From climbing up mountains to jumping off them
It’s fair to say lock down has effected us all. The most important lesson I learnt while serving in the Royal Marines is to adapt, improvise and overcome. My international travel plans and work had been cancelled for the year. I was fortunate to be stuck in Switzerland with it’s lax lock down rules. It was time to focus on the climbs and flights I had my eye on for years but had been too distracted before.
I drove into Chamonix past the familiar branded roundabout. Two alpinists had their heads down, fully kitted up and clearly just finished some adventure. I secretly wished I was them, having just finished their objective; worn out but content. When they freshen up with a burger in their stomachs they will revel in what they have just achieved. But for now they walked slumped, tired and hungry with a heavy pack digging into their shoulders. In 48 hours I would still be on the mountain wishing I was back down in the valley .
Read moreThere is very little information to be found on climbing in Greenland. Especially for what is most probably the most climbed route; the Swiss route on the Ketil Pryamid, first thought to have been climbed by a Swiss team in the 80’s.
The Eiger presents me with challenges at my limit. It’s a mountain which hosts multiple demanding routes in all of the mountain disciplines: alpine and rock climbing, skiing, and alpine wingsuiting. A mountain everyone has heard of. The playful alpine meadows below completely contrasting the steep ice shadowed on the North face. Three years ago I woke up on the summit of the Eiger. I shuffled around in my sleeping bag to feel the fresh air on my face while I looking down the West flank. My eyes focused on 2 figures. I watched them swap their crampons for skis and ice axes for poles. My new Eiger challenge would be a ski descent.
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You don’t know until you know. I recited this in my head as we walked in the rain and then later as we bivvy’d in the howling wind. At 7am Nick lead the first pitch and the conditions were the best we could have hoped for. The rock quality was superior. The conditions were not going to be an excuse to bail. I knew we were going to complete the route.
Light in the mountains provokes various thoughts and considerations. Natural lights, stars and the moon promise a settled night, ideal for an unplanned bivi halfway up a route, while the lights of a mountain refuge can give you assurance after several long days on a route. Sometimes the lights from bedrooms, street lamps and porches give me entirely different thoughts:
The Eiger is an extreme playground that I’ll keep on returning to. From the history of the North face, hard rock climbs, steep skiing and BASE jumping, it has it all. Over time people have pushed the boundaries of these sports on the Eiger, and throughout their history the mountain has also changed. The original ascent was done at the height of summer, while now spring is your best chance to climb the north face. Even now prime conditions can be hard to find. When we reached the summit from the 1938 route we had been on the face with 7 other teams all making the most of the rare, opportune conditions.
James and I went to school together, where I remember the first time I found out he climbed and I asked if my trainers where good enough to climb in. 10 years later having never climbed a single route together, we are bivied out at the base of the North Face about to attempt the infamous Heckmair route.
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Whilst climbing the North Face of the Eiger I could see the Mushroom to our Right. A detached pillar of Rock making a perfect jumping platform. I had to go back and jump it. So after climbing and jumping the Eiger the obvious goal would be to tick the remaining 5 North Faces off, and such the North B.A.S.E project was made.
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