The White Spider

Heinrich Harrer's classic chronicle of the first successful ascent on the notorious Nordwand (Northwall) the north face of "The Eiger", which looms 13,025 feet (3,970m) above the village of Grindelwald in Bernese Oberland, Swiss Alps

The Eigerwand had been the scene of carnage in the preceding years; The first nine climbers who attempted it in the 1930s had all died.

Partnered by fellow Austrian Fritz Kasparek, the Austrian pair joined forces with the
German aces Anderl Heckmair and Ludwig Vörg who were also attempting the climb.

With Heckmair the driving force who willed the party through hideous conditions to the summit. It took the men, who had only decided to team up at the base of the wall, more than three days to reach the summit after surviving an avalanche on the deadly White Spider, an ice-field below the peak and from which the book takes its title.

It was perhaps the best climb between the World Wars and has stood the test of time and has become a benchmark in extreme alpine climbing that modern climbers still aspire to repeat

Realizing the enormity of the achievement, Harrer who didn't even have crampons on this climb said:

"The Nordwand is the epitome of everything tragically sensational in mountain climbing. It is a 6,000-foot bastion of rock and ice, a test of technical ability and character. I was conscious of the privilege of having been allowed to live."

It marked the pinnacle of Harrer's career in the Alps & it was because of this climb he was feted by Hitler and was immediately invited aboard an expedition to vanquish another mountain that had come to be regarded as something of a Nemesis for German mountaineers: Nanga Parbat.


Though not technically a writer Harrer who died in 2006 brings his words to life and the book is an absorbing read.

A must read for any climbing enthusiast.