Climber gets to live out his dream
A MOUNTAINEERING junkie who scaled one of Europe’s most daunting rock faces with his hero has won the chance to live another climbing dream after beating thousands of competitors.
Dad-of-two Daniel Bouskila spent two �gruelling days climbing more than two-thirds of �dangerous north face of the Eiger in the Bernese Alps at the weekend.
He climbed with Robert Jasper – one of the world’s leading extreme climbers.
Daniel, 30, of Hind Close, Hainault, landed in Switzerland on Friday with three others from across Europe, hand-picked from around 4,000 applicants in the Gore-Tex Experience Tour. The quartet were to do battle to win a climb of the Matterhorn with Robert this winter.
Daniel said of the climb: “It was bloody �dangerous! We were roping up and �suddenly one of the guys was hit on the shoulder by a rock. That was pretty terrifying.”
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After the incident, just two of the four decided to climb the 13,000ft mountain.
The Eiger, German for ogre, was first climbed in 1858 but the north face was not conquered until 1938, after dozens of deaths.
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Daniel said: “It’s a limestone rock face, and any geologist will tell you it’s very, very slippery. It just falls apart.
“It’s very sheer. Even if you haven’t got vertigo, you will once you’ve climbed it.
“But we had a legend with us to minimise the risk which made it possible.”
After a face-to-face �session with Robert, Daniel was picked to fulfil his dream of climbing the Matterhorn.
Daniel said: “To be �honest, I was really emotional. I cried like a little girl!”
Daniel, dad to four-year-old Jessica and seven-month-old Jake, got into climbing nine years ago through his father-in-law and brother-in-law James and Andy Chappell. “I’ve got them to thank because it all started through them,” said Daniel.
