Trio Attempts Unrepeated Russian Route on the Eiger

Earlier this month, Neil Chelton, Ross Kain and Andy Kirkpatrick attempted the second ascent of the Russian Direttissima (EX: 5.10- 100 degrees, 1800m, Arkhipov-Dmitrienko-Malygin-Tsyganov, 2006) on the Eiger's north face, and produced this video. They turned back in warm conditions on the A5 pitch. You can really see how poor the rock quality is in the footage, even at the belay, though they did have a solid blue tri-cam. The climbers bail while, in the background, the Black Keys croon, "Too afraid, I'm too afraid." This is one in a progression of high-quality short films produced by climbers in the big mountains using increasingly lightweight equipment. —Jacon Mayer