North Face of the Eiger 1938 Route

I never imagined that I would climb this route on my first Alpine climbing trip! The right partner, weather and conditions allowed it to happen. Kenny and I had been keeping a close eye on the weather in Switzerland and spotted a good spell of settled weather. We left Chamonix and headed over to the Grindlewald valley, to be greeted by an awesome looking Eiger. The weather looked good. We heard that the route had been climbed recently and, with reports of good conditions, we prepared to get stuck in. We headed up to the foot of the mountain and bivied below the route for an early start. We set off at 7 am and arrived at the Traverse of the Gods Bivi at 6.30 pm. After a reasonable night's sleep, we set of at 7 am and topped out at midday. The route was in excellent condition. We overtook one other team on the face and were later overtaken Uli Steck and partner who were 'running' up the route! The climbing was amazing, several quite hard sections and very absorbing climbing. By far the best route I have ever climbed!