this?

Apologies if you already answered this on that earlier thread; I haven't found it yet! But it remains an interesting point of discussion with which 'younger readers' may be unfamiliar. 

The aerial photo in this article actually (I think) shows Corti just left of the bottom of the start of the Exit Chimneys. It is, if I recall rightly, only a short teaverse from the top of the Quartz Crack which is obvious in the photo.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/claudio_corti_a_life_in_the_sh...

As I said, mine was a prototype. Jerry Gore had been given them and we both had them (along with an 80-100 litre version) climbing together in the Alps in '88 and, along with Brendan, in Pakistan in summer '89.

I'm not sure whether the whole purple and pink colour scheme went in to production before the green and grey appeared. They certainly abandoned the prototype ice axe attachments which meant your two tools crossed and stuck out the back annoyingly!

Jerry memorably had his large version nicked by a bear while dossing with Brendan in a Biafo ablation valley. Brendan described how Jerry chased and confronted the bear (probably a fair contest) wielding an ice axe and wearing nothing but his underpants. The bear ripped in to the rucksack and ran off with a food bag leaving Jerry with his clothing and other essentials.

Here is a link to a complete set of photos of the climb with captions:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2213348262027215&type=3

And I'll add this photo - Fugitive alpinists trying to look the part in the Verdon in '88. Myself with Jerry Gore and Chris Crowther. Brendan took the photo.

A brilliant and harrowing account of Brendan's last climb.

I think Brendan's death really only hit me fully when I read Andy Perkins' superb and heartfelt obituary in High Magazine:

https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~murphyk/Brendan/perkins.html

I remember going to W H Smith in Edinburgh to buy the magazine and then sitting in my car at the foot of Arthur's Seat reading it in tears.

Great article Robert. 

I'm guessing the biggest change has been the reliability of winter weather forecasts. This means it can be climbed fast by mortals during a good weather window with little heavy kit, and with crampons on the whole way. Still has risks though!

Nearly bare gore grapples bear to get back bare necessities.

Yes, weather forecasts have improved (pre-internet we just had the basic forecast displayed in the window of the Grindelwald tourist office), but I suspect that access to up to date condition reports have made a greater impact; knowing that a route has been climbed recently in good conditions must give a huge boost to confidence. We had nothing - no clue other than looking at the face. If we had known that much of the the upper part including the Traverse of the Gods would be powder covered rock we probably wouldn't have embarked on it at all (and in some senses missed out..... ).

Great account of your ascent!!!  Loved reading this.  I haven't given up wanting to have a go, but I'm also nervous.  

love that story....

I decided in 1993, having done a few harder and longer Alpine routes, that an attempt on the 38 route would be a good and feasible goal in 1996. I had a good and experienced partner; I started to train and plan.

Things turned out otherwise; my musical career took off and I was in bliss in Vienna, playing with the best musicians with whom I´d ever had the pleasure. I never got round to the Eiger, and then my son was born and the whole axis of my life shifted.

Thank God that that was so; reading Robert´s and Brendan´s account: that couldn´t have been me, I wouldn´t have survived that. You have your dreams and persuade yourself that you´d be ok, but many delude themselves and end up dead. I´m glad that life took a different turn and put me firmly in my alpinistic place: I had no problems with coming to terms with the undeniable truth that no route is worth dying on, however famous and prestigious it may be.

Thanks Robert….an excellent piece of work, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and the comments and banter connected to it. I’ve kind of lost my desire for hills and climbing these days but this has definitely stirred something in me and reconnected me to the era of climbing I was in….much appreciated, Best Wishes…

I’m confused🙂.

I had a ‘Haston Alpinist’ in 1979 ten years before your prototype.

Mine had a flaw. It was wider at the top than the bottom so when fully loaded it was top heavy.

I'm not sure that was a flaw. I seem to recall several sacs in the 60's and 70's that were like this.

The Alpinist model had been around for a while, that’s a later iteration. I remember the purple one with the big Velcro flap down the back. I had a smaller (c.40l) and cheaper Silvagard version of it.

Presumably the "snooker cue principle" (easier to balance a snooker cue on your finger fat end up rather than thin end up). I used to enjoy explaining it when teaching moments of inertia to applied maths classes. I also invoked it when telling D of E candidates how to pack their rucksack (heavy stuff at the top).

In which case you likely will have made it much harder for them, as carrying loads is in no way comparable to balancing snooker cues.

To be fair, when walking you have a fair degree of control over the angle of the sack, so the snooker cue analogy may not be completely irrelevant (though I'm far from convinced there's any advantage); but when climbing, needing to lean your torso frequently for climbing moves, the instability of a top-heavy pack is nothing short of disastrous to performance.

Yes, I agree it might not be applicable to climbing. Anyway, who doesn't love a good maths/physics thread hijack🙂.

Edit: But maybe this explains why so many kids in my charge kept toppling headlong into bogs.....

🙂

I think the benefit of "heavy stuff on top" for walking becomes obvious when you consider that is commonplace in many societies for people to carry large loads for long distances balanced on their heads. I think this arises partly from the moment of inertia principle but also more simply from placing the load more directly through the spine into the hips, which is achieved with a rucksack because the spine is tilted forward and the hip belt carries most of the load.

Not that I can imagine DoE groups setting out with head-carried loads (well, I can imagine it, but it isn't pretty).

Another argument for putting heavy stuff at the top of the sack is that less forward tilt is needed to get the weight over the hips. 

Of course at any depth in the sack the weight should be put as near to your body as possible, so perhaps the general rule is "weight high and forward".

Nearly nude Gore chases ursine in the alpine. 

I've been thinking about this. I'm not sure anyone can know quite how they will respond to a serious mountaineering situation of total commitment until they find themselves in one. In a way it's very simple; you either just give up and face your fate or else simply get on with climbing your way out of it, even if it does feel like playing russian roulette. Though I suppose that nowadays there will sometimes be a third option of getting a phone out and asking to be beamed up! If I was ever at all good as an alpinist it was because I was quite good at just getting on with it and finding a bit extra when the chips were down. On the other hand I was often incredibly anxious before the point of commitment and tended to back off if in any doubt. Perhaps a good combination for survival!

As I have grown older and increasingly timid in my climbing, I've wondered a fair bit how long others go on doing serious stuff and why they stop (if they do). Obviously it is family or perhaps career for some, but perhaps more interestingly, why, psychologically, do some people want or manage to keep returning for more while others take a big step back or stop altogether? Possibly worth a thread in itself. 

Thanks Rob. I've just composed most of a fairly long reply - only to hit the wrong 'click' and see it disappear into God knows where. I'll try again when I've regained my composure! 

Loving the pics as well as the superb account. Seeing oldskool everything, is that a Mountain Technology axe?, Markil Stormy (probably Epigas Alpine inside it?), Ron Hills, yeti gaiters, The blue colour of Troll super tape, Dachstein Mitts, Petzl Zoom, and so on, and so on... 

Robert's gear was oldskool even when it was new.

I think I may have been born oldskool. 

All of those I think.

Looking at the photo of Bendan below the Difficult Crack, I'm virtually certain he is using a Mountain Technology axe and a Simond Chacal hammer. I'm pretty sure I had a newish Mountain Technology hammer (Mountain Technology was pretty cutting edge then I think) and I was definitely using the absolute classic Snowdon (or should that be Yr Wyddfa😉) Mouldings Curver axe. After moving on to a drooped pick a few years later this became my walking axe until I retired it in favour of something lighter for a Greenland trip in 2014. Very battered it still has pride of place in my gear store though!

It's amusing to think that those axes would probably be considered inadequate for Aladdin's Mirror these days - I mean, they weren't even matching pairs......

Great piece.

Given that you got back down OK, did you have any sense it made any difference? (I ask this while half-watching the Pope's funeral on TV.)

No.

Thank christ for that...

I had an Aschenbrenner axe.  I fibre glassed the shaft and curved the pick myself.  It weighed a ton and probably had terrible balance.  I partnered this with a Chuinard ice hammer but when I did the Eiger I had Mountain Technology axe and hammer which was far better.

Thanks for 'reposting' (as it were) this epic account Robert.

I recall being equally gripped while reading it originally in Mountain... So it's great to vicariously relive it with you and the much-missed Brendan Murphy again! It has lost nothing in its dramatic immediacy despite the passage of time.

Talking of which, by complete chance, this very morning I had been reading Lionel Terray's account of his and Louis Lachenal's post-war second ascent of the 1938 route.

An uncannily similar sense of  'desperate hours' is apparent in Terray's account also, with many striking parallel moments of do or die. Both of the accounts - separated by over four decades - are an indication that the intimidatory status of some routes is probably eternal.

You also mention using the fantastic old Snowdon Curver. This was a great ice axe and has happy memories for me. I had a second-hand one in the 1980s that I felt was the mountaineering equivalent of Thor's Hammer and had many a memorable ascent wielding one.

Then, during an exceptionally cold February on Ben Nevis in 1985 the pick snapped in two half way up a solo of Bob Run.

Luckily, as it was only a lowly Grade 2 I finished the route without drama and sent the snapped end of the pick back to Snowdon Mouldings, hoping cheekily for a replacement axe.

Instead, I got a reply, as I recall, from Jackie Anthoine herself, suggesting that it wasn't a defect but that I'd been using the axe in 'colder temperatures than it had been designed for'!

I was so amused by her chutzpah that I meekly accepted the company's defence.

Thank you for sharing this intense experience!  A few years back, a friend and I tried our luck on the North face.  Made it to just below the Difficult crack.  With no snow or ice on this section I convinced myself we were off-route.  The idea of drytooling this pitch scared the crap out of me.  We bivied on the face nonetheless, hoping the next day would provide some inspiration.  It did not and we retreated off the face in under two hours of V-threads and down climbing.  It is still my most favorite failure.  And we didn’t even get to the technical stuff!  We found out back in Grindelwald that Julian Zanker had been killed on the face the previous day.  Make no mistake, the North Face of the Eiger gives no quarter.

I must reread that!

This reminds me that one of Brendan's crampons broke on the Jungfrau. We repaired it by tying the front and back parts together with prussic loop cord and it lasted the climb fine!

have you been taking photos in my cellar ?

A fabulous read, thank you. I similarly recall reading it in Mountain when I was doing my A levels, I think, and being in awe. Older and wiser I appreciate it all the more now.

I was talking to one half of the first NZ team to do the 6 classic alpine north faces today, and asked him about his recollection of the ascent. In a very kiwi understated way he said “it was mostly straightforward apart from a fall from the Exit Cracks; after that we didn’t have many problems”.

On further investigation it turns out he ended up off line, up a desperate overhang before reaching a dodgy in situ peg, which ripped causing a 25m fall on to a body belay… which obviously held. 
He did mention The White Spider was both an inspiration and also a bit of a psychological albatross around the neck. I suspect there’s a whole lot more “baggage” on the route even after numerically a lot of ascents - certainly these threads suggest so!

Thanks again

b

 As I have grown older and increasingly timid in my climbing, I've wondered a fair bit how long others go on doing serious stuff and why they stop (if they do). Obviously it is family or perhaps career for some, but perhaps more interestingly, why, psychologically, do some people want or manage to keep returning for more while others take a big step back or stop altogether? Possibly worth a thread in itself. 

 Brian Hall talks about this in his book (and he should know!)

Great article; I've missed Groucho

Thanks. Just ordered it.

A very good book on this is Joe Simpson's "The Beckoning Silence". It is basically about his desire to do the Eiger, but battling his demons telling him not to do so. It really resonated with me at the time I read it when I was coming to terms with not having the stomach any longer for serious mountaineering. 

Back reading this again!  Great photos!!!

The hero of the hour appears to be banned from posting... 😕

Poor form from UKC to benefit from this outstanding article when the author isn't even allowed on the forum imho.

I wish the sanctimonious and disingenuous gaslighters were banned rather than those who understandably lose their temper at them.

Be careful or you'll be banned for mentioning the unmentionable...

Aye, well, I'm not sure it would be much of a loss.

I had no idea he was banned i must have missed the stushie. I assumed he was travelling. Sad.

Not sure what's happened, but back to the article - I'm impressed how you've recorded the whole ascent with photos, even when against the wall and in rough conditions.  Did you take lots of photos over the five days?  Was it hard to choose just a few for the article?  Answer when you're back!!!

I've had a few issues over the years with folk getting annoyed that I needed to get a particular shot on a walk or climb, and sometimes being left behind in a group, and having great difficulty trying to catch up.  It's always worth it though, as some of the photos in the worst conditions or in difficult situations are the most rewarding to look back on.  Worth risking camera gear for too.  

Oh no he isn't! 😀

Rejoice!

Hi profile is back up, but still banned from posting, I hope he isn’t on his best behaviour upon return, plenty of fools still need re-education.

Didn't notice the Banned from Posting bit as you have to scroll down to see it.
Maybe UKC could put it directly under the User Name so it makes it immediately obvious that they're on the naughty step.