Climbing The Eiger via Mittellegi Ridge (Mittellegigrat) | August 2021

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A few weeks before heading on this two day adventure, I learned that Thomas Shilter was visiting Switzerland for a few weeks. We had been talking on Instagram for a couple of months since we are both Peruvians and love climbing mountains but we had never met in person. We decided to make plans to climb something together, and the Eiger was a mountain we both had been wanting to climb for a while. So on the morning of Saturday 14th we met for the first time in Grindelwald with the intention of heading up to the Mittellegi Hut and summitting the Eiger the next morning.
Day 1:
We took the train to the Eismeer Station where we went down these tunnels that took us right to the glacier, with the view of the Mittellegi Hut in the distance. We crossed a few crevasses until we reached a wall where we prepared to start climbing a slabby section of granite (Rated 4b/5.7), which luckily for us was bolted because climbing it in hard mountaineering boots was a real challenge. Once we went up these 2-3 pitches, the rest was an easy scramble. Two an d a half hours after getting on the glacier, we were at the hut, getting ready to have dinner and discussing the logistics for the next morning.
Day 2:
We headed out at around 5 AM, it was still dark so we scrambled up the Mittellegi ridge with our headlamps on. There was only dry rock so we continued climbing without our crampons, switching leads every so often. The way to the summit had it all, we scrambled up some easy class 3 and 4 sections, we climbed up some thick fixed ropes past some wet and icy exposed sections, we pitched a few difficult boulders wearing our crampons and finally we walked up a snowy ridge to the summit. It took us 5 and a half hours to reach the summit from the hut and we were extremely happy. We just had about 7 more hours to go for the descend (via South Ridge), which turned out to be just as technical (but in a different way) than the route to the summit. By 6ish PM we were at the Mönch Hut eating dinner and rewarding ourselves with some good dessert 😁
Social Media
If you want to keep following our adventures checkout our Instagram:
Andres Vourakis: / andresvou
Thomas Schilter: / thomas_schilter
Get access to all of the music I used in this video:
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Camera Equipment
Vlogging: Gopro Hero 9
Photography and b-roll: Fujifilm X-T4 with 16-24mm lense and 56mm lense
Inspirations
These are some of the channels that inspired me to start making these videos. I highly recommend you check them out :)
Marco & Alice:
/ @avventuriamocitutti
Mediocre Amateur:
/ @mediocreamateur
Nikolai Schirmer: / @nikolai_schirmer
Kraig Adams:
/ kadamsmedia

[@Abdolrezaebrahimi]

Awesome 😎

[@CawKee]

Last bit looks scary. Imagine being one of the early attempts, must have been terrifying

[@JediGorf]

Andres, great climbing that day. Enjoyed sitting with you for dinner at the Monchsjochhutte!

[@AndresVourakis]

Hey Geoff, it was a pleasure meeting you. Hope you had a successful climb the next day :)

[@lottasandeback6478]

Well done guys!! 💪🏼

[@AndresVourakis]

Thank you so much 😊

[@bobelliott2748]

"It's pretty chill" I love the english language, That phrase actually means something.

[@curtbrooks7495]

Great job

[@AndresVourakis]

Thank you 🙏

[@m1hax]

Wonderful video. Great view of Monch at the end there

[@AndresVourakis]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed. I took so many photos of the Mönch that day, it was always in sight and it looked amazing during sunrise/sunset

[@MrBlincster]

Isnt going with rope just a disadvantage when not using it only when anchor is needed?

[@stevesosa8691]

Nice video and congrats on the successful climb. This is the second video where I’ve seen climbers carry a hand coil. It makes no sense. If you have pro you don’t want slack if you’re simul climbing. If you’re aren’t placing gear then why rope up?

[@AndresVourakis]

Thanks for watching! It’s all about context, what I can tell you is that the majority of the time I carry a hand coil instead of untying for one main reason, it’s faster than untying and tying again 30 meters up the mountain! Sometimes you know you’ll have to place gear soon or have to short rope your partner. Does it get in the way sometimes? Yes, but sometimes it is more convenient to simply keep it on

[@boza32321]

How arent u scared?

[@AndresVourakis]

There are certainly moments when I start to feel anxious or fearful but I try to regain my focus as quickly as possible and trust in my abilities to navigate the terrain. Otherwise it just gets more dangerous

[@boza32321]

@@AndresVourakis yeah man i can understand but im really scared of heights and i think i would pass out if i tried climbing something like this

[@sc29607]

@@boza32321 I was really scared of heights and now I work for a telecom company, climbing up telegraph poles, took me three runs for the training course till I got over my fear and trusted the gear.

[@FishMH]

Thank you Wonderful

[@lronbutters5688]

Summer in CH. I love it ❤️♾

[@SLCYoders]

Love your climbing videos. Wish there were more of them to watch. Thanks

[@AndresVourakis]

I appreciate that very much :) I will be uploading more this winter!!

[@InWilderPlaces]

Loved seeing the top of Eiger! What an adventure ☺️

[@AndresVourakis]

Thank you very much 😊

[@sotrax4259]

Fantastic video, many thanks! Could you tell me which boots you are wearing?

[@AndresVourakis]

I'm wearing "La Sportiva Nepal Cube GTX" :)

[@sotrax4259]

@@AndresVourakis Awesome, I thought so! Just bought them, happy to see them being used for such fun scrambles, too.

[@theyetiguide]

Would you be kind and please,tell me which font you used to make your thumbnail its,epic I love it. 😎🇬🇧👍 or does anyone else,know the font name. thanks

[@jacques42]

Crazy! Walking so casually on that sharp ridge knowing that one can at any moment fall to the left or right! Wow! Hats off to you! What is your body weight, 80kg?

[@AndresVourakis]

Thank you! I try not to think about the falling part 😁 and I'm usually around 55-60kg

[@jacques42]

@@AndresVourakis That is an impressively low weight and it sure helps with climbing not to drag a lot of extra kilograms with. I'm overweight and noticed that even when I dropped 3 kilograms how much of a positive difference this makes in my hiking strength. How on earth do you maintain your weight so low?

[@maxonthetrack]

so epic !! good job guys 🧗🧗‍♂️

[@AndresVourakis]

Thanks Max 🙌

[@V14111]

👏👏👏👍

[@AnthonyWilliams-ew3wp]

I wouldn’t do this for a million pounds

[@steffverdonck4420]

was it 7 hours from the top to monchjoch or 7h in totals? Thanks for sharing. Will be doing this in July!

[@AndresVourakis]

7ish hours from the top to the Mönch Hut via the South Ridge. Good luck in July! :)

[@rerarder]

is super slabby the same as very slabby????

[@AndresVourakis]

😅 I would say so

[@이보라-g3o]

nice!!!!! I wanna to climb eiger!

[@AndresVourakis]

It's an incredible experience!