''The White Spider'' (1959; with chapters added in 1964; original title: ''Die Weisse Spinne'') is a non-fiction book by

Heinrich Harrer Heinrich Harrer (; 6 July 1912 – 7 January 2006) was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, ''Oberscharführer'' in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), and author. He was a member of the four-man climbing team that made the first ascent of th ...

that describes the first successful ascent of the infamous north face (''Nordwand'') of the Eiger, a mountain in the

Berner Oberland The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which contex ...

of the Swiss Alps, with sections devoted to the history of mountaineering in the area.

Overview

''The White Spider'' tells the stories of the first attempts to ascend the Eiger's North Face, a nearly vertical wall of rock, snow, and ice almost 6,000 feet tall from its base to the mountain's 13,015-foot summit, making it the tallest north face in the Alps. Well known for both its technical difficulty and its extreme hazards from avalanches, falling rock, and severe weather, the North Face is also notorious for the many accidents and tragedies that have befallen its climbers, for which it has been given the colloquial epithet ''Mordwand'' ("murder wall"), a play on ''Nordwand'' ("north wall"). Harrer recounts in detail all of the first attempts and successes on the Face through the first 25 years of its climbing history, beginning with Max Sedlmayr's and Karl Mehringer's disastrous try in 1935, through the first successful ascent by a German-Austrian party in 1938, of which Harrer himself was a member, and continuing to the successful ascent by

Kurt Diemberger Kurt Diemberger (born 16 March 1932) is an Austrian mountaineer and author of several books. He is the only living person who has made the first ascents on two mountains over 8,000 metres: of Broad Peak in 1957 and of Dhaulagiri in 1960. Career ...

and Wolfgang Stefan in July 1958.Note: Diemberger and Stefan were later awarded recognition for the 14th successful climb of the Eiger Nordwand after the bodies of Günther Nothdurft and Franz Mayer were found on the descent route. At the time of the book's publication, the bodies had not yet been discovered. After his successful summit of the mountain, Harrer endeavored to write a history of the early years of climbing on the Face, and received many letters from fellow climbers, which he sifted through with climber and author Kurt Maix to become the contents of ''The White Spider''. Harrer describes in particular the tragedy of the 1936 attempt by Edi Rainer,

Willy Angerer Willy Angerer (c. 1905 – 21 July 1936) was an Austrian mountaineer. He was one of four mountaineers who died in the 1936 Eiger north face climbing disaster, along with Toni Kurz, Andreas Hinterstoisser and Eduard Rainer. At thirty-one Angerer wa ...

Andreas Hinterstoisser Andreas Hinterstoisser (3 October 1914 – 21 July 1936) was a German mountain climber active in the 1930s. He died during an attempt to climb the Eiger north face with his partner Toni Kurz. A section of the north face was later named the "Hinter ...

, and Toni Kurz, all of whom died during the climb; Harrer's own climb, which was the first successful ascent of the North Face; the strenuous but successful climb of

Hermann Buhl Hermann Buhl (21 September 1924 – 27 June 1957) was an Austrian mountaineer. He was innovative in applying Alpine style to Himalayan climbing. His accomplishments include the first ascents of Nanga Parbat in 1953 and Broad Peak in 1957. Ear ...

Gaston Rébuffat Gaston Rébuffat (; 7 May 1921, Marseille – 31 May 1985, Paris) was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the ...

, and their seven companions in 1952; and the catastrophe of 1957, when two Italians, Stefano Longhi and Claudio Corti, joined two Germans, Günther Nothdurft and Franz Mayer – which resulted in eight bivouac nights on the wall of the mountain for the Italians and the death of all but Corti. Harrer's account of the 1957 tragedy was the subject of much controversy when published and is no longer considered historically accurate.Article "Claudio Corti (1928-2010) : A Life in the Shadow of the Eiger"
/ref> In the book, Harrer also describes the media frenzy that ensued after each of the tragedies because the whole of the mountain's Nordwand can be watched by telescope from nearby

Kleine Scheidegg The Kleine Scheidegg ( en, Little Scheidegg) is a mountain pass at an elevation of , situated below and between the Eiger and Lauberhorn peaks in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. The name means "minor watershed", as it only divides the ...

Book title

The title of the book is derived from a spider-shaped

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

high on the north face of the mountain, towering above the town of

Grindelwald , neighboring_municipalities = Brienz, Brienzwiler, Fieschertal (VS), Guttannen, Innertkirchen, Iseltwald, Lauterbrunnen, Lütschental, Meiringen, Schattenhalb , twintowns = Azumi, now Matsumoto (Japan) Grindelwald is a village and ...

. As Harrer describes, and the climbers discovered, the White Spider is the key to a successful ascent of the Nordwand. Although physically exhausted by the time they reach that point, climbers must navigate the steep ice-field to reach the peak's summit. The White Spider acts as a funnel, with rock and ice slides channelled through the ice field, putting the climbers in great danger while on the field.

References

Sources

*''The White Spider'' by Heinrich Harrer. Currently in print by a number of publishers.

Overview

Book title

References

Sources

Further reading