Metanoia VII 5.10 M6 A4

Metanoia is Jeff Lowe's line up the North Face of the Eiger, climbed solo between the Japanese Route and John Harlin's Eiger Direct without pre-placed bolts or fixed ropes. Lowe rated it VII 5.10 M6 A4 over roughly 1,800 meters of the face. The name, Greek for a fundamental change of heart or mind, points to what the climb meant to him personally as much as to its technical difficulty: a demanding mix of thin rock, ice and mixed climbing done in a minimal, alpine style on one of the Alps' most serious walls.

History

Lowe climbed the route alone over nine days, from February 27 to March 4, 1991, enduring storms, hunger and a near-fatal fall in the final days on the wall. He was already one of the era's leading alpinists, and Metanoia stood as a statement of committed, minimal-style climbing on a face known for its objective danger. The route went unrepeated for 25 years. Thomas Huber, Stephan Siegrist and Roger Schäli made the second ascent over December 29-30, 2016, confirming the line a quarter-century after Lowe's solo. Ueli Steck had attempted the route in the years between; that attempt is documented in a 2011 film about Lowe's life.

On film

The Man Who Redefined Climbing | Metanoia - The Jeff Lowe Story | FULL DOCUMENTARY (Documentary+, 2026) uses Lowe's 1991 solo of Metanoia as the throughline for a life story that also covers his broader career and later illness. Conrad Anker, James Balog and Catherine Destivelle appear as people who climbed and worked alongside Lowe, giving context on what the route and his approach to it meant within the sport. The film treats Metanoia less as a single feat than as the clearest expression of how Lowe wanted to climb.