From the Tatras to the Eiger

One day Miro modestly wrote to me via Facebook if I would take him to Gerlachovský štít by Tatark’s way (Gipsy’s ferrata). We didn’t know each other at that time. He was a complete beginner and asked me how difficult it was and if he could do it. Miro became seriously interested in mountains and climbing them. He was fascinated by vertical movement in all kinds of mountain terrain. Since his phone call, we have done many hikes together.

He managed the ascent to Gerlach without any problems. During the climb he told me that his dream is the Eiger in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. He would like to climb the north face of the Eiger. It seemed like a very big bite to me. I promised him that if he would continue his training systematically we would climb the Eiger together. And so began the adventure of a series of climbs and the preparation for his dream.

We started our preparation with climbs in the High Tatras, rock climbing and sport multi-length climbing in nearby Austria. We didn’t skip single-length sport climbing either. Miro slowly improved in all disciplines. So it was winter’s turn. Movement on crampons and climbing with ice axes.

Ice climbing is a separate climbing discipline. Miro started quite hard. Grosz’s ice in the Slavkov Peak massif. However, at that time we climbed only the first and second ice together. We didn’t continue to the top because Miro didn’t have the necessary experience and fitness yet. More hikes followed until Miro was ready and we climbed Grosz’s ice together to the top of Slavkovský štít.

Summer came and with it rock climbing. Miro progressed in climbing. It required a lot of strong will and keeping motivation. The climbing didn’t always go the way Miro wanted it to. There were days when it just wasn’t possible. But Miro continued his training anyway. He shook off the everyday worries. The goal was clearly set and there was no choice but to keep going for it.

His little daughter Simonka dreamed of Lomnickom Peak and Miro dedicated one of the hikes to her. We climbed the Lomnicky Peak together with her and it was a dream come true for little Simonka from her beloved father Miro. The beautiful view of the whole Tatra Mountains from the top was a reward for the exhausting climb. She did a great job.

I knew that Miro already had quite a lot of climbing under his belt but I wanted to consolidate his skills before the Alps. That’s why the next hikes were directed again to the High Tatras. Ice climbing in the northern valleys followed. In January, the conditions in the southern walls of the Lomnický and Kežmarský peaks were great for ice-firn climbing. We literally ran up the south face of Kežmarský štít in top alpine conditions.

The time came and I added the day of climbing the Mittellegi ridge on the Eiger with Miro to my calendar. We chose two days in the middle of July. I booked the hut and just hoped the weather would work out. Already a few days before the climb, the pressure high was showing over the whole of Switzerland. It was decided. Let’s go for it. From the village of Grindelwald we were taken first by cable car and then by train to the Eismeer station. The whole railway runs in a tunnel in the Eiger massif. The station is likewise carved out of the Eiger wall with viewing windows onto the glacier below its southeastern wall. In the tangle of tunnels at the Eismeer station, it was necessary to find the right tunnel and descend through it to the glacier. We traversed the glacier under the rock passage leading up to the Mittellegi hut. We spent the night at the hut and early in the morning around half past five we set off along the Mittelegi ridge. The whole ridge was dry so it was possible to climb without crampons. We were at the top of the Eiger before eight in the morning and it felt really great. I had been systematically preparing Miro for this climb for 2 years and he was progressing tenaciously. It was our 20th climb together.
Miro is an example of a dedicated climber proving that at any age you can achieve great goals in the mountains. From the summit we had a long descent along the ridge to the train to Jungfraujoch. The train took us back to the valley where our ascent began. The cable car was taking us under the north face of the Eiger when Miro said “we still have to take that north face”. At that moment I said to myself that Miro was a lot closer to the north face than ever before. The adventure together continues.