Eiger, Grandes Jorasses and Cervino by Tomeu Rubí and Cati Lladó

Chronicle of the ascents to the north faces of the Eiger, Grandes Jorasses, and Matterhorn

Texts and photos by Tomeu Rubí and Cati Lladó

At no time was the objective of climbing the three walls as a novel project, this project already belongs to history, a story that great mountaineers wrote in the 1930s. I cannot deny, however, that the north faces of the Eiger, Grandes Jorasses and Cervino each and every one of them were a personal challenge.

The game consists of freely entering the jail that is the north face of Matterhorn, and then managing to escape from it. And the interest is in finding the safest way…The north face? What an unpleasant climb, what a splendid ascent!

“Gaston Rebufat, Stars and storms”

Mont Blanc

Route Heckmair to the Eiger with the Bestard Top Extreme Lite

After a long time waiting for everything to fit together to undertake this desired climb, finally on December 28, 2016 we found ourselves bivouacking under the Eigerwand, to climb the famous Heckmair route on the north face of the Eiger. To think that ours is going to be an adventure at the height of the pioneers is to be delusional. We are sure that this ascent is possible, as it has already been done by a significant number of mountaineers since their first ascent in 1938. We also have a lot of information about the route.

Currently climbing in the Alps is less compromised by multiple factors, very precise weather reports, more information on the itineraries, communication almost at all times, professional rescue teams and of course, technical materials much better adapted to the needs of this type of activity.

For this activity I use the Bestard Top Extreme Lite, a boot that adapts perfectly since it is a boot that, having the removable bootie, offers you an extra warmth, necessary on these north faces where you spend many hours climbing on technical terrain and with low temperatures. Being able to separate the liner also allows you to slip it into the bag to keep it warm the next morning. It is always a critical moment in this type of activity since it is when the lowest temperatures are usually registered.

On our first day we cross the famous Hinterstoisser crossing, we link the different snow fields and we arrive at the bivouac of death where we will spend the night. The next morning the Ramp, Crossing of the gods, the Spider await us… Many hours later and at night we reach the top. We will have to make another bivouac during the descent, very tired but happy we arrived, the next day, at.

Walker to the Grandes Jorasses with the Bestard Climbing Guide FF

On our journey through the Alps during the summer of 2020 we are again presented with the opportunity to undertake the climb to one of these north faces. In this case the Walker de las Grandes Jorasses spur. This climb turns out to have very dry conditions and with much warmer temperatures. This is a route that is mostly overcome using climbing shoes, although for the descent you need boots where you can fit a good crampon since it runs through glacial terrain of some complication. Being very light, the Bestard Climbing Guide FF is a boot that carries very well in those sections where it is necessary to put on climbing shoes. Although when the terrain is more bearable it allows you to climb thanks to its good touch and mobility of the ankle. Characteristic that is appreciated in mixed technical terrain.

Grandes Jorasses

With these great boots we have been able to do routes such as the Frendo spur in the Aiguille du Midi, the Innominata and Peterey ridges to Mont blanc, Lion i Hörnli to the Matterhorn, Dent du Geant and arete du Rochefort in the Mont Blanc Massif among many others. In short, they are a perfect ally for technical climbs.

For this ascent we opted for using a strategy that allows us to climb without the inconvenience of coinciding with other ropes at the beginning of the route, for this we leave with the first train that takes us to the Montenvers station. At 2:30 p.m., after a long approach, we found ourselves on the foot of the wall. We started climbing and around 8:00 p.m. we stopped after having passed the Rebufat dihedral. The next morning after a fresh breakfast we set off at 06:30. The lengths are happening and about 12 hours later we find ourselves at the top of the Grandes Jorasses. It has been a long day and we do not have time to make a descent that we do not know. We have another cool bivouac. The next morning we left for the Bocalette refuge where we arrived in about 4 hours. At last we can savour a good plate of hot pasta.

Route Smith to the Matterhorn with the Bestard Top Extreme Lite

It is difficult to find the Smith route on the north face of the Matterhorn in good condition, but it turns out that we see through social networks that some climbers have ascended this route. The phone calls begin, we begin to check the available flights and arrange everything necessary to arrive at the Hörnli refuge on October 22. Thanks to the networks we are about to take advantage of the conditions in the mountains, also due to them the number of ropes that have the same plans are too many. Despite the doubts, we set off at 03:00 the next day. It turns out to be a not very difficult route, although it is quite exposed. Being such a long and difficult route to protect requires a lot of concentration.This time I chose to use the Bestard Top Extreme Lite due to the low temperatures that we were going to find in the mountains. The itinerary to follow is not very obvious. We deviate from the route and when we realize it we have to go back and get back on the right track. There are many lengths, and at the end when the slope softens, there is still about 4 hours of progression in assembly and in the dark to reach the top. We need almost 24 hours to climb the north face and go down the Hörnli ridge to the Solvay refuge.

Matterhorn

Tired but very happy, just like after each of the North faces that we have climbed. Although we do not conceive it as our project, we have had to invest a great amount of strength and enthusiasm.

Tomeu Rubí and Cati Lladó