Our intrepid reporter Jo Adams, who brought us that great story on Ueli Steck winning the Eiger Award over the weekend, is back with another great interview, this time with Swiss climber Roger Schäli, a young mountaineer who has already managed to build an impressive resume.
Schäli began climbing at the age of 14 when his father first took him up into the Alps, but since then he's knocked off South America's coveted triple crown of climbing by successfully scaling Cerro Torre, Torre Egger and Torre Standard. He also teamed with Simon Anthamatten a few months back to set a new team speed record on The Eiger, before going on to become the first person to ever climb the six great North Walls of the Alps - Eiger (3970m), Grandes Jorasses (4208m), Matterhorn (4477m), Petit Dru (3734m), Piz Badile (3308m) and Große Zinne (2999m) - in succession. Impressive indeed.
Despite having tackled challenging big walls all over Europe and South America, Schäli still refers to The Eiger as his playground, and in this interview he talks about climbing his favorite mountain. He says "This mountain is so great! I can leave home at 5am in Bern, climb the north face of the Eiger, stand on the summit and be eating pizza in Bern in the evening!” Which pretty much describes a perfect day for Roger.
Schäli touches on a variety of topics including what it's like to climb with SImon, what it was like putting up a new route on the "Magic Mushroom" of the Eiger, and his plans for the future, although he holds his cards close to the vest when discussing possible new routes.
Thanks again Jo for sharing this great interview with us and for taking some good photos to go along with it. Your works is much appreciated.
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