The North Face of the Eiger

A few months back Kat and I saw a Hans Steiner photography exhibit at the Musée Élysée in Lausanne.  Some of the images that most captured my imagination were of the first ascent of the North face of the Eiger, a mountain peak in the Berner Oberland, in 1938.  After that we saw a video of a crazy Swiss man speed climbing the same route - with no ropes! Long story short I was excited to see the Eiger, and especially the North face.  It did not disappoint.  The Monch is beautiful, and the Jungfrau is massive, but my favorite was the Eiger.  It is a jagged diamond looming thousands of vertical feet above fields full of grazing cows.  The gentle ringing of the cowbells contrasts the severity of the rock face.  We didn't attempt the climb, on which climbers die nearly every year, and opted instead for a long rambling hike along the face of the three peaks.  The views were spectacular, like this one, with the Eiger on the left and the Monch on the right.