Bishop

Kleine Scheidegg
Sunday, August 16, 1998

Hear the Call from Switzerland
Click for  [RealAudio]  [Windows Media]

(Requires free Windows Media Player)

Hey guys, checking in again. It's been a wild 24 hours or so. Yesterday we caught the Cog Railway to Kleine Scheidegg, it cost 24 francs to get up there. Then we hiked over, it took an hour or so, to the meadows, to the base of the Eiger where Jim and I went up and climbed probably to really just the base of the Shattered Pillar. We worked our way up so we knew the route up to that point [and] so when we left in the morning we would be able to move smoothly in the dark.

Anyway, it's just so hot that it's running with water, waterfalls everywhere. Rock fall was pretty high and we came down and bivvied and then got up in the morning and [there] was even more water on it than the night before. Also the weather yesterday was pretty bad — couldn't see up high on the face, but it's an impressive piece of rock.

It's absolutely terrifying to be at the base there. But, again it's so hot right now that the snowfields are melting at a high rate and nothing is freezing up high. You look up through your binoculars and everything from the Difficult Crack all the way up through the Flatiron is just running with water. So, we're going to see what the weather is going to do and decide what our next plan of attack is, whether we get on it or go climb for a little bit somewhere else but as it stands now, it is too wet to climb. There is a reason why we're finding out no other parties are even going to the base, so here we are finding out why people attempt this thing so many times before they actually get up it. Anyway, we're having fun and it's an adventure. So, say hello to everybody and I'll be in touch. Take care, bye.

— Brent Bishop, Mountain Zone Contributor

EXPEDITION