I had to head back to the Eiger; the weather window during the previous climb had not allowed me to jump it. After taking the first train up, we climbed the west flank and reached the Mushroom in under three hours. A Tyrolean traverse was anchored to the freestanding pillar named the Mushroom, a perfect platform for launching yourself off the North Face. This would be the first of the six mountains that I was to jump and my first at high altitude, I stood at the exit wondering how the altitude would effect the flight.
Ewa and I jumped together taking a left hand pattern, buzzing the rock formations as we flew past. After flying over a ledge I turned right into open airspace and pulled, landing in the grass below.
The Eiger and the surrounding valley is a great training ground for lower jumps that I would need for Cima Grande. The exit is at approximately 2890 metres and is a 500 metre vertical cliff. I was planning on a short flight.
Olli and I took the normal route to the summit on the south face, to stash the base rig and water. We met a few climbers who had finished various routes on the N.Face and where all asking about the route down anxious from the descriptions in the guidebook about hard route finding. Tomorrow all going well, I wouldn’t have to worry about this.
A 0400 start followed by an hours walk meant we were first on the face. I was quiet on the way in and so was Charley; I started a little nervous, maybe remembering how much effort and how uncomfortable the Eiger was. Charley later told me he didn’t want to fail, putting a stop to the project. However, often in these situations it’s the determination that gets you though and not your ability.
After a few pitches the sun had started to rise casting a shadow of the North Face on the scree slopes. The rock was cold and I wanted to reach out with my dry, chalked hands past the shadows to warm my hand up. I suppose that’s part of the game on the North Faces, never feeling the sun. The first half of the route had enjoyable cruxes and good pro, the second half was wet but easy, with spaced out pro the complete opposite to the first half.
We topped out at little over 10 and a half hours later and we skirted around the cliff on a sketchy path to the summit and retrieve my wingsuit.
I could clearly see the exit. I started going back across the crumbling path, the first part to the top out of the climbs was well trodden wide enough to walk on. From here to the exit point the rock was loose and the path no wider then a foot. At some points I had to take of my bag and put it on the floor as I hung from the edge of the path by my hands and shunted the bag across, as the overhanging rock gave me no room to move. At the exit I was relieved to find enough space to gear up, at this point just I wanted to get off the mountain, there was no way was I turning around.
I jumped with more kit than I had ever before: my harness, small rack, down jacket, rucksack and a headtorch. I wondered how this would effect my short flight ontop of the altitude, but after the challenging traverse to get here I welcomed the jump and jumped without hesitation. This would be my lowest wingsuit flight yet. I started steep and turned left. My pull was clean and high enough to scout out a decent landing area on the scree slope.
I landed feeling disheartened, the flight short and burdened. A lone runner ran up to me beaming from ear to ear and gave me a thumbs up to see if I was alright then carried on over the scree. I took the hike back on the WW1 Horse and Cart track, past the church and the South Face of Cima Grande, looking up at the normal route wondering how long it will be until Charley comes down with the rest of the kit.
All back and under our group tarpaulin next to the car, we shared our stories. Ollie’s drone had crashed as it wasn’t able to deal with the altitude, and then taken them 2 hours to find it. I was still annoyed about my flight, but I was one summit closer to my goal.
Now to decide what North Face is next.
Thanks to HoldBreaker for the gear, Gobuffoon for everything gopro related and Go Puck for keeping me charged on the trip!