33 rope lengths, 900 meters, 13 days on the wall: Fay Manners and Roger Schäli have established a new route through the Eiger North Face with "Solar Eclipse." The name comes from a moment the two experienced from their portaledge – the solar eclipse of August 12, 2026.
I had never seen a solar eclipse before. To experience my first one from the Eiger North Face, of all places, while we were sitting on a wall where we had just established a new route – that was quite surreal.
Fay Manners
The Eiger North Face certainly needs no introduction. It is the most famous wall in the Alps and inextricably linked to the tragedies of the years before the Second World War, when numerous climbers lost their lives here, as well as to its first ascent in 1938, one of the great moments of European alpinism. And then there is this contrast: while isolation reigns on the wall, thousands of tourists travel daily by train up to the Jungfraujoch. From below, climbers are just tiny specks; from the wall, there is virtually no sign of the surrounding hustle and bustle. For Schäli and Manners, this is precisely what makes climbing the Eiger so unique.
Four rope lengths and a long forced break
The project began years before the route was developed. Two summers earlier, Roger Schäli and Raphael Schmid established the first four pitches. Then the route lay dormant: Schäli had to undergo meniscus surgery, and his rehabilitation was protracted.
This summer, Schäli and Fay Manners finally return to the crag. Schmid joins them for the first two days before leaving to build his new bouldering gym. Oskar Gertsch, however, remains with the team throughout the entire project: he hauls equipment, food, and water to the crag and helps manage the fixed ropes while the climbing team makes its way up. Without this logistical support, the first ascent in this form would hardly have been possible.
Follow the wall instead of forcing a line
The lower part of the wall reveals its line relatively readily. Schäli knows the north face like almost no one else, among other things through his ascents of the Ghilini-Piola-Direttissima and the Goubal-Goubal routes, and knows how the individual sections of the wall behave.
Higher up, the character of the route changes significantly. The terrain becomes three-dimensional and steeper; hidden dihedrals, changing slopes, crack systems, and corners make it impossible to read the logical line from below. Instead of forcing a predetermined route, Schäli and Manners follow the weaknesses of the wall as they reveal themselves pitch by pitch. The result is a varied route with consistently steep climbing.
Bolts where they're needed – adventure where it's possible
In terms of protection, the two climbers have opted for a middle ground. On compact, featureless sections, bolts are unavoidable. However, Manners and Schäli refrain from using them wherever mobile protection is possible. Future climbing parties should place their own cams, peckers, and pitons and make their own decisions. All belay stations, however, are bolted.
The last four short pitches follow the existing Ghilini-Piola route. This section was renovated – with the consent of Michel Piola – and the old bolts were replaced where the original route was already established.
Anyone wanting to repeat “Solar Eclipse” therefore needs solid trad climbing skills: a good selection of Friends is essential, and Peckers and pitons can be useful in certain sections.
Provisional grade 7c/7c+ – minimum grade 7a is mandatory.
When asked about the grade, Schäli becomes thoughtful: "What I notice with many pure climbers who haven't spent much time in alpine terrain or on alpine adventure routes is that they primarily ask about the absolute climbing difficulty, which says extremely little about a route like this!" explains the Swiss alpinist. "On Solar Eclipse, and also on many of the long Eiger routes, you don't need to be a solid 8-grade climber in the French system. What's much more important is that you move confidently in this terrain: that you can read the rock and know exactly where you need to climb, that you can handle mobile protection on limestone, that you can look up pitons and picks with a hammer, and that you don't panic immediately if the rock isn't like in Céüse," Schäli continues.
On Solar Eclipse, and also on many of the long Eiger routes, you don't need to be a solid 8th-grade climber in the French system. What's much more important is that you move confidently in this terrain.”
Roger Schäli
The current assessment is around 7c/7c+ for the overall technical difficulty. The mandatory grade is likely to be at least 7a. "The route demands consistent commitment because in many sections you have to climb above the last piece of protection," Roger Schäli explains. "The character of the route therefore arises not only from the individual moves, but also from the exposure and the determination required to maintain the distances between the protection points."
Schäli mentions two pitches that, for him, particularly capture the character of "Solar Eclipse." Pitch 14 is an extremely exposed traverse, giving the feeling of being completely alone in the middle of the north face. Anyone leaving the belay station must commit to a series of tricky moves, and the position makes the entire pitch wild and exciting. Pitch 25 is different: It starts steeply directly from the ledge, initially over rock whose stability is not immediately apparent, with some long reaches. Higher up, it becomes vertical and technical, with a beautiful sequence that demands strong fingers and precise climbing. The two route developers estimate both pitches to be around 7a to 7b.
And the crux of the matter?
According to Schäli, the crux is on the 15th rope length. The Swiss professional alpinist said it was so demanding that the two climbers divided it between themselves instead of having one person lead it through. Fay Manners took the first part, a traverse to the left.
“A hold broke, and she fell a great distance. After that, she continued climbing, completed the first half of the rope length, and secured it – a rather brave and demanding lead climb.”
Roger Schäli
Schäli then took over the second half: a series of hard moves over a small roof, plus brittle, flaky rock that still needs cleaning. The sequence of moves hasn't been worked out perfectly to this day. That's precisely why pitch 15 is the one the two are most eager to return to: it will determine the final difficulty of the route, and Manners and Schäli only want to assign a definitive grade once it has been climbed and cleaned.
More serious than "The Odyssey"?
From an alpinist's perspective, Schäli currently considers "Solar Eclipse" slightly more demanding than his Eiger route "Odyssee" (8a+, 1400 m), which he first ascended in 2015 together with Robert Jasper and Simon Gietl. The main reasons for this are the traverses and the necessity of finding the logical line through the natural weaknesses. "Odyssee" runs much more directly between "La Vida es Silbar" and "Paciencia." However, in terms of pure technical difficulty, Schäli still sees "Odyssee" as superior. A definitive assessment will only be possible once "Solar Eclipse" has been redpointed.
A solar eclipse as the namesake
The most impressive moment comes high up on the wall. From their portaledge, the two observe the partial solar eclipse over the Bernese Oberland on August 12th. The light changes, the colors become unreal, and the moment seems to stretch on endlessly. It felt less like looking up from the ground, Manners recounts, and more like being at eye level with the event. It was their first solar eclipse ever. The sunset, the partially obscured sun, and below it, the fog over the valley. The two mountaineers hanging on the Eiger North Face, completely cut off from the world below. The moment gives the route its name: "Solar Eclipse."
The moment is also so special for both of them because it wasn't planned. "Others travel there and calculate exactly where they need to stand to see something like that, and we were just there," Manners recalls.
We were completely alone, high up on the mountainside, with Grindelwald below us and the solar eclipse in front of us. It felt like a true privilege to simply sit there and experience it without having to think about anything else.
Fay Manners
What amused Manners most in retrospect was the reaction: her mother's main concern afterward was whether she had been wearing proper safety goggles. Her concern for her daughter's eyes was apparently greater than the fact that she was 24 rope lengths high on the Eiger North Face.
Why the Eiger in particular?
Manners has established routes in Pakistan, Norway, and Patagonia in recent years. The Eiger, she says, is something else entirely – because it's in the Alps and because so much history is tied to that wall. It's a mountain she'll see again and again throughout her life, just like countless other climbers. She's long been inspired by the history of the North Face. Now, to be a small part of it herself feels special.
It's not simply a route I established somewhere far away and might never see again. I can come back, look at it, climb it again – and hopefully watch others enjoy it.
Fay Manners
Women on the Eiger North Face
For Fay Manners, the first ascent has an additional meaning: as a woman who is opening a new line on one of the most historically significant walls in the Alps.
In March 1992, Catherine Destivelle became the first woman to solo climb the Matterhorn's north face in winter – via the Heckmair Route, in approximately 17 hours. This marked the beginning of her famous solo winter trilogy, which she completed in 1993 on the Grandes Jorasses and in 1994 on the Matterhorn. In 2019, Nina Caprez, Roger Schäli, and Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll established "Merci La Vie," an eight-pitch, 300-meter-high route on the Geneva Pillar of the north face.
Manners herself draws the main conclusion from the project about her own development: Opening a 33-pitch route as a duo was extremely demanding and, for her, a clear indication of how much she has learned in terms of developing new lines: "As a woman, it also means something to me to show that such large, technical first ascents aren't just something men can do," Manners tells us. "I hope it can encourage other women to try it themselves, to take on ambitious projects and realize that they belong in such places just as much."
How it goes on
Currently, "Solar Eclipse" has 33 pitches and a decidedly serious, alpine character. The route is not for climbing parties who want to rely on bolts: trad protection, pitons, a beacon, and route finding in steep terrain are essential.
Manners and Schäli plan to return next spring with the goal of redpointing "Solar Eclipse" and removing the remaining fixed ropes. A detailed topo will follow. The two hope that the route will develop into a challenging but rewarding objective for experienced alpinists.
The two weren't simply aiming to add another route to the Eiger. Manners and Schäli wanted a line that respected the history and character of the wall. A route where future climbers would still have to read the terrain, decide on their protection, and experience that feeling of "exploration" that defines a great alpine first ascent.
You might be interested in:
- Fay Manners opens “Nostalgie Alpine” – New mixed route on the Roc Noir in Arolla
- Barbara Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher repeat the route odyssey in the Eiger north face
- Line van den Berg and Fay Manners get Phantom Direct's first women's ascent on the Grandes Jorasses
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Credits: Cover image: Daniel Coquoz