Three young Scottish mountaineers have succeeded in climbing the notorious Eiger by a hitherto untried route
Experienced climbers throughout the world who are engaged on assaults on the massive peaks of the Swiss Alps are tonight celebrating the amazing feat of three young Scottish mountaineers who have succeeded in climbing the notorious Eiger by a hitherto untried route.
After a five-day spell during which every step was fraught with danger from swirling snow, dense mist, and avalanches, the three Scots – Alasdair McKeith, Kenneth Spence, and Ian MacEacheran – were resting in their hotel here, exhausted, suffering from frostbite, but exuberant.
Ian MacEacheran, who even in the face of adversity usually manages a witticism, summed up the feelings of the trio when he said: "I'll never set foot on that bloody mountain again in my life."
The conquest of the final 6,000ft North Pillar of the 13,041ft Eiger was a triumph of skill, endurance, strength, and courage. When the three climbers returned to their hotel at Alpiglen after almost two months of preparation fellow climbers and local people gave them a mammoth celebration party.
On his return from the historic expedition, which was sponsored by the "Glasgow Herald," Alasdair "Bugs" McKeith, the 24-year-old leader of the party, said: "I am glad we have got it over. We feel that we underestimated the difficulties of the climb.
"It was much harder than we expected and the weather was also worse than we had anticipated. It is difficult to assess the climb properly so soon after making it, but I would say that if anyone ever succeeds in making a continuous ascent of the route then I, for one, will be very impressed.
"It took us 13 days of intermittent climbing to do it and we were never able to make more than two days' progress at a time without being halted either by the weather or the impossibility of tackling any more."
Warburton, a climbing instructor at the International School of Mountaineering in Leysin, had himself a gruelling time on the Eiger trying to make contact with the Scottish climbers. Of the descent from the summit, Warburton writes:
"From the top, the descent of the west flank is 6,500ft. long. It is difficult to find in the mist. The boys had only about two and a half hours of light left when they started down. They soon realised they would not make it that night. This meant another bivouac, a sickening thought at this stage.
"About eight o'clock on Friday night I made radio contact with them, but after only a few words the radio cut out. All I could hear from them was 'Bivouacking again, radio wet … See you tomorrow.'
"I made a hasty descent down the ridge. The next morning the climbers started down at 8am, mainly because it was so cold and they wanted to wait for the sun."
These archive extracts, compiled by the Guardian's research and information department, appear online daily at gu.com/fromthearchive
