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Jægervasstinden was first climbed by Elizabeth Main (a.k.a.
Aubrey Le Blond) and the Swiss guides Emil and Josef Imboden on August 7th 1898. They named the peak Skræktind. The original route follows a couloir on the South face to a gap between Store Jægervasstinden and Lille Jægervasstinden, before continuing along the South East ridge to the summit. They descended a couloir on the West face to Trollbreen. "When we got to the plateau, nothing was said about halting there, and we immediately steered towards a conspicuous gap between the highest peak of the Jægervandtinder and the fine-looking northern summit, which, seen from here, is not unlike the Schreckhorn as seen from the Lower Grindelwald glacier. The north peak would "go" from the saddle, Imboden thought, so, as the weather still held up, he decided to try it. We made good progress up the couloir — half snow, half rock — towards the gap. Another, but a lesser storm assailed us when half way up, but luckily we found excellent shelter just where we needed it. We knew that the question whether the peak was "to be, or not to be " ours would probably receive a reply when we reached the saddle, so the last few minutes were spent in rapidly-increasing excitement. As Imboden lifted his head over the gap he cried, "Oh hoi" and following him closely I saw a the glacier spread out on the other side, which rose to our pass and skirted the rocky walls of the ridge by which we intended continuing the climb. Nothing could have been better, and with hardly a pause we pressed on. Several promising-looking stony humps which tried to look like the top, gave place one after another to similar ones. At last we reached a point on the aréte where a steep and rotten bit of rock had to be surmounted. It is true that by a considerable détour to our right we could have outflanked it, I believe, but the weather was threatening and we had no time to lose. Imboden tried to hoist himself up, but whatever he took hold of came bodily out of its socket. Then Emil, being lighter, begged to have a try. His father allowed him to go ahead, holding him up first with his hands and then with his axe. The boy wriggled somehow into a capacious cleft near the top, and then, the rope being up, I had to advance. I confess I received a good deal of help, and in such places I am grateful for even more assistance than I actually require. This bit of gymnastics was our last difficulty, and at 6 p.m. we gained the topmost crag, a boulder firmly wedged into the ridge. A tiny top it was, with barely room for three persons to stand together. Clouds were swirling up on most sides, though to the north a stretch of heavenly blue revealed the Arctic Ocean. Soon this too was blotted out, and we concentrated all our attention on the contents of our knapsacks." Aubrey Le Blond: Mountaineering in The Land of The Midnight Sun (1908). |
