Eiger: Patience for La Paciencia and a Push for the Summit

On their first ever trip up the iconic north face of the Eiger, Sasha DiGiulian and Carlo Traversi are racking up for an ascent of La Paciencia 5.13b.

The 23-pitch route was first concieved in 2001 by Raul Bayard and Stephan Siegrist. It wasn’t until 2008 that the Swiss Machine Ueli Steck and Siegrist made the first free ascent. They spent one night sleeping on the face.

DiGiulian and Traversi haven’t had to wait seven years, but the poor weather has forced them to postpone plans of a sooner send. That might not come to a surprise to those who know what the weather and conditions on the Eiger can be like. After all, La Paciencia means patience and the America duo are not the first climbers who’ve had to preserver long delays.

Rock & Ice have been following DiGiulian and Traversi on their Swiss mission. The weather has not cooperated and repeatedly shut them down. Visit here for more episodes.

DiGiulian was recently interviewed by Vice and said, “There’s a lot of machismo ingrained in this sport. I feel like maybe it’s inevitable that characters in this realm have large boots of confidence, and I respect this.

“There is no way to expand your comfort zones if you don’t put yourself out there. I could full-on fail on summitting the mountain. But more of a failure would be not to try. I’m optimistic that we’ll have our chance.”

La Paciencia is considered by Steck to be a modern sport route, but the Eiger is not to be taken lightly. The route was repeated in 2011 by David Lama and again in 2013 by Calum Muskett and Dave MacLeod in three days.