SummitPost.org

http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articl ... 86218.html

Cool! New routes!

a couple of years when i was camping in Chamonix, sitting outside my tent i witnessed two huge slabs fall from the Dru mountain, was about 4 miles away and the dust reached our campsite, keep a safe distance, i think your safe in Canada

i hope someone is filming it. I'd love to see this!

There is a thread on this subject on the general board with pictures.

Tony, were you near the Drus in 1997 or 2005?

After the 1997 fall, two Russians climbed a new route, but that is also gone now if I'm not mistaken. If the situation is similar for Eiger's east face, it may take a few years before the face stabilizes.

Hey, that is what the Eiger is all about. It regenerates new rock, old routes die and new routes can go up up!!! What a concept. Imagine that happeining on El Cap or any other major climbing area???? God, would that ever be an "EGO" deflater.

I think it was either 2003 or 2004

I had just showered and walked back to our tent and I heard a loud bang and saw the flake drop off.

Then for the next 2 hours i watched with binocculars, waiting for the second fall.

I knew it would happen! as the vibration must have woken the Dru.............2 hours later it stirred and woke once more, not as large as the first flake, but a great moment! to have seen the Dru still evolving after so many centuries.

Interesting! I didn't know these events were so frequent. The ones of 1997 and 2005 are pretty well-known, but I recently learned that there was a major rockfall in 1987 and now that there was one in 2003 or 2004.

Incidentally, I think this picture shows very well the extent of the most recent rockfall.

On below page you can watch a film of the collapse:

http://www.grindelwald.com/summer-de.php?frameset=43

Most of the formation known as the "Madonna" did fall away from the East Face Thursday. It did create the largest dust cloud I have ever seen. I was with Chief Kurt Amacher (Grindelwald Rescue) and as of yet we have no reports of injury.

Estimated 100 feet, aprox. 20 million cubic feet, of the Madonna fell.

Let me add for those who do not know, this fall is actually nowhere close or on the actual East Face of the Eiger proper. That is it is not near any of the major or traditional climbing routes.

I'm about to go back up to the Grindelwald Glacier (skree area) for the evening. Thus far the two falls (Madonna Thurs afternoon and main break away Thurs evening) have not resulted in any injuries.

cherokee wrote:Estimated 100 feet, aprox. 20 million cubic feet, of the Madonna fell.

I thought the 20 million figure was for the larger rockfall. (A cube whose side is 100 feet has a volume of "only" one million cubic feet.)

http://www.eigerworld.ch/eiger.wmv