The guy who free-climbed the Eiger (and the Grandes Jorasses and the Matterhorn) is super-fit and has got his mind completely around the fear factor. His equipment is the best but more importantly he is lucky to find the weather perfect and the snow and ice in perfect condition for fast, confident front-pointing. It's said that the Eiger north face doesn't hold as much snow and ice as it used to and that nowadays it's mostly a rock climb with waterfalls and the danger of rock-fall. The way to do it fast is by confident moving on excellent hard frozen snow when everything is frozen solid and for that it needs to be winter and the weather perfect. Modern clothing can cope with the cold in a way wool, cotton and oilskins couldn't.