Deep Blue Sea is too strong beer for me. Chant du Cygne however...Blog 1 and good topoBlog 2Kleine Scheidegg webcam
http://mdettling.blogspot.ch/2011/09/eiger-nordwand-freakonomics-7a.html
Ferociously sandbag "7a" slab with 6m bolt spacings sounds pretty strong beer to me
I will be in touch if that is OK regarding any more specific details on the routes, however your blogs are a very good start. Thank you.
Easiest route thereabouts seems to be Löcherspiel 6b Link to mde's blog. 8 pitches, ~300m, 6b. Topo. Would you reccomend this?
Also, I assume you have done Chant du Cygne. Could you cheat up the crux pitch if necessary?
Yes, I have done Chant du Cygne as well. However, already in 2003 - that is a while ago and also my level improved somewhat in the meantime, so it is not so easy for me to compare it to the other routes which I did more recently. As I remember it, the lower part has pretty nice and relatively easy climbing. There are not too many bolts in that section, but it never felt really badly runout. However, a fall in the wrong place can be dangerous there. A few years ago, there was even a fatal accident by Giovanni Q., a famous and strong Swiss climber.The upper part is steeper and quite sustained. There are two pitches with 'soso' rock quality. The first one being the 6c/6c+ dihedral at the start of the steep part, the next one being the 6b/6b+ pitch before the crux pitch, i.e. the one with the loose blocks just above the belay. The 7a crux pitch first has some athletic crack climbing, then some crimpy powerful moves to reach the arete proper. If that is not way above your level (unlikely if you make it there), it is certainly doable with some resting or aid from the bolts - protection is reasonable there. However, the last part of that pitch (which is not as steep anymore) is quite runout, though a bit easier. It is very sustained 6b+ terrain (if you believe in the obligatory grade, maybe it is also 6c/+) with bolt distances in the 5-7m range (I would say). As I remember it, especially going for the belay has a last part which is a bit spicy and tricky. That section could bite you if you are very powered out at this stage. Then a cliff may be handy for resting in between the bolts, as I recall there are some nice gouttes d'eau (btw what is the correct English expression for these?)I think one of the main challenges with Chant du Cygne is to climb efficiently to do it in 1 day - and to arrive at the crux pitch sufficiently fresh. In my opinion, that 7a is neither harder nor worsely protected than a "standard Swiss 7a" on an alpine multipitch route in areas such as Wenden, Engelhörner et cetera. Another difficulty is that retreat is really nightmareish - especially from the upper part. The lower part is very diagonal, the upper part still traverses and is very steep, plus there is a lot of scree around.
According to Parois du Légende Chante du Cygne has a mandatory grade of 6b+. Doesn't sound too bad? (Sorry for being such a effing arm-chair alpinist. )
I thought similar to you (6c obl i remembered) and had this route in the back of my mind for some time to be attempted at some point, then i read that 'translated' blog linked above... (which luckily for me the original was in Spanish)50m 6a/b or thereabouts pitch with 2 bolts next to the belay and then no gear or bolts for the remainder? A very mandatory 6c, 50m slabby pitch, with a grand total of 6 runners. "Falls forbidden"? A 7a pitch which is a massive sandbag and most likely 7b, with bolts at 6/7 metres? It sounds a little more committing than the 6c obl from the topos made it up to be... Maybe one day
It's making me more curious about whether Freakonomics is a more sporty/safer(/appealing) undertaking despite being physically harder.......
...as I recall there are some nice gouttes d'eau (btw what is the correct English expression for these?)