The Eiger. The name resonates with us like that of a legendary hero. An inaccessible mountain, an implacable peak. Yet the Eiger is neither the highest nor the strongest of the summits of Grindelwald. So why is it so fascinating? Here's the story of the Eiger, the mythical giant of bernese alps.
History of the Eiger: Birth of a giant in the BerneseOberland
The Eiger was once born from the Swiss nappes. When, at the dawn of time, sedimentary rocks were folded and piled one on top of the other, shaping the Alps from the Lower Valais to the Säntis. The Eiger rises from these upheavals, desperate to reach the sky. But despite its audacity and willpower, it never managed to rise above 4,000m. And to make matters worse, its terribly crumbly limestone rock threatens to crumble into dust at any moment.
But after so much effort to get out of the ground, the mountain has no intention of resigning itself to living in the shadow of its brothers. So, it resists and competes with ingenuity. Since it can't make it into the pantheon of the Alps, it will enter the legend in its own way. First of all, it needs a name worthy of its rank. The Eiger, "grand épieu" or "high peak", sounds like the cry of a fearsome ogre. Then it has to take care of its stature. Dominating Grindelwald, the Eiger extends its ridges and unfurls its faces to stand 3967 metres above sea level.
As its rock is soft, it protects it with a gleaming armor. The Eigergletscher and the Ischmeer and Challifirn glaciers now cover its flanks like an emblem of its power. Finally, the Eiger cannot face the centuries and the winds alone. So it joins forces with its oversized neighbors, the Mönch and Jungfrau, to form a celestial and impregnable triptych that radiates beyond the BerneseOberland .
Then came the time of men and their conquests. The moment of truth for the mountain. Can the Eiger stand up to them? The Eiger's supreme trump card is its merciless north face. Its merciless north face. Vertical and sometimes overhanging, it stretches over 1,600 m in height, shattering the hopes of even the most courageous climbers. The Eiger may not be one of the 4000 m peaks, but it is undoubtedly one of the three largest north faces in the Alps. Like the Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses, it defies all odds. Never one to give in to destiny, the Eiger has also become a giant, and is more than ever in the big league.
History of the Eiger: The conquest of the mountain by mountaineers
For centuries, the Eiger has remained invincible. Until that summer day when Charles Barrington, accompanied by guides Christian Almer and Peter Bohren, managed to achieve the impossible. On August 11, 1858, he made the first ascent of the Eiger via its western flank. In 1864, Lucy Walker repeated the feat with her guide Melchior Anderegg. She thus became the first woman to conquer the Eiger.
The mountain was then climbed from all sides. On July 14, 1871, it was the turn of the southwest ridge to be climbed. W.A.B. Coolidge and Meta Brevoort, with their guides, climbed it before descending via the normal route on its west face. The same year, Christian Almer completed the first Eiger traverse. But time ran out, and it wasn't until September 10, 1921, that a rope party triumphed over the Mittellegi ridge. Japanese climber Yuko Maki, accompanied by his guides Fritz Amatter, Fritz Steuri and Samuel Brawand, made history on the north-east side of the Eiger.
Ascent of the Eiger North Face: Battle of the giants in the bernese alps
But you can't talk about the Eiger without mentioning its north face. Impossible, monumental and merciless. Together with the North Face of the Matterhorn and Grandes Jorasses, it forms a triad that cannot be ignored. The three greatest north faces in the Alps. On July 24, 1938, German climbers Anderl Heckmair and Ludwig Vörg joined forces with Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Fritz Kasparek. After all four had survived an avalanche on the White Spider, they decided to join forces against the mountain. Together, they achieve a feat of strength. Together, they made the first ascent of the Eiger North Face. In 1949, in his book Dans les Alpes, Anderl Heckmair wrote of his victory: "The harder the struggle and the greater the danger, the more precious and beautiful the reward." In fact, it was exceptional. Their performance had an immediate and considerable impact. On July 25, 1938, the evening edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung already spoke of "defying the heavens". The newspaper also feared that the Heckmair team had paved the way for a frantic race for records, sometimes risking disastrous horizons.
The Eiger North Face, the scene of some of the most incredible alpine successes, is also the scene of some of the worst tragedies. One of the most striking of these occurred in 1936, when Toni Kurz, Andreas Hinterstoisser, Edi Rainer and Willy Angerer were killed trying to be the first to climb it. The Eiger's North Face took its toll on their bravery, and that of so many others. But let's lick our wounds and call it a day. The story of the Eiger's conquests will be told in detail in another story.
History of the Eiger: The high mountain between light and shadow
The Eiger has won its spurs. Now a staple of the Jungfraubahn railroad, it offers mountaineers unforgettable crossings. But for all its size and stature, it remains fragile. Its armour of ice is gradually cracking. Its rock is crumbling and becoming unstable. On July 14, 2006, just as the lower Grindelwald glacier was about to disappear, a huge boulder collapsed at the foot of the mountain's eastern slope. Standing 30 m high and with a volume of 200,000m3, it heralded a shower of smaller rocks that continued their journey down the Eiger flank. summit , once known for its indomitable nature, is now feeling the full force of global warming.
But let's remember the Eiger as a giant. A razor-sharp peak that points skywards, proudly proclaiming its strength and beauty. The image of the Eiger brought to light by painter Maximilien de Meuron. In his work, the snow-white Eiger contrasts marvelously with the valley. It's as if the Alps had given birth to two fabulous and irreducible worlds. One of fertile earth and the other of ice. One that palpitates and the other that breathes. One of life, flesh and blood. The other of tranquility, pure and absolute. Like the yin and yang of the same reality. It's up to us to dare to step through the looking glass.
Constantly oscillating between light and shadow, the story of the Eiger captivates our hearts. To one day climb the flanks and ridges of this mythical giant remains the ideal for many mountaineers. And I never tire of photographing this hero of the bernese alps triptych.
